Disclosing CHB in Casual Relationships

Absolutely. The feeling that some have about having hep b and not able to find a good relationship… sucks. Because that maybe or is the main reason. Also have to remember people without hep b also has similar rejections.

Yes, people break rules for people they like/love and would give time of day to people they don’t like.

Having hepatitis b sucks and disclosing your hep b to someone you like sucks more, especially if they reject you. Men probably get rejected more than women do for a relationship if they have hep b. Just means that person isn’t or wasn’t for you.

My advice to anyone with hep b trying to date. Go on many dates and chances are you ll find someone. Just ask yourself, would you date you. If yes great, maybe or no, do some self improving. Work out, learn a skill, focus on you and someone will find that attractive. Chances are one with hep b with reject the other partner who is not hep b infected.

Stay strong and focus on your health

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:pray:t2: thank you for support. God bless :sunny:

Yes, I’m in that club for 5 years already… just you know how I can build a strong healthy relationsp with person without telling the truth… heartbreaking part that the truth is only make it worse. I don’t know how to live life further…. It’s better to find somebody how I had been suggested with same condition.

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I hear you and feel the same pain even though I have a wonderful wife. That’s a whole other level on the HBV “dating” story.
Denny

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Same, it was extremely difficult to get myself to start new relationships with CHB, some people are shallow and hold it against you to force you to compromise for them. After some failed attempts, I was able to find someone that didn’t have a problem with the condition, and we currently have a good relationship.

Most of mine insecurities comes with high stress work situations, and I feel that I cannot perform as well as others that don’t have CHB due to my racing thoughts about my condition when under stress…, but that’s more of a mental issue than actual health risk.

Just trying to manage those anxieties and keep performing at work until a cure comes along.

A7xImpulse.

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I often feel like there are more mental health issues with this disease than there are physical ones. I went through a really rough 7months of multiple symptoms from HBV but the mental ones do not go away…I’ve managed to control them for the most part but they’re always there…
Denny

Hi, everyone. I want to follow up on my condition. It’s not getting any better. I’ve made a mistake and disclosed my status to one man form work, now I have anxiety, I cannot work further I basically ruined my life to the ground. I am really close to suicide. I don’t care anymore for my future, because I’m alone. Have no one. I wonder how people overcome stigma, how they overcome rejection and loss of self confidence and work place, please share your experiences. I would really appreciate that

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Hi @Fckhbvstigma,
Sorry to hear about this; harming yourself is not the best solution. What did your co-worker say or do when you shared your status with him? Your life should not be ruined because you have HBV or told someone about it. If that person does not want to be friends with you or talk to you, it sucks but that is their loss. Self-stigmatization is worse than anything you can imagine. Lift your head, take a deep breath, and live your life.

I hope you know that we can make friends with others without sharing our status. It is our choice when we want to share that. You are stronger than you think, so do not give up on your life. It can be hard living with this disease but try to adapt to it. Remember Beyonce’s song, “When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade out of it.” Do the best you can given your situation. Don’t throw your life away because of HBV. Hold on tight. Best, Bansah1

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Thank you for the kind words, but that’s the thing, you can be friends as long as they assume you’re clean. The moment you disclose there is a shift, always were, always will be. That’s the point… funny how stupid virus can ruin the life. I don’t care anymore about anything I will anyway gonna die from hbv or from cancer, it’s doesn’t matter, ppl all die. The fact that I missed so much life, relationships, kids. I did not manage to build this up while I was not sick before my 25. Everyone is living with limitations, but this one is the worse. I am afraid to go to the doctors, cause I always fear of a bad treatment after a disclosure, which is proven to be true. I have varicose because of this condition, let’s be honest ppl do look sick with that condition. There is a difference between healthy people and me, I can see that and I’m not delusional it’s just a fact (spider veins all over face, body etc.). I was not on therapy cause my viral load 2.0 x 10^3, it fluctuated, once I had 1.1x10^3 (last year after covid and high temperature). Fibroscan F1 (5.9-6.2), HBeAg negative since 2018. The most devastating part is knowing that you have to make a peace with this limitations, living alone, not having kids, just pretend to live normal, knowing that a big part of it is closed forever. OR look around for the same ppl with hbv, but where can I find them, it’s not easy. Stigma will be in100 years present unless there is a cure or worldwide change in the guidelines.

