What Causes Black Stool And Severe Stomach Pain Post Intake Of Pepto-Bismol?

Posted on Wed, 4 May 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 4 May 2016 Answered on

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi, I am a 32yr old male 6'2" 250lbs. Healthy for the most part. In the last 48hrs I have experienced what I thought was a nasty stomach flu but with no diarrhea. I forced my self to throw up a couple times but for the most part spent 24 hours in bed in achy pain and extreme discomfort. Now the symptoms have about cut in half except the now with black stool....Any suggestions? Also nothing has changed in my diet or routine...

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
this is a side effect of the pepto bismol

Detailed Answer:
Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic

The black stool is likely due to the pepto bismol, this is a known side effect of this medication.
Iron supplements and the presence of blood in the stool can also cause also cause dark stool.

If there are no symptoms for 4 hours, then you can restart using small amounts of solid dry foods such as bread, biscuits.
In keeping with the brat diet, banana, rice, apple can also be used.

If these can tolerated then you can increase the amount and vary the food used.

You should also be using fluids to help replace those that you are losing via the diarrhea.

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar