Be Mindful of Every Bruise

(Newswire.net — August 18, 2018) Cheyenne, Wyoming — Ever noticed a light yellowish hue around a bruise? Well, that’s due to bilirubin, a by-product of damaged red blood cells. As red blood cells degenerate, they need to be discarded of and in this process, bilirubin is produced as the liver works to expel it through stool and small amount through urine but sometimes things don’t work exactly according to this plan. 

“Your liver takes the bilirubin from your blood and changes its chemical make-up so that most of it is passed through your poop as bile,” explains WebMD.com. “If your bilirubin levels are higher than normal, it’s a sign that either your red blood cells are breaking down at an unusual rate or that your liver isn’t breaking down waste properly and clearing the bilirubin from your blood.” 

There are three main things that can cause bilirubin levels to rise and evolve into jaundice – before, during and after bilirubin production are all critical stages where an issue can develop. Hemolytic anemia can cause a high concentration of bilirubin as too many red blood cells get broken down before reaching the liver so it’s important to monitor bilirubin levels consistently.

 “The red blood cells have a lifespan of around 120 days and they are continually renewed,” explains Medical News Today. “Red blood cells contain hemoglobin and it is this that gets broken down into bilirubin and other substances. The bilirubin is carried to the liver by albumin. Once in the liver, bilirubin gets “conjugated.” This means it becomes water-soluble and can be excreted. Unconjugated bilirubin is toxic, but conjugated bilirubin is not because it is removed from the body.” 

This is why it’s a pretty big deal to test for bilirubin in urine frequently as early detection of any issues can help circumvent major problems in the future. The HealthyWiser™ Complete 10 Parameter Urinalysis Reagent Strips can keep one abreast of this and other similarly important information as it detects bilirubin, glucose, protein, pH, leukocytes, nitrites, ketones, blood, urobilinogen and specific gravity levels with precision.  

“I kept having problems with my urine and kidney-area pain but every time I went to urgent care, tests came back clear,” shares a verified HealthyWiser™ Complete 10 Parameter Urinalysis Reagent Strips customer on Amazon. “This helped me confirm something has been wrong and showing a doctor the result helped them pay attention to me. Finally a culture came back for a rare, antibiotic resistant type of strep and I am finally able to get treated after several months. It might have taken several more months or my situation to have gotten worse to get the sneaky bacteria or blood/bilirubin I was seeing to show up when I went to the clinic.”