Introduction – what is a slimy bowel movement?
Mucilaginous bowel movements are mainly characterized by their slimy deposits. In principle, the bowel movement can be either solid or rather liquid. In addition, the bowel movement can take on different colors, which may indicate the cause of the slimy bowel movement.
In most cases, the bowel movement itself is not mucilaginous; rather, there are mucilaginous admixtures or deposits during bowel movement. This mucus can consist of various substances such as individual (usually rather undigested) food components or digestive juices and saliva. Depending on the color and consistency of the mucus and the bowel movement, various causes can be deduced.
Causes of slimy bowel movements
The causes of slimy bowel movements are manifold. The most common causes vary greatly depending on the age of the person concerned. In infants and toddlers, slimy bowel movements usually have very harmless causes.
Typically, during a phase in which the child salivates a lot, some of the saliva reaches the digestive tract. If the amount is so large that it cannot be completely reabsorbed in the intestine, the saliva is noticeable as light-colored mucus or mucus that often resembles the color of the bowel movement. In elderly people, various diseases of the digestive tract and metabolism can be the cause of the mucilaginous bowel movement for insufficient processing of food in the intestine.
For example, if diseases of the pancreas or gall bladder are present, not enough digestive enzymes are added to the food pulp. This results in incomplete digestion and the resulting slimy consistency. Food intolerances can also cause a slimy bowel movement via this mechanism.
If the composition of normal intestinal bacteria is disturbed by antibiotics or gastrointestinal infections, the bowel movement can also become slimy. Only in rare cases is a tumor (benign or malignant) of the digestive tract responsible for the development of the mucilaginous bowel movement. In addition, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis can trigger the symptoms.
Antibiotics are drugs that are used against various types of bacteria. However, they are not only effective against the pathogens they are intended to fight. Instead, the antibiotics also affect the natural bacterial colonization of the intestine.
This upsets the natural balance of the intestinal bacteria. Since the bacteria in the intestine have a large portion of the decomposition of the individual food components and thus of the digestion, an antibiotic therapy can make the digestion clearly more difficult. Thus antibiotics can cause a slimy stool course. In addition, treatment with antibiotics often makes the bowel movement thinner and can also temporarily change its color.
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