All Your Embarrassing Poop Questions, Answered

"Though the majority of people move their bowels once a day, this varies considerably depending on your diet, activity, illness, and many other factors," says gastroenterologist Rudolph Bedford, MD over email. "Once a day is a general rule-of-thumb, although some 'normal' people may have a bowel movement only once in 2 or even 3 days. Sometimes people can have more than one bowel movement a day.

Blood in the toilet bowl can definitely be worrisome, but there several possible reasons why it's there, the most common being hemorrhoids. However, rectal bleeding can also sometimes indicate rectal cancer. "If that's happening, you need a sigmoidoscopy (a colon exam by a flexible tube) to make sure that there's nothing significant going on and that it's just hemorrhoids," says Bedford.

"Colonics have not been proven to be beneficial," says Edward M. Brettholz MD, FACP, AGAF over email. "In fact, it can cause damage to the colon including perforations and colitis." There is also good bacteria in the colon which are beneficial to our health, so you don't want to mess with that balance.

Just because your poop smells strongly every time you go to the bathroom doesn't mean something is wrong with you. It might be unpleasant, but it's nothing to stress about. "This is normal," says Brettholtz. "The normal colonic bacteria produce various gases with unique odors."

Don't be alarmed if you see some recognizable, undigested food in the toilet. "It is common to see vegetable matter in stool because vegetables such as corn are made of cellulose, which is not able to be digested by our bodies," says Brettholtz.

If you've ever had an accident, it's not because you've reverted to childhood. Instead, you may have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. "This embarrassing event will often bring the patient to the office and I will find out that they have been suffering for years with IBS without speaking to even a friend or family member," says Rosenberg. Talking to a doctor about options for treating IBS can open the door to improvement in bowel health — and help prevent any further accidents.

Luckily, you can breathe a sigh of relief: Being a little backed up is generally not something to worry about. "Constipation can be caused by a variety of different things, including medications, poor exercise habits, unhealthy diet, and lack of fluid intake," says Bedford. Eating a balanced diet, exercising, drinking lots of fluids and not ignoring your urge to poop can help remedy constipation. However, chronic constipation can sometimes be a sign of much more a serious health condition, so if this happens to you all the time, it's worth getting checked out.

Black poop can indicate possible bleeding from stomach or duodenum," says Brettholtz. However, iron pills or Pepto Bismol can also cause black stools as well, so if you've taken any medication, that might be why.

Loosely, poorly-formed stools are consistent with several different common gastrointestinal diseases, including Celiac disease, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, infection, IBS, and more, says Brettholtz. On the flip side, hard, pellet-like stools indicate constipation and might require more dietary fiber and water intake.