AnswerMucus may lighten the color of stool, but it will never turn it white.
You very likely have a liver blockage. A substance called urobilinogen gives stool its dark color. Urobilinogen is a product of bilirubin degradation. Bilirubin is a breakdown product of red blood cells, which is degraded in the liver. If stools are white or clay colored, you probably have a blockage.
Go to the doctor immediately!
The above user was only partially right there are several reasons one might get white stool.
Causes of White Bowel MovementWhen less than normal or no bile is excreted from the liver into the bowel (cholestasis), excreted stool will be
pale, clay, gray, or white. Someone can describe it as a
lightcolor, but this is
not bright yellow bowel movement, and also
not mucus in the bowel movement that is jelly-like and translucent. Main causes of white bowel movement are:
- Obstruction of the biliary duct (due to gallstones, inflammation, fibrosis, cancer, pressure from outside (pancreatic cancer or cyst, abdominal tumor like fibroma) - appears with cramping pains in the right upper abdomen
- Obstruction of outflow of the bile from the liver due to liver disease (viral hepatitis, fatty liver, alcohol liver disease, cirrhosis, hemochromatosis, or rarely tuberculosis, spread of cancer into the liver (liver metastases) - may appear with fullness or pain in upper right abdomen, jaundice, nausea, or vomiting
White DiarrheaAbove reasons (obstruction of bile flow), or lack of pancreatic enzyme lipase that digests fats prevents fat absorption in the small intestine. Unabsorbed fats will reach the colon and irritate it thus causing diarrhea.
Loose, white, sticky, greasy, foamy, floating, smelly stool appearing several hours
after a fatty meal is called
steatorrhea. Main causes of white diarrhea are:
- Acute or chronic pancreatitis (low appetite, pain in middle or left upper abdomen, nausea)
- Pancreatic cancer (low appetite, loosing weight)
- Liver or biliary duct disease
- Severe inflammation of small intestine (Crohn's disease, celiac disease, tuberculosis, severe food poisoning)
- Candida overgrowth in large intestine (in persons with lowered immunity, like in AIDS or after chemotherapy)
Other Causes of White StoolWhite stool may appear after:
White Specs in the Stool…..may represent:
- undigested food like rice or seeds
- unabsorbed drugs
- parasite eggs
- clumps of fungi (Candida albicans) in heavy disease like AIDS, or in immunosuppression from chemotherapy or radiation therapy…
DiagnosisStool fat test may reveal fats in the stool.
Blood tests:- White blood cells are elevated in pancreatitis, bowel inflammation
- Pancreatic enzymes (lipase) in the blood may be elevated (pancreatic disease)
- Liver enzymes in the blood may be elevated (liver, biliary duct disease)
Ultrasound of abdomen may reveal gallstones in gallbladder, or rarely in biliary duct, swollen pancreas (in pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer or cyst), or abdominal tumor.
TreatmentOriginal disease has to be treated.
In white diarrhea low-fat diet has to be introduced.