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Gilbert syndrome & thyroid disorders

My last labs showed that my bilirubin was 1.7 (0.2-1.2) my doctor ordered a repeat test along with my thyroid tests that I will have drawn in 2 weeks (6 weeks after my med increase). She suspects Gilbert Syndrome. Is there some sort of connection between GS and thyroid disorders since the conversion process takes place in the liver?
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Avatar universal
Interesting. My temp is still in the 97's. Will be interesting to see if eczema goes away if/when my temp comes back up to normal.
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1756321 tn?1547095325
I've never heard of GS as a suspected autoimmune disease before. Hmmm.  
Some physicians consider eczema an autoimmune condition although this may not be the case.  This condition does appear 3 times more frequently with celiac disease and two times more frequently in relatives of those with celiac diseases however. This is why gluten sensitivity is suspected as a possible root cause for eczema although that is still unconfirmed.

I found an article (lol) called My Pompholyx Cure (pompholyx is another term for your condition) which is interesting...

"Having discovered and decided that I had a low body temperature, and having also decided, in my own opinion, this was not right, I became convinced this was the reason why my immune system was compromised and my health was failing. Maybe this lowered temperature had compromised my immune system in some way? I needed to see if it was possible fix it and I needed to find a way to do it, if indeed it could be done.

Maybe fixing my low temperature might help optimise my immune system? Perhaps someone in the big wide world had done this? Perhaps someone had identified that living with a temperature of 35.8C was not enabling optimal immune system function and had raised their own temperature to the so called 'normal' of 37C?"

"As soon as I had started to function at my new temperature set point of 37C or 98.6F I noticed some immediate health improvements. One was my pompholyx. It began to gradually disappear, the itching subsided and the blister occurrences reduced. My feet cleared up completely, but I would still have the odd out break on my hands.

As part of my breast cancer protocol I had been introduced to an iodine protocol. When I started taking iodine the remaining pompholyx lesions cleared up and it has now stopped erupting completely."
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Avatar universal
Update!
A rash I've had on my finger for 2 yrs flared up again. The doctor diagnosed it as Dyshidrotic eczema, he Rx'ed cream to treat it.
I asked him about my bilirubin test I had done through another doctor in the same office. My previous doctor said it was most likely Fatty Liver. He was 100% confident it's Gilbert's Syndrome. He mentioned there's a huge debate among doctors if to call GS an autoimmune disorder.
Is the eczema an autoimmune disorder? The doctor said it wasn't but it seems odd that it started 2 yrs ago and it looks to be a life long problem.
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1756321 tn?1547095325
No worries. :)  
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Avatar universal
Cool! I knew I could count on you!! Thank you! :)
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1756321 tn?1547095325
Oh that mumbo jumbo lol.

I just had a look at the study and posted the info most relevent info*. That said, with a thyroid imbalance, all other studies I've come across show hypothyroidism increases the activity of bilirubin UDP-glucuronyltransferase and hyperthyroidism decreases this activity.

Mercks Manual on causes of Jaundice...

"Decreased hepatic conjugation

Common: Gilbert syndrome

Less common: Ethinyl estradiol, Crigler-Najjar syndrome, hyperthyroidism"

***

*Oxford Journal - The relationship between the thyroid gland and the liver...

"There is also evidence that hypothyroidism may directly affect the liver structure or function. Hypothyroidism has been associated in a few case reports with cholestatic jaundice attributed to reduced bilirubin and bile excretion. In experimental hypothyroidism, the activity of bilirubin UDP‐glucuronyltransferase is decreased, resulting in a reduction in bilirubin excretion.55"

"Recent studies have shown that the hepatic abnormalities associated with hypothyroidism can be reversible over a matter of weeks with thyroxine replacement, with no residual liver damage.57,,58"
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Avatar universal
Found this interesting.
http://www.justanswer.com/medical/3f4u7-hypothyroidism-high-bilirubin-corelated.html

Went to the link provided and got lost in the Medical mumbo jumbo but figured you'd be able to read it. ;)
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Avatar universal
Wow! Interesting. There seems to be a few out there that are to understand a problem that doctors haven't yet figured out...why most have both hypo and GS. That's an interesting study though hoping they go further with it.
Thank you! I'll try to keep the real pronunciation of that word in mind. :)
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1756321 tn?1547095325
Always blame the other side of the family hehe. A good question about Gilbert's (pronounced jeelbear's since it's french ooh la la lol) and thyroid hormone. My mother hasn't started thyroxine yet so I can't say from any second hand experience on the matter yet.

What I did find was that the UGT1A1 activity which is working at about 30% capacity in Gilbert's Syndrome is also one of the enzymes needed for glucuronidation of thyroxine. Interesting.

Excerpts from the study: Glucuronidation of Thyroxine in Human Liver, Jejunum, and Kidney Microsomes...

"It has been reported that administration of UGT inducers such as phenytoin, carbamazepine (Isojarvi et al., 1992), and rifampicin (Ohnhaus and Studer, 1983) markedly decreased serum thyroxine levels in patients. Thus, glucuronidation is a major metabolic pathway to control the serum thyroxine level."

"In conclusion, we characterized the thyroxine glucuronidation in human liver, intestine, and kidney microsomes and found that UGT1A1 in the liver, UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 in the intestine, and UGT1A7, UGT1A9, and UGT1A10 in the kidney mainly contribute to the activity. The change of activities of these UGTs via inhibition and induction by administered drugs (Kiang et al., 2005) as well as genetic polymorphisms (Miners et al., 2002) may be a causal factor of interindividual differences in the plasma thyroxine concentration."


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Avatar universal
Thank you for your response!
I noticed a few chat sites where there were a few that had both GS and hypothyroidism. Wondering if GS affects the conversion process with thyroid meds, I'm on Armour?
When I told my mom about the possibility that I might have GS, she gave the typical answer "I'm sure that came from your dad's side." LOL!
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1756321 tn?1547095325
My mother has Gilbert's Syndrome and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Not sure if there is any connection other than both are genetic conditions.

Her symptoms due to Gilbert's Syndrome, that I know of, includes yellowish skin, gallstones (gallbladder taken out at age 21); issues with metabolizing drugs - falls asleep on one paracetamol, once developed paracetomol toxicity, anaesthetic (was asleep in hospital all day after surgery); sweats excessively taking higher doses of vitamin D and omega 3 as the liver has a hard time processing it.
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