Pale stool!

[Strovbe]

Earlier today, after eating breakfast, I went to the bathroom and passed a beige, sandy colored stool. I've had a discomfort (not a pain, just an uncomfortable feeling) in the left side of my abdomen for a little while but I was told it was just muscle tension. Now I'm worried I have pancreatic cancer or something. :( I ate a veggie burger mixed with actual meat products yesterday, could this have been the cause? This has never happened before. I'm so worried.

[Light_Bringer777]

Still pretty new here but I've had this before and first off I say you should not be worried about one single stool being light-colored. I've talked about such worries with doctors before and they said that in the lack of urgent signs (e.g. severe abdominal pain, as in can't stand still or can't sleep) you only have to watch and wait about a week and see where this is going.

Second, from what little I know pale stool is a sign of 2 things: lack of bile in the stool or rapid passage through the intestines.

Rapid passage could be from any for of stress, irritation or intolerance to something (look for any change in diet, you mention the veggie-burger). Could be from a simple stomach bug too.

Lack of bile could be a one-time occurrence (most likely if it's a first time I guess), otherwise it would be something like a gallbladder stone or something along those lines. If this is the case it would probably keep on happening and give more alarm signs way before becoming potentially dangerous. For what it's worth I've never heard of cancer giving pale stools either (and I strongly doubt it'd happen all of a sudden, you'd probably see gradual worsening of your digestion or something).

Of course I'm not a doctor, but I've had a few pale stools myself and it was generally due to something I ate. Other could confirm but I would say no reason to worry and give it at least a day or two.

[chrisjose1913]

I have had this fear in the past, Pale stools are often an affect of diet. I used to get scared if i seen the smallest change in colour. A good example for me, this was at the worst point in my life so far, I convinced my self i had colon cancer at aged just 20 years old, this went on for a very long time, all this because i ate beetroot and had stools with red in it. if you suffer with anxiety it can definitely cause changes in bowel movement. A light colored stoot also often means that things are passing quickly through the digestive systet, that's a sure sign of anxiety. Don't stress yourself, that will probable do more harm than the symptoms will.

[popejoan]

Happened to me too, I got worried a little bit but it was normal color the next day. I don't think it's something to worry about, it just happens sometimes.