Jaundice- Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments

by veera singh Free Online Chat With Specialist

Jaundice is a disease where the skin and the whites of eyes get a yellowish tinge. The body excreta and fluids may turn yellow. The exact color of the skin and whites of the eyes will vary and it would depend on the levels of bilirubin, which is a waste material found in the blood. Moderate levels of Bilirubin will lead to a yellow color, whereas very high levels will make it appear brown.

Around 60 percent of the infants born in India suffer from jaundice. People from every age group suffer from the same with certain conditions. Problems in the liver or bile duct cause Jaundice.

There are mainly three types of jaundice:

1. Hepatocellular jaundice- This Jaundice can be caused by a person from any liver disease or an injury.

2. Hemolytic jaundice- This type is caused either due to hemolytic or due to the continuous breakdown of red blood cells which results in overproduction of bilirubin in the body.

3. Obstructive jaundice-This occurs due to an obstruction in the bile duct.

Following are symptoms of Jaundice: -

1. The skin and the whites of eyes get a yellowish tinge. Fluids and excreta may turn yellow. These, normally start at the head and spreads down the whole body.

2. Pale Stools

3. Dark urine

4. Itchiness in body

Lowering level of bilirubin may occur due to:

Fatigue, Abdominal pain, Weight loss, Vomiting, Fever, Pale Stools, Dark urine

Causes of jaundice are as follows:

Jaundice results in yellowing of skin and whitening of eyes. This occurs mainly when the body is not able to process a significant amount of bilirubin that happens due to the problem in the liver.
Jaundice is sometimes also known as Icterus. After the iron is removed from the blood, there is a yellow-colored waste throat remains in the bloodstream, this is called bilirubin.
Filtering out the waste from blood is the main task of the liver. Additional of certain substances along with the bilirubin results in a substance called conjugated bilirubin. The liver also produces a digestive juice that is known as bile juice.
If the amount of bilirubin is high, it may leak into the surrounding tissues. This above condition may result in hyperbilirubinemia that causes yellow color appearance on body and eyes.

These are the following conditions enlisted that may cause jaundice:

Acute inflammation of the liver: It restricts the flow and secretion of bilirubin.
Obstruction of the bile duct: The disposing of bilirubin from the liver is prevented by this.
Hemolytic anemia: Broken down of large quantities of Red blood cells may trigger the production of bilirubin.
Gilbert's syndrome: This is a condition which is inherited.
Cholestasis: This condition provides the interruption in the flow of bile juice from the liver. Thus, the bile which has conjugated bilirubin remains inside the liver instead of being excreted.
Here are some rarer conditions enlisted that may result in jaundice include:
Crigler-Najjar syndrome: This condition is inherited. It affects the functioning of a specific enzyme which is responsible for processing bilirubin.
Pseudo jaundice: This form of jaundice is harmless. In this, beta-carotene is the reason for the yellowing of the skin and not an excess of bilirubin. Pseudo jaundice generally happens due to the consumption of large quantities of carrot, pumpkin, or melon.

Treatment:-

Treatment of jaundice targets the cause rather than the symptoms of jaundice.

These are the following treatments which can be used:

1. Anemia-induced jaundice can be easily cured with the increase in an inappropriate amount of iron content in the blood. This can be achieved either by taking iron supplements or by eating food that poses iron content in the maximum amount.

2. Jaundice induced due to Hepatitis needs proper medications that usually cover antiviral or steroid medications.

3. Doctors can also treat obstruction-induced jaundice by removing the obstruction surgically.

4. If any kind of reaction occurs that results in jaundice then one needs to alter the medication.

Prevention:-

Jaundice is a disease which is related to the liver function. One can take the appropriate and balanced diet, perform the routine exercise. Avoid consumption of alcohol above a specific limit.