Jaundice Information

The answer to your question lies mostly in the reasons why you got jaundice in the first place. You need to understand that jaundice is a condition that is reflective of a larger problem. Jaundice is basically a condition that occurs when you have too much bilirubin in your blood.


This can indicate that you are either undergoing excessive hemolysis or that there is a problem in your liver. The more common problem is that there is a problem in the liver. The main causes of liver failure in normally healthy adults are infection from the hepatitis virus or excessive alcohol abuse.

Jaundice is a condition that occurs when the liver is damaged in some way. This is because the liver is the center of bilirubin reduction and metabolism. In the normal course of events, red blood cells die after a certain number of days. They are destroyed in the spleen and the byproducts are recycled, specifically the iron content in the hemoglobin. What is left is biliverdin which is broken down in the liver to bilirubin. This is further broken down to form bile, which is concentrated in the gall bladder and used as a digestive juice to reduce the acidity of chyme and also to help digest fats. The bile then travels along with the chyme until it reaches the colon. Here bacteria work on it to convert it into its final form to be excreted in the feces or expelled in urine if it is reabsorbed. This is the reason why urine is yellow in color. Anything that disrupts this process and causes high amounts of bilirubin is the result of liver damage. This can be confirmed with alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase tests. This will give an indication of the amount of liver inflammation as well.

To answer your question specifically, if you got the jaundice from a hepatitis infection by eating contaminated food or water, you don’t have to worry much into the future. Your liver will regenerate and repair the damage in some months. If on the other hand you got jaundice from excessive drinking, a liver biopsy for cirrhosis might be necessary. Liver cirrhosis cannot be cured and is caused by the injury to the liver tissue resulting in the formation of a scar tissue instead of regular liver cells. For now, just stay off alcohol and fatty food, stick to a boiled food diet, and do not exert yourself more than you need to.