Gilbert syndrome, also known as constitutional liver dysfunction, is a genetic disease characterized by jaundice, which causes yellowish skin and eyes, is not considered a serious disease and does not trigger major health problems and therefore the person with the syndrome lives as long as he is not a carrier of the disease and with the same quality of life.
Gilbert syndrome is more common in men and is caused by changes in a gene responsible for bilirubin degradation, i.e. with the genetic mutation, bilirubin cannot degrade, builds up in the blood and develops a yellowish appearance that characterizes this disease.
- Gilbert syndrome usually has no symptoms except jaundice.
- Which corresponds to the yellow skin and eyes.
- However.
- Some people with the disease refer to fatigue.
- Dizziness.
- Headache.
- Nausea.
- Diarrhea or constipation.
- And these symptoms are not characteristic of the disease.
- They usually occur when the person with Gilbert’s disease has an infection or is under a lot of stress.
Gilbert syndrome is not easily diagnosed because it usually has no symptoms and jaundice can often be interpreted as a sign of anemia.In addition, this disease, regardless of age, usually occurs only in times of stress, intense physical exercise, prolonged fasting, during certain febrile illnesses or during menstruation in women.
Diagnosis is made to exclude other causes of liver dysfunction and therefore unsolicited liver function tests, such as TGO or ALT, TGP or AST, and bilirubin levels, in addition to urinary tests, to evaluate the concentration of urobilinogen, blood formula and, depending on the outcome, a molecular examination to look for the mutation responsible for the disease.See what tests evaluate your liver.
Normally, liver function test results in people with Gilbert syndrome are normal, with the exception of indirect bilirubin concentration, which is greater than 2.5 mg/dL, when normal is between 0.2 and 0.7 mg/dL.Understand what direct and indirect bilirubin is.
In addition to the tests requested by the hepatologist, the physical aspects of the person, in addition to the family history, are also evaluated as a genetic and inherited disease.
There is no specific treatment for this syndrome, however certain precautions are necessary, as some medicines used to fight other diseases may not be metabolized in the liver because they have reduced activity of the enzyme responsible for it.metabolism of these drugs, such as irinotean and indinavir, respectively anticancer and antiviral.
In addition, alcoholic beverages are not recommended for people with Gilbert syndrome, as there may be permanent liver damage and lead to the progression of the syndrome and the onset of more serious diseases.