ddx for white BM?

[flipflopsnsnow]

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totally random question that i have been wondering the answer to for a while.
my mom remembers vividly when she was about 10 years old, playing out in the orchard and stopped playing for a potty break. She was totally freaked out because she had a bowel movement that was completely white! She doesnt remember having any other symptoms, wasnt sick as a kid, nothing else to add to an HPI. Never had it again, but ALWAYS remembered this incident. And of course, now as an almost doctor (3rd year) she wants a diagnosis!
Any ideas? 😳

 

[Northerner]

totally random question that i have been wondering the answer to for a while.
my mom remembers vividly when she was about 10 years old, playing out in the orchard and stopped playing for a potty break. She was totally freaked out because she had a bowel movement that was completely white! She doesnt remember having any other symptoms, wasnt sick as a kid, nothing else to add to an HPI. Never had it again, but ALWAYS remembered this incident. And of course, now as an almost doctor (3rd year) she wants a diagnosis!
Any ideas? 😳

I have an idea, but it involves you NOT asking for medical advice on the internet, so I assume you're not interested....

 

[Callogician]

Your mother has a 100% fatal gastrointestinal colonization of Listeria fakii. It has a 47 year incubation time which progresses inescapably to sepsis and hypotensive shock within 72 hours of the onset of allergy-like symptoms.

 

[Callogician]

One idea is that the brown color of feces is from Stercobilin, metabolite of bilirubin. Light (tan) colored feces can result from biliary obstruction (transient biliary stone?). I don't know about "completely white" though. Is your mom a reliable historian?

 

[Rockhouse]

This could certainly be for real. I know a coworker who had the same thing happen to him after a night of drinking WAAAY too much. He left work in the middle of the day and didn't say anything to anybody. When he got back, all he said was "my $#!t was white, I had to go to the doctor... he said I shouldn't drink so much." But I have always been curious about the path/phys going on there.

 

[glorytaker]

What about barium enemas? I remember one time I saw a patient (for non-GI matter) and they had this white power/film on their feet. I gently felt it for texture and asked the patient if they knew what it was and they told me they just had a barium enema. I quickly then washed my hands thoroughly.

 

[Pose]

Think liver. Think bilirubin. Think bile duct obstruction. Think that pale stools can be suggestive of a lack of bile pigment for whatever reason.

I guess I'm not very helpful afterall.

 

[funkless]

Is your mother a bird? Could be normal...

 

[browniegirl86]

Is your mother a bird? Could be normal...

The most obvious answer is usually the right one!

 

[mojojojo]

The stool was probably covered in whitish mucus, which is normal and not necessarily a sign of anything wrong.

 

[bigfrank]

Maybe she had drunk a great deal of milk that morning. Doesn't milk make your bowel movements white?????

 

[Karl_Hungus]

It is a liver enzyme that turns poop its normal brown color. Without that enzyme, you get a white, chalky BM.
As to why it was an isolated incident, that part is more of a mystery.