Hello all-
I want to ask -
is it common in PSC to become jaundiced over-night-meaning
go to bed 1 night and wake up jaundiced the next day?
A brief yes/no is just enough.
Thanks.
From my experience, it isn't uncommon for symptoms to pop up overnight. When it happens, it is very important to check in with your doctor and report on what's going on.
Bradniko --
This is a little more than a brief yes/no, but I think it is useful to know why it is important to check with your Dr.
A few years ago I went into full-on liver failure between 3 PM and certainly by 2 AM that night. I reconstructed the 3 PM time afterwards. I know at that time I was reading and understanding some difficult material. And at 2 AM I woke not able to remember going to bed or even anything I had done that day, the encephalopathy had set in that hard. I don't think I had seizures that night, but certainly by the next day I was having those as well. I do not know, but I assume, that I was also jaundiced. I was certainly yellow when I went to the hospital 48 hours later.
So I'd strongly support jtb's sentiment that it is important to check with your Dr if any symptoms are coming up. In a very few hours I lost the self-awareness to question what was happening or to think it might be serious. I had this vague thought that I might have a cold or something, that is all. I didn't get the medical attention I needed until an outside person saw what was going on.
1st of all - thank your 4 your replies. (time's precious)
2nd - asking because of an experience (that was dealt with in an approp. med. setting).
I have to ask...
How can bile duct strictures grow overnight to block the bile drainage to produce cholestasis (biliary blockage)?
Thank you.
Bile duct structures can appear overnight because it is not a growth, but most of the time, an inflammation. Inflammatory response can be very quick. I don’t know that it is always an inflammation or how quickly jaundice can happen, but I do agree that I would check with my doctor right away.
Strictures. Silly autocorrect.
1st of all thank you for your reply!
Oh I have,
I wouldn't have used this discussion as a substitute for prof. advice. I understand the disclaimers.
I've never been jaundiced, just woke up that way one morning - no pain whatsoever. just a mild fever.
Went to the ER.
no Hep ABCDE
they did acetaminophen level even though i said i haven't taken it in years
I literally had to have my family explain to the dr.s that this jaundice happened in less than a day - they were skeptical.
normal Ultrasound no bile duct dilatation just some fat deposits
they told me an ERCP is in order to check for CC, stones - caved in because of the "stones"
they did the sphincterotomy, dilated and stented the common duct - no stones or malignancy, just some fibrosed tissue that apparently grew overnight and stopped the drainage in 12 hrs time.
If it wasn't for the jaundice I would have stayed home, I had worse stomachaches as a child that I didn't even go to the doctor for.
Now after stenting/dilaton my bili's going up - no pain, fever, just malaise. They want another ultrasound to
see what's going on. As if the ERCP didn't do much for me.
Still preplexed as far as why this could happen.
Hi Bradniko,
Are your stents still in place? I would be concerned with leaving stents in for any length of time as that will not prevent the ducts from stricture again right in the middle of the stent. I'd follow up with your hepatologist about that one soon if you still have them.
They put it silicon stents that migrate on their own in a day and the radiology confirmed that they have cleared the duct.
Thank you all for your concern.
These were temp. stents as they saw no need for a titanium stent. They had me stay until the stents migrated on their own into the tract and discharged me as soon as that happened.
Wow, I've never heard of that type of stent. Well we all are learning from one another. Thanks for clearing that up. I do hope your ducts will stay clear for a long time. I had 2 ERCP's in the fall of last year within 2 months of each other. Those things are not pleasant at all as you well know.
Thank you. Oh they are 2-2.5 inches ling just a few millimeters thick, bendable, like a thin drinking straw, spaghetti like.
I'm not afraid of the scope or stents it's the ammount of ionizing radation one gets during the ordeal under the fluoroscope that buggs me - all the vital organs x-rayed with a dose equivilent to 233 x-rays in 1 interventional ERCP.
If anyone else fears the reprecussions of the radiological aspect of ERCPs and its possible later rerprecussions of being exposed to ionizing radiation, here's some research on how certain plants like onions and ginger protect the genes against x-ray radiaton induced DNA damage - I hope you will find it interesting:
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/reducing-radiation-damage-with-ginger-and-lemon-balm/
This is peer reviewed medical journal info on healing properties of foods presented by Dr. Greger of nutritionfacts.org - it's a legit medical news site.
The silicone stents - I mentioned, they call them "Large silicone stents (9-28 French)" more info for you fcmmark and others - they reduce the incidence of cholangitis and pancreatitis apparently.:
Maybe, in my experience it was gradual and all of a sudden it escalated and I had to have a balloon put in to alleviate the blockage. Definitely go to, your doctor!!!!
Treat it as a life threatening emergency!!! You could have blockage in your common bile duct causing the dramatic increase in your bilirubin. Wishing you a speedy & complete recovery!!
Hi Bob, I know this is off track, but you mentioned seizures. My partner had what I would term severe seizure- like movements in the night. I could not wake him up. This involved mostly his legs and hands and at times his whole body. What he got up in the AM he had not recollection of a troubled night and seemed pretty much his regular mild-pSC- symptom self. I , on the other hand had a terrible and frightful night. I have not heard of seizures with PSC. Any feedback would be great. Thanks and I do hope you are doing well.
Bob said:
Bradniko –
This is a little more than a brief yes/no, but I think it is useful to know why it is important to check with your Dr.
A few years ago I went into full-on liver failure between 3 PM and certainly by 2 AM that night. I reconstructed the 3 PM time afterwards. I know at that time I was reading and understanding some difficult material. And at 2 AM I woke not able to remember going to bed or even anything I had done that day, the encephalopathy had set in that hard. I don’t think I had seizures that night, but certainly by the next day I was having those as well. I do not know, but I assume, that I was also jaundiced. I was certainly yellow when I went to the hospital 48 hours later.
So I’d strongly support jtb’s sentiment that it is important to check with your Dr if any symptoms are coming up. In a very few hours I lost the self-awareness to question what was happening or to think it might be serious. I had this vague thought that I might have a cold or something, that is all. I didn’t get the medical attention I needed until an outside person saw what was going on.
Dolphin --
Seizures are serious, and at least in my case they were a result of a serious liver flareup. It does not surprise me that your partner had no recollection of it afterward. I think that is usual, if it was actual seizures.
In my case, I was told that the seizures were a result of the combination of having had a traumatic brain injury in 2009, and liver failure and severe toxin build-up at the time of the seizures in 2010.
I don't know what to make of the fact that your partner was his "regular mild-PSC-symptom self" the next morning. For me the fact that my liver function was so low that I was seizing meant hospitalization and a long recovery. But if he was really seizing, i'd think that in itself was reason enough to get medical help.
-- Bob