After a long weekend of binge drinking, eating takeaways and not sleeping much its to safe to say I wasn’t feeling my best. However I didn’t expect to wake up on a Monday morning with unbearable stomach cramps and yellow eyes and skin. It didn’t take long until I was at the doctors having blood tests to find out why I was looking like a Simpsons character.
The jaundice faded but I was diagnosed with a minor condition called Gilbert’s Syndrome.
Gilbert’s syndrome is when the yellow substance found naturally in the blood (Bilirubin) increases and starts to build up. It is a genetic disorder that’s hereditary and according to UK statistics around 1 in 20 people have Gilbert’s.
It took me a while to understand what it was, and accept the changes that I had to make to my diet in order to avoid this short period of jaundice and fatigue. There are a few symptoms of Gilbert’s including nausea, dizziness, IBS, brain fog, and fatigue. Although Gilbert’s is not a medicated condition it helps to know what triggers you may have and how you can prevent feeling unwell.
I took the steps to cut out alcohol, fatty and oily foods (only sticking to the good fats) and anything made with MSG. My doctor recommended the Paleo diet, and although I had heard from other GS sufferers it worked well, unfortunately after my 3 month trial it made me feel worse.
It’s been a year and a half since my diagnosis and I feel healthier than I have ever felt before. Of course I treat myself to the occasional chicken kebab and my diet isn’t too strict but all the little things I have changed have paid off.
GS doesn’t pose a risk to health and doesn’t cause complications, yes there are some medications I now can’t take but overall GS hasn’t restricted my life whatsoever.
My message to other GS sufferers is look at changing your diet, take care of your body and you will feel fine. Just because you get diagnosed or labelled as something it doesn’t mean that you can’t carry on living your life, and there is plenty of other illnesses in the world that are far worse than a having a few days of jaundice and fatigue.
To anyone else that may think they have GS, go and get tested and then find out what triggers your symptoms so you can change it.
I’m happy my body reacted the way it did otherwise nothing would have changed and I would living an unhealthy lifestyle.
Thanks for reading, leave a comment below and tell me all about health issues you may face and how you cope with them.
Gee
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