All You Need to Know About a Stool Test

If you have been consistently facing stomach issues, your doctor would recommend a stool test. It is also known as the stool culture test. This test helps diagnose a medical condition like inflammation in the stomach, gastric issues, colon cancer, anal fissures, and haemorrhoids. Even, if you have IBS or irritable bowel syndrome then you can identify this disease from your stool test report. 

This test helps determine whether there is a bacterial infection or any other microorganism that has infected your gut. If there are any harmful bacteria in the body, then you can easily identify the same from your stool culture test report and you can go for proper medication in this regard. 

Why do you need stool test? 

Before highlighting the symptoms that demand a stool test, we would like to mention that you must not go for any such diagnostic test without the advice of your doctor. Here are the warning symptoms for which your doctor would ask you to go for this test. 

1. Diarrhoea continuing for a prolonged period
2. Traces of blood in the stool
3. Nausea
4. Fever
5. Persistent pain in the stomach

While these are not such major signs, but the signs become alarming in the case of:

1. Older adults
2. Poor immune system
3. Consumption of contaminated food and water
4. Symptoms have become severe

The doctor may recommend you with certain antibiotics or other medications based on your stool culture test assessment.

Types of stool tests

1. Ova and Parasites Test – This test is used to diagnose parasites in the stool. Your doctor would recommend you this test in case you have the following symptoms: 

1. Presence of blood in the stool
2. Fever
3. Severe pain in the abdomen
4. Frequent diarrhoea
5. Vomiting or nausea
6. Headache 

You may notice that some of these symptoms are common, and your doctor will help you to know the severity of your infection level. Based on it, they will recommend you to go for the Ova and Parasites Test. For this, you need to collect stool samples at home and you must ensure that the sample should not have traces of urine in it. After collecting the sample, it must be sent to the lab for the test. 

If the test results are positive, it means that there are parasites in the stool. In this case, you need to consult your doctor for further medication.

2. White Blood Cell Test- This test is used to detect WBCs in the stool. It shows that one might have inflammatory bowel disease. This test is recommended when the doctor notices symptoms like:

1. Mucus or blood in the stool
2. Abdominal pain
3. Fatigue
4. Fever
5. Watery diarrhoea continued for more than four days.

For this test, the healthcare provider will give you a special container to collect the stool sample. While collecting the sample, you must ensure that it is free from urine traces. The test's positive results show that there was inflammation in the digestive tract, and your doctor will recommend the right medication for the same. 

3. H.Pylori Antigen Test - This test is used to detect if your digestive system has been infected by Helicobacter pylori bacteria. This bacteria can result in gastrointestinal disorders like:

1. Gastritis
2. Peptic ulcers
3. Types of stomach cancer 

In case you have the following symptoms:

• Nausea
• Abdominal pain
• Bloating
• Vomiting 

4. Faecal Occult Blood Test- This test helps check the hidden blood in the stool. If there is a small amount of blood in the stool, it shows bleeding in the digestive tract. This may result because of : 

• Ulcer
• Polyps
• Colitis
• Colorectal cancer
• Haemorrhoids

Conclusion

These are some of the common stool tests that your doctor may recommend based on your condition. Make sure that you consult a doctor before going ahead with the stool test.