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I do empathize with you. HBV diagnosis should not be a death sentence. @Joan had HBV and worked as a nurse for many years before retiring. She remains active. There are others on here who have lived with the virus for many decades, they are married, have children, remain employed, etc. With HBV one can still marry and have children, which many patients on this platform have done. It’s a bit challenging finding partners but it’s not impossible. People react negatively because they don’t understand or are not aware about how HBV works. Be prepared for people to reject you but don’t let that stop you. Stigma is mostly based on ignorance, lack of education and awareness about HBV. You don’t have to die, you can live a meaningful life with this diagnosis. HBV diagnosis sucks but it’s not a death sentence if people understand how this virus works. You could be married to someone with the virus or without it (but they must be or get vaccinated). You can have children, because there’s a process established to protect children with positive mothers from infecting their babies. People have to know this, but HBV education is lacking in many areas.

People will always be people and we can’t change how someone reacts to knowing our status. If they don’t want to be our friends such is life and it’s their loss. Not everyone is going to be friends with us anyway.

I have been living with this virus my whole life but only became aware of it in 2014 when I was diagnosed. All my siblings are infected as well. But it has not stopped me from doing the best that I can. I have had chronic fatigue problems since 2013, making it difficult for me to work. So, I decided to focus on school. I am currently in the 2nd year of my masters program. Its a slow process but that is the best I can do in my situation. I am not saying this to brag, but stressing the importance of being able to adjust and adapt to live with this virus. We just can’t put our hands in the air and give up. Rather we fight each day and live our life as best as we can. Giving up is not an option for me because I have come too far to do that. Its not going to be easy but we don’t give up on everything because we failed the first time, rather we keep trying and learning so we can get better at living with such a virus.

If you want to give up on everything because of the reaction from one or 2 people, that’s sad but it’s your choice. Not what I will recommend as a fellow patient, but you have the right to self- determination. I said it’s sad because you are more than HBV. You have a lot more to share and contribute to your family, community, and society as a whole.
Take a deep breath. One step at a time and if it’s love, keep looking. If it’s a family that you want, keep trying. It’s going to be challenging, but it’s possible.

Best, Bansah1

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Dear @Fckhbvstigma,

Thank you so much for sharing your story. You may not feel like it, but you have helped people feel less alone just by talking about this issue. We really appreciate it.

I was diagnosed with hepatitis B when I was 15 and understand how isolating it can feel. I also struggled with sharing my status with others, even though I was in a field where everyone should understand. I don’t know what I would do if the first time I did that it was a negative experience, but understand that it would have dramatically shaped my outlook on the subject.

I do want you to know that hundreds of millions of people with Hep B are out there and are living long and fruitful lives. There are ways that this condition can be managed. There are ways to safely go through life with minimal impact. There are other threads here on this topic (posted above):

I ended up dating (and later marrying) someone who doesn’t have hepatitis B. There are people out there who understand or will put the effort into understanding the condition. Many of us here on this site are actively promoting Hepatitis B in the general population so that fewer people automatically respond negatively to the mention of the condition.

I hope that you will see some hope in the future and will even join us in your own way to reduce (or completely eliminate) the impacts of hepatitis B.

TT

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Hello @Fckhbvstigma
I’m really sorry that you’re feeling this way . Please don’t do anything at the moment won’t wait .
I Have had HBV for over 40 years.
I met my husband to be while having the virus. When I disclosed to him, he couldn’t have cared less although he went through the vaccination process with my suggestion. We were intimate before I told him because I forgot I had the disease till way into our relationship. He did use protection.
I have also had three children with the virus. It is our minds that tell us we are useless and dirty.
I am very careful who I tell that I have the virus. Because you are right, the sigma. It scares people. Also I can manage all close contacts using personal hygiene. Most are vaccinated anyway. And it’s now of there business.
I am regularly monitored, blood tests and ultrasound every 6 months because I want to stop the progression of HBV and live a long , fulfilling life. I’m 64 got Hep at about 20 years old. So far I have. I am healthy. It’s other diseases that are causing me problems but that is life.
As @Bansah1 & @ThomasTu have said
We must get up, walk tall one day at a time. Be strong-you can do it.
Anyone that judges me for my status can go jump in a lake. They are not the friends I want in my life.
Hopefully this helps you.

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Dear Thomas, I want to thank you for all the work you’ve done for HBV positive patients around the world. I’ve read a lot of articles, watched a lot of congress meetings online, but it seems that you’re the only one doctor who is really looking for a cure for us. The rest of the world is speaking about prevention, isolation the infectious ones from healthy people and how HBV is still a desease of junkies, prostitutes and low class immigrants… I’ve been around this forum since 2018. I must say that nothing changed with respect to perception of this infection and way of treatment. There were researches, but still the only workable solution is Interferon, which now is used in many trials as booster for immunity. I wonder if it’s still the only way why doctors don’t use it to give hope to many patients. When I was diagnosed I wanted my doctor to prescribe me pegINF, he refused saying that there were lots of side effects. I don’t care, I anyway don’t want to live with this condition why don’t try everything that is available… anyway… eventually in 100 years when everyone are vaccinated and positive are dead this will come to an end. So ))

Dear @Fckhbvstigma,

Glad to see that you’re still engaging with the forum and thank you for the kind words.

