Does anyone know much about gilbert disease?
Gilbert’s (pronounced ‘jeelbear’) syndrome is relatively common and affects around one in 50 people, usually from teenage years onwards. It was first described by the French physician Gilbert in 1907 and is an inherited condition. Men are affected twice as often as women. It’s usually discovered by chance during blood tests examining the function of the liver, as it’s uncommon for Gilbert’s syndrome to cause any symptoms. It’s identified when these blood tests show raised levels of a substance called bilirubin. Bilirubin is a greenish-yellow pigment produced as waste when the haemoglobin in blood is recycled. It’s made in the liver and excreted in bile. People with Gilbert’s syndrome have a deficiency of one of the enzymes needed for this process, so slightly more bilirubin than normal appears in the blood. Possible problems Although in general it doesn’t cause any symptoms, bilirubin levels can rise during times of stress, fever, fasting, surgery or after drinking alcohol. Under these
