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Are Yellow Stools And Fatigue Signs Of Cirrhosis?
Question: For the last couple of days I have had yellow stools (no odor) - I had been drinking wine more than usual for the last six months due to family stress. I am somewhat fatigued but otherwise no other symptoms. Is this an indication of cirhhosis - I have stopped drinking, but should I see a change in my smptoms sometime soon?
Brief Answer:
not indication of cirrhosis
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
cirrhosis can be indicated by various symptoms signs like white nail bed, yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes, easy bruising and/or bleeding, spider angiomas on the skin, fatigue, nausea, etc
Yellow stool is usually normal. Please make sure it doesn't look like clay (or whitish) because this is a different story...
Yellow stool can be caused by rapid passage of the stool (green is more common in such a case though), decreased bilirubin concentration (for example in cases with liver or pancreatic tumors or inflammation), certain parasites (giardia)... Measuring blood levels of bilirubin should suffice to exclude that. An upper abdominal ultrasound scan would be helpful to assess the organs that participate in bilirubin metabolism and excretion.
Quitting drinking would be a wise choice because it can harm your liver (and other organs). Women in particular have more sensitive livers than men and may develop cirrhosis and other liver injury sooner and with lower alcohol consumption.
I hope you find my comments helpful!
You can contact me again, if you'd like any clarification or further information.
Kind Regards!
not indication of cirrhosis
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
cirrhosis can be indicated by various symptoms signs like white nail bed, yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes, easy bruising and/or bleeding, spider angiomas on the skin, fatigue, nausea, etc
Yellow stool is usually normal. Please make sure it doesn't look like clay (or whitish) because this is a different story...
Yellow stool can be caused by rapid passage of the stool (green is more common in such a case though), decreased bilirubin concentration (for example in cases with liver or pancreatic tumors or inflammation), certain parasites (giardia)... Measuring blood levels of bilirubin should suffice to exclude that. An upper abdominal ultrasound scan would be helpful to assess the organs that participate in bilirubin metabolism and excretion.
Quitting drinking would be a wise choice because it can harm your liver (and other organs). Women in particular have more sensitive livers than men and may develop cirrhosis and other liver injury sooner and with lower alcohol consumption.
I hope you find my comments helpful!
You can contact me again, if you'd like any clarification or further information.
Kind Regards!
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
I do not have the symptoms you mentioned that coincide with cirrhosis; however a decreased bilirubin concentration sounds more likely since inflammation may be a factor (the yellow stool occurred rather suddenly and after some heavy drinking without eating very much). Other than curtailing alcohol use, is there anything you would recommend if such inflammation exists. Thank you.
Brief Answer:
no symptoms, no inflammation
Detailed Answer:
Inflammatory conditions of the pancreas (like chronic pancreatitis) and the liver (like hepatitis) due cause symptoms, so it's very unlikely that you have any of them. The diseases I've mentioned for example may cause severe pain (chronic pancreatitis and malabsorption with greasy, foul smelling stool that remain afloat in the water) or loss of appetite, yellowing of the skin, nausea, perhaps abdominal pain, etc in hepatitis.
I think that if you don't have any symptoms besides the stool, there is no serious reason to do anything more than an ultrasound scan of the upper abdomen and perhaps also simple blood tests like the ones I've mentioned in my previous answer.
Kind Regards!
no symptoms, no inflammation
Detailed Answer:
Inflammatory conditions of the pancreas (like chronic pancreatitis) and the liver (like hepatitis) due cause symptoms, so it's very unlikely that you have any of them. The diseases I've mentioned for example may cause severe pain (chronic pancreatitis and malabsorption with greasy, foul smelling stool that remain afloat in the water) or loss of appetite, yellowing of the skin, nausea, perhaps abdominal pain, etc in hepatitis.
I think that if you don't have any symptoms besides the stool, there is no serious reason to do anything more than an ultrasound scan of the upper abdomen and perhaps also simple blood tests like the ones I've mentioned in my previous answer.
Kind Regards!
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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