Having a panic moment because of stool changes.

[JP66]

My stool is light abnormally light in color and starting to float so now I'm panicked that my cancer has spread to the pancreas.

Does anyone here know of other reasons for light colored and floating stool?

I'm still on a very minimal diet of cream of wheat, Silk, rice, salmon, white bread, egg salad, tunafish and some bad snack foods of potato chips and chocolate chip cookies (2 cookies at night and just a couple of chips).

[beach sunrise]

Don't panic until its time to panic.
What are your bilirubin levels? When was last time you had labs to show bilirubin?
Are you taking rxs such as antibiotics, ect?
Put the potato chips down if fried in seed oil.
As a last thought I think your pancreas would not be the issue. When I had an inflamed bile duct my stool color was off a tad heading toward yellow. According to my surgeon best I can remember when there is not enough bile to help the liver then stool color can change. So, I took supplements like crazy to reduce the inflammation and all was back to normal. I hate to break it to you but processed foods, fatty and seed oils are very bad for your digestion process, especially the liver process. They stress and strain it.

[JP66]

Don't panic until its time to panic.
What are your bilirubin levels? When was last time you had labs to show bilirubin?
Are you taking rxs such as antibiotics, ect?
Put the potato chips down if fried in seed oil.
As a last thought I think your pancreas would not be the issue. When I had an inflamed bile duct my stool color was off a tad heading toward yellow. According to my surgeon best I can remember when there is not enough bile to help the liver then stool color can change. So, I took supplements like crazy to reduce the inflammation and all was back to normal. I hate to break it to you but processed foods, fatty and seed oils are very bad for your digestion process, especially the liver process. They stress and strain it.

Thanks B!

A good night's rest and I still have some anxiety, but at least now I'm past the panic stage. I will also eliminate the junk food and try to add some healthy carbs like oatmeal as well as a few low fiber vegetables like green beans and cooked peeled zuchinni.

[utahgal7]

Joe,

Have you reached out to your care team yet? In the past, I had some issues with floating stool and my doctor said sometimes intestinal gas can get trapped in the stool. This could cause stool to float. As far as worries about spread of CRC to pancreas, I would think if that were the case, you would have additional symptoms, i.e. abdomen pain, jaundice, nausea, vomiting, itchy skin, etc.

I would definitely contact your doctor to see what he/she has to say about your symptoms.

Paige

[JP66]

Joe,

Have you reached out to your care team yet? In the past, I had some issues with floating stool and my doctor said sometimes intestinal gas can get trapped in the stool. This could cause stool to float. As far as worries about spread of CRC to pancreas, I would think if that were the case, you would have additional symptoms, i.e. abdomen pain, jaundice, nausea, vomiting, itchy skin, etc.

I would definitely contact your doctor to see what he/she has to say about your symptoms.

Paige

Thanks Paige. Fortunately I already had a meeting with my oncologist scheduled for next week so I can discuss the symptom with him. I appreciate the comment regarding gas as I have had a large amount recently so that certainly could be an issue. Thanks again. I don't know about how others feel, but for me I think its great to hear information from people who are going through the same.

[beach sunrise]

If still yellow by onc appt time, ask him about bile salts temporarily if he doesn't find anything.