March 17, 2015
Other
Question from Cape Town, South Africa:
My 15-year-old son was recently diagnosed, about two months ago, so this is all very new to us. I was just wondering if it’s common for diabetic patients to have yellow stools/bowel movements. Because our diabetic nurse didn’t know, do I need to be concerned and take him to the specialist again?
Answer:
Abnormal bowel movements are not related to your son’s newly diagnosed diabetes or its treatment. But, there are associated conditions that are autoimmune in nature – like type 1 diabetes. Celiac disease, as well as thyroid disease, can have no symptoms or very subtle bowel symptoms and should be checked under these circumstances because both are more common in type 1 diabetes patients than in the general population. Please call your diabetes team to see if these have already been checked and may explain the odd color of the bowel movements.
SB
