Why is my stool gray colored with a lot of undigested food in it?

Hi doctor,

I have had severe reflux since January and was just diagnosed with GERD and grade C esophagitis in February. At the time the reflux started, I began having yellow stool with a lot of undigested food in it. My stool has not been brown once since this started and there is always undigested food very clearly seen. On 3/5, I had a very gray, cement-colored stool mixed with the yellow and have had this several times since. The yellow is always soft and loosely formed or diarrhea. The gray pieces are sometimes small and sometimes large but always very hard and dry and always mixed with the soft yellow stool. I had an MRI with 3D MRCP on 3/1 that was unremarkable. On 3/3 I found out that I have two bacterial infections (Klebsiella oxytoca and Citrobacter braakii), for which I started herbal antibiotic treatment that day. On 3/5, I went to the ER because of the gray stool. I had taken a picture if someone said I just had anxiety and the doctor confirmed that when she sees stool that color, the first thought is biliary obstruction. My hepatic function panel tests were normal. My lipase was slightly elevated at 64 but was down 25 points from the previous week when it was 89. The gray stool has me very concerned that there is something going on with my life that might have been missed. If this were the case, by the time stool is gray due to liver issues, would something be showing up in bloodwork? I am particularly concerned that there is something wrong with my bile ducts, such as primary biliary cirrhosis? Is it possible to have symptoms of something like this with no evidence on MRI or bloodwork? Or can gray stool possibly be caused by bacterial infections? I have had hepatic panel tests as part of my yearly bloodwork for the last several years, and everything has always been perfect.

Hi doctor,

I think I have had some form of reflux since August, hence the burning throat and tongue. I also realized that there was likely some undigested food prior to the severe symptoms as I would see a lot of what looked like grains almost daily, which I just thought was from eating corn chips, but it had never happened before. I was also taking 30 pills a day for three months prior to this happening at the direction of my naturopath. My gastroenterologist thought that might have contributed to the esophagitis. I tried drinking baking soda and water for a few days prior to the severe onset to help my burning mouth and tongue, which gave me two very bad bouts of diarrhea, and then the severe reflux started. From stool testing, prior to taking the PPI, my naturopath (a different one than the one that had me taking 30 supplements) thought my stomach acid was low and that, combined with the bacterial infections, caused the reflux. Do tumors in the pancreas or stomach not cause ZES? Could MRI not have picked those up? My gastroenterologist never mentioned it as a possibility and has talked about doing a colonoscopy, but I will ask about gastrin testing.

I have attached a picture of my stool. This is from the day I had the hepatic function tests.