I think it really has to be noted that most people with Hepatitis B were born with it and got it through no fault of their own. Most don’t even know they have it.

I understand your position in thinking that the whole world just is thinking of prevention, but really many people across the world are pushing and doing great work into promoting hep B cure as a necessary arm of eliminating the impacts of hepatitis B.

I definitely am not the only one looking for a cure, there is a whole international community of scientists and clinicians involved. Indeed, we have hosted discussions of what people in this community are doing on our research showcases (run over the past 3 years).

I would really encourage any @ScienceExperts and @HealthExperts to directly respond here to @Fckhbvstigma about what you’re doing in your day to day to prevent these impacts for the affected community.

Thomas

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Hi @Fckhbvstigma . I am a GP in Australia who have a lot of patients with hep B and know about their stigma, and even if at the moment there is no cure, there is treatment that can suppress the virus in your body (besides PEG interferon) which are oral tablets and have much less side effects. The importance of vaccination/prevention is so that people who don’t have it yet will not have it anymore even if they are exposed to people who have it. @ThomasTu is correct in saying that the majority of people with chronic Hep B acquire it from birth or as a child through infected needles (like from dentist or even vaccinations in lower income countries). And like he said, a lot of scientists and doctors are doing their best to find a cure, and hopefully one day this will happen. Even if someone has chronic hep B, if their partner has been immunised and therefore protected already, they will not get Hep B anymore. I do hope you will find someone who is mature enough to learn more about Hep B and how to support someone with it.

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Dear @Fckhbvstigma,

I second what Thomas said. There is an enormous international effort in University labs, small biotech companies, and major pharmaceutical companies to develop better HBV treatments, with the explicit goal of curing the infection. Billions of dollars are being spent on this effort. My lab is pursuing an unexploited HBV target, the ribonuclease H, and we have some good preclinical compounds. We also just discovered a new class of HBV capsid assembly modifiers and are working to see how promising they may be for drug development.

John

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Dear @Fckhbvstigma,
Thank you for sharing your feelings and lived experience with us!

Regarding drugs aiming for a cure, i was wondering if you were aware of the very good Hepatitis B Foundation website where there is a ‘drug watch’ where you can see all the drugs currently being trialed for HBV (and also HDV)? I’m sure you will appreciate that there are actually many of them! Unfortunately, HBV is so neglected that even the good news are lost and informations difficult to find, so whilst i can understand that it feels nothing is done, i can assure you that a lot of clever and good people are waking up everyday trying to find a cure!

In the lab i am part of (i am a researcher), we are not trialing drugs for cure, because it is not our expertise. Our work (broadly) is to try to understand better the DNA of HBV, how diverse it is, how its diversity can impact the different populations and what we can learn from it. We are also actively working with people living with HBV and population most affected by the virus, and are trying to implement vaccination whenever required, provide antivirals when possible, and find best ways to keep people in care. Whilst i agree this is not directly working towards a cure or trialing compounds in a lab, this work participate in knowing more about HBV and people living with it, something which is actually crucial to help drug design (knowledge is power!).

So i would say my point is, there are loads of people out there working in many different ways towards a cure, directly or indirectly, we are all just a bit invisible unfortunately and i’m really sorry it made you feel like nobody cares.

On a personnal level, i am trying to advocate as much as i can so that people in my life are aware of the stigma that people living with HBV are facing, so that if they encounter one, they wont reproduce what you’ve unfortunately experienced. But, that is obviously so little! There was a recent article in the new yorker that brought me some hope about finally having HBV in the news and talking about it in a non-stigmatised way (in case you havent seen it already): A Cancer-Causing Virus Hiding in Millions of Americans | The New Yorker.

Marion

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The Hepatitis B Foundation drug watch has been around for many years. Currently, there is no drug that is on a Phase 3 clinical trial. It is accepted that many advances have been made in HBV research by many dedicated and hardworking researchers and doctors. Still, there is no cure, not even insight. The need for a cure is overwhelming in the face of stigmatisation, discrimination, and the chronic nature of the illness. HBV can be controlled by antiviral drugs. In the meantime, maