Hi @Danny, may I know where do you receive your treatment? I’m concerning about the cost of treatment and I have book an appointment at government hospital this month, not sure how it will go.
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Hi Sslim, I’m from Kuching and recieved my treatment at Borneo Medical Centre Hospital under Gastroenterologist Dr Simon Huang. Well not really sure how much the government hospital will charge you for HBV treatment but guess is very minimal charges. For me the cost of treatment at Borneo Medical Centre Hosoital is around Rm800 (every six months blood tests, ultrasound and consultation fees). While the cost of monthly perscribed HBV Entecavir medicine is RM210.
So it depending on your budget if you want fast service for the treatment but higher charges is at private hospital.u
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Finally just met with a doctor at government hospital today after 2 months of waiting. I told him I would like to start treatment and he was okay because my ALT 40 and HBV DNA 47100 if follow WHO 2024 treatment guidelines. The doctor prescribed tenofovir disoproxil fumarate for me. Wish me luck. 
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Jack Wallace reacted to your message:
Hi sslim how are you doing, I’m happy you are able to get medication from the Government hospital. I hope will seek the medication from the government hospital also in the future. How much the government hospital charge you for tenofovir and the rest of the test?
Regards
Danny Chin
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Hi Danny, I’m fine. So far I only paid once which is RM1 for the first visit to klinik kesihatan. I don’t pay the blood tests, ultrasound and fibroscan. No one ask me to pay, so I assume it is free. And for the medicine, after I collected the medicine from pharmacy counter, I just went home straight. And they only give me enough pill till the next appointment day.
Cheers,
sslim
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Hi Ssim good to hear that you got your appointment and free HBV medical test and perscribed you with tenofovir. I will plan to go to our malaysia government hospital in my city for my HBV quarterly checking and monitoring.
Thank you.
Regards
Danny
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Hello – on the topic of deciding when to start treatment, I have been reading a lot here and many of those who said they are starting treatment have viral levels in the millions… My recent blood test from 2 weeks ago has shown my viral load is now 29,500iu/ML which is the highest it has ever been. The last highest was 9000iu/ML 2 years ago. Normally aside from that it was below 4000iu/ML and sometimes undetectable so a lot of fluctuation.
My doctor wants me to start treatment now because of the high viral load.
Note also that March and April of this year my ALT and AST showed elevated (right at the ULN) but at that time my viral load was low (about 400-500 iu/ML).
Can anyone speculate on what these changes may mean? I am still waiting for my recent liver function panel with ALT/AST levels to come back and I also need to schedule an ultrasound. But in the meantime I am looking for some explanation because I am riddled with anxiety and worrying every second that I am dying. I am also not sure how fast liver damage can progress, like if I want another week or two or three for the results, and then more to start treatment while I research, will my liver already be more damaged??
Help!
Hello @kostas
Thanks for sharing. I understand your worries and concerns.
I have been on medication for years now.
I Felt the same as you in the beginning. I did not want to be on medication for the rest of my life. I was worried about the side-effects. I was worried what I was gonna do to me and the rest of my body, but I have been on it for years and have not had any major side-effects. I was nausea in the beginning, but that subsided now it is just a part of my life. And I’m grateful for the medication because it has stopped virus from damaging my liver. I cannot answer your question about how long you have if you have weeks to research but a lot of us have been on medication for a long time. Hopefully they will answer you soon
@ThomasTu @Bansah1 @availlant
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Dear @kostas ,
First please do not feel so anxious, you are not dying.
For many patients, they live many years with inactive HBV (where HBV DNA is low and liver function is normal and liver inflammation is absent in the the absence of treatment).
Sometimes, this situation changes and the infection in your liver becomes more active. In some cases, this can be a temporary HBV DNA flare which returns back to lower levels, but in some cases, this can signal the beginning of a more active phase of viral infection which can lead to liver inflammation (hepatitis).
In this case you simply need to start antiviral therapy. The medicines available now are very easy to take and very safe and very effective in controlling viral replication and preventing / reversing liver inflammation. These effects are important to prevent complications from long term liver inflammation (fibrosis and cirrhosis).
If your last ALT result was at the ULN, liver inflammation is likely very low but you will get more information with your pending liver function tests and liver ultrasound. Even if these tests show some moderate inflammation, this will respond well to starting antiviral therapy.
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Hi Mihai,
I’m also from Romania (although currently living in the UK) and have been diagnosed with chronic hep B since 2010. I have a similar situation to you in terms of test results although my DNA levels have been increasing over the past years. I am seriously considering treatment at this stage. I was therefore curious how you have been doing since starting on entecavir (I have followed this thread and I believe you said you have managed to start treatment recently). Any short term side effects?
All the best!
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Hi Anca,
Yes, I’ve been taking Entecavir 5mg for the past 5 months now (starting April 1st). The only significant side effect I had was only in the first day, when I felt sick and dizzy. But it went away the next day.
I just did today another round of blood tests, and the only concern I have is with the GGT level, which increased from 55 U/L to 78 U/L. While the AST and ALT levels stayed within the normal range.
I’m still waiting for the other results, DNA load, HBsAg etc. And I’ll have a doctor appointment next week to find out what’s the thing with that GGT level increase. Then I’ll also plan to do another fibroscan test to see if I’m still at F0.
I’ll try to keep you guys updated here.
Good luck and stay safe!
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Thanks for the reply availlant. My ALT and AST were well within normal range now. I will get an ultrasound done next week and then my doctor will advise on what to do next. But in the meantime thanks for your reassuring reply, I am feeling not as scared now.
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