People pay a lot of attention to their poop. They analyze the color, the texture and most of all whether it floats or sinks. That may be in part because of a powerful viral video created by Randy Pausch. He mentioned floating stool in his “Last Lecture” as one of the symptoms of his lethal pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic Cancer?
Most people with floating stool have nothing to worry about. If they are part of a general change in health and are pale, bulky and greasy, that warrants a trip to the doctor. Other troublesome symptoms of pancreatic cancer include abdominal pain, weight loss, jaundice or generalized itching. But could floating poop be a side effect of medication?
Could Zetia Cause Floating Stool?
Q. I have been taking Zetia together with simvastatin and my cholesterol is under control.
Months ago I started getting floating stool. I think Zetia works by limiting the intestine’s ability to extract fat from the stool.
I imagine that would make the stool lighter than water, causing it to float. My floating stool is constant and I have gas every day no matter what I eat. I have no discomfort or any other negative symptom. Is this floating stool an unadvertised side effect of Zetia?
Ezetimibe (Zetia) Side Effect?
A. Your floating stool may not be a problem. Vytorin, which contains ezetimibe along with simvastatin, has been reported to cause greasy stool On the other hand, you might ask your doctor to evaluate your pancreatic function, just to be on the safe side.
There are reports of inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) associated with ezetimibe (Zetia) and statins like simvastatin (World Journal of Gastrointestinal Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Aug. 2014). One symptom of pancreatitis is fatty stools that float (steatorrhea).
