Question:

I have some info, but I don’t think it applies to your situation.  I was taking high levels of beta carotene  for my I.B.S..  The high levels of beta c. was causing high levels of my bilirubin. sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.

Response:

Hi! I am not sure this is the right place to ask (cannot find misc.health) the following but I hope someone will direct me to the correct group or comment on my problem: Short version:  After two month of observation my doctor still thinks that I should wait out the high level of bilirubin (over 8.5 mg/dl) in my blood before I can have my gallbladder taken out. Long version:  In September, I was having severe abdominal pain which continued for several days. I attributed it to my peptic ulcer flare-ups (was consumming spicy food on a daily basis and was too busy to think otherwise).  At that time, I had just started to use prescription doses of Tagamet to fight the peptic ulcer (until that time, I was using either the over-the-counter drug "Pecid" or suffer through the flare-ups). The pain eventually left me but it was gradually being replaced by itches all over my body. I went to see my doctor and blood test results showed high levels of bilirubin, ALP-alkaline phosphata, ALt-alanin Transamina, Amylase and Ast-Aspartate Transamina.  After two weeks, however, only the bilirubin level stayed high and all tests for various liver diseases came negative.  Eventually, I had a cat-scan which showed inflammed gallbladder.  A liver biopsy showed nothing but the possibility of having a drug reaction to the Tagamet (later, I found that the makers of Tagamet warn for such a possibility!)   It is now almost three months since the initial symptoms (jaundice) appeared; I still have a high level of bilirubin; My doctor says I should wait it out and as soon as the bilirubin level is back to normal I should have the gallbladder taken out. My questions are:   1. Can you have jaundice due to cholecystitis (inflammed    gallbladder)? 2. How long can the bilirubin stay in elevated state if there    is no other liver problem? 3. How long does it take for the liver to recover from a drug    reaction (assuming all drug reactions take as much time for    the liver to heal thyself)? My "gut feeling" tells me that 1) the liver has already recovered from the drug reaction I had (two and one-half months since I took the Tagamet) and 2) the bilirubin will stay in elevated state as long as I have the inflammed gallbladder (cholecystitis). The good doctor does not agree (but then again he is the doctor, albeit a "young" doctor thus my reason for looking for a "second opinion") Any comment much appreciated! David

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