Jaundice - Causes and Home Remedies

Jaundice

Jaundice is the yellow color seen in the skin of many newborns. It happens when a chemical called bilirubin builds up in the baby’s blood. Jaundice can occur in babies of any race or color. This is usually a temporary condition, but may be a more serious sign of another illness. Jaundice is caused by the breakdown of red blood cells. As the old cells are broken down, hemoglobin is changed into bilirubin and removed by the liver.

There are two kinds of jaundice. The first is known as physiological jaundice and is common in newborn babies. It usually becomes noticeable during the baby’s first three to five days of life. It disappears as the baby’s liver matures. This type of jaundice is not harmful.

People may have itching, light-colored stools, or other symptoms, depending on the cause of jaundice. For example, acute inflammation of the liver (acute hepatitis) may cause loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and fever. Blockage of bile may result in abdominal pain and fever. There are three types of jaundice that affects adults are:

• Hemolytic jaundice
• Hepatocellular jaundice and
• Obstructive jaundice

Causes of Jaundice

Jaundice may be caused by an obstruction of the bile ducts which normally discharge bile salts and pigment into the intestine. The bile gets mixed with blood and this gives a yellow pigmentation to the skin. Jaundice may be caused by a number of factors such as :-

• An obstruction of the bile duct, often due to a tumor or gallstone
• Hepatitis: an inflammation of the liver
• Biliary stricture: a narrowing of the duct that transports bile from the liver to the small intestine
• Cirrhosis: a slowly progressing disease in which healthy liver tissue is replaced with scar tissue, eventually preventing the liver from functioning properly
• Pancreatic cancer
• Inadequate blood flow to the liver
• Congenital disorders involving bilirubin
• Malaria: a serious and sometimes fatal disease in humans caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes

Home Remedies for Jaundice

*Mesh a ripe banana along with one tablespoon of honey and eat it twice a day, or take 1/2 teaspoon of ginger juice with one teaspoon of fresh lime and mint. The juice of Bel fruit is also good for the lever.
*Boil 1 cup of water, when it boils adds 8-10 lemon leaves. Cover and leave for 4-5 minutes. Drink the decoction for 4-5 days.
* Take 1/2 tsp of ginger juice, 1 tsp mint juice and 1tsp lime juice to be taken as often as possible.
*Drinking tomato juice with a pinch of salt early in the morning is highly beneficial.
Oils, fried foods, butter, turmeric, spicy food, pickles and sour products should be avoided.

Jaundice may be caused by an obstruction of the bile ducts which normally discharge bile salts and pigment into the intestine. The bile gets mixed with blood and this gives a yellow pigmentation to the skin.

Alien writes for Home remedies . Check out home remedies for common cold and you might be interested in how to get of backheads.

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