Re: elevated bilirubin

[Guest guest]

I found out today that when I was in the hospital last week with a flare of

pancreatitis, my bilirubin was elevated. I knew my liver enzymes, ALT and

AST were elevated and that my panc enzymes were normal. Those are normal

occurences for me when I have a flare of pancreatitis, but my bilirubin has

never been elevated even though I do have autoimmune hepatitis. It was

8.8, which probably isn't all that bad, but since it's never been elevated

before I'm wondering why it was elevated this time. I think the GI that

admitted me didn't mention the elevated bilirubin because he assumed it was

normal for me.

They had called in an infectious disease doc because I had a positive blood

culture on June 29th and had started back running a fever after completing

the second round of antibiotics. When I told him I have autoimmune

hepatitis, he said, " Oh, so it's not unusual for you to be jaundiced then. "

I said, " I guess not. "

but I thought it was odd for him to say that because if I was jaundiced I

didn't know it and also I had assumed that my bilirubin was well in the

normal range as it always is.

I don't even know if they ever repeated my liver enzymes and bilirubin

before discharging me on Saturday. I'm going to go to the hospital and get

copies of all the labs they did so at least if my liver enzymes and

bilirubin were back down to normal before they discharged me I can assume

that they were all just elevated from the flare of pancreatitis.

Has anyone had an elevated bilirubin when having an attack of pancreatitis?

My alkaline phosphatase was also elevated, but again that's normal with my

attacks of pancreatitis. The docs think my cp is at least partially

autoimmune in nature because I have so many autoimmune diseases. My GI also

thinks that when I have flares I have some transient blockage in the bile

duct that is relieved after a couple of days of being NPO.

W

[Guest guest]

,

I don't know if my bilirubin has been elevated when I have an attack of

pancreatitis, but I have been jaundiced several times, though I wasn't

aware of the fact. I only found out because during an attack sometime in

the past three years (can't remember which one), my brother said I

wasn't as yellow as I had been on several other previous attack. That

particular attack wasn't as severe as some have been, so I guess I only

get jaundiced on my really severe acute attacks.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.