High Direct Bilirubin level?

[vcamp90]

Hi there.
I am a 23 year old male, and starting three months ago now I've been experiencing intestinal problems. Frequent bowel movements in the morning, loose-watery stools, flatulence and burping and general discomfort. I first had general blood work done and everything came back normal. Then I had an ultrasound scan of my abdomen and a slightly enlarged liver came back with no damage, lots of gas present, but everything else was normal. Seeing that I wasn't improving or feeling better, my doctor had me tested for H.pylori and also had me do my liver blood work again this time including Bilirubin. H.pylori came back positive, I am currently on antibiotics. Everything was normal besides the direct Bilirubin level was high at 0,35 mg/dL, which is worrying me greatly. I've been reading all sorts of horrifying things on the internet and I'm quite the hypochondriac so you can just imagine how I feel at the moment. Is this a reason for  immediate concern and should I seek medical attention again? I've been in and out of doctors lately and have been taking all kind of meds, just can't take it any more. Thanks.

[obamabieber]

As an addendum, the liver cells are good @ recovery, if it's the picture u r painting, then no cause for alarm! Just let those doctors do their work....stay healthy!

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

For Direct (also called conjugated) bilirubin the normal range is 0 to 0.3 mg/dL. Your values are within the range. An enlarged liver can occur due to infections/inflammations or the liver or due to cardiac cause like right heart failure. It needs to be determined what is causing the enlargement. Sometimes besides blood tests and imaging studies, a biopsy may needed to make  a diagnosis. Please discuss this with your doctor am sure he will provide further assistance.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.