ok so the other day i had this period of pain and discomfort which i usually characterise as lactose intolerance. the problem is, the only thing i had had so far that day was a can of liquid nutrition labeled "lactose/gluten free", my meds, and the iron supplement ive been taking for my newfound anemia. (anyway...i usually dont post on this section of the forum because i'm a bit shy about this sort of thing....but i really want to know...)it was the same as it usually is when im having a lactose reaction, only the colour was different. idk if this is significant, and REALLY dont wanna gross anyone out, but it was this forest-green pigment that reminded me of mold. i guess what i was thinking was, is it possible that i might be overdosing the iron? the doctor told me to take 100 mg/day, but i could only find 65 mg tablets, so ive been taking 130 mg.and if so, y did it take about a week to give me this reaction?(i had artichokes the other night. i know that they are high in iron. maybe that affected things?)
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Odd reaction
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Iron tablets usually make your stool black (due to elemental iron), but I think dark green would be a possible alternative (from iron in the Fe2+ state).
Iron tends to be poorly absorbed and most of the iron (but not all of it) in iron supplements ends up in the stool. But you ought to be eating proper food with fibre in it to get things going through the system properly.
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Might the green be bile from improper digestion? green stool-symptoms and causes
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That article does say "you may produce green stool after consuming certain iron-rich foods or iron supplements".
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Yes, it clearly says that iron rich foods or supplements may cause the problem. I was only trying to posit another possibility that I thought might be connected to the "pain and discomfort" that she was associating with lactose intolerance.
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yeah...it actually just happened again less than an hour ago. again, a lot of pain followed by green diarrhea. from what you guys are saying, looks like it could very well be the iron thing...thanks. i think i really need to find a better supplement...
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Have you ever tried any of the lactase enzyme tablets?
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yeah, i have. oddly enough, it never seemed to do much if anything. but i got the dominicks brand, though i'm unsure if that could make any difference
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Don't know that brand would matter. How many do you take? And how often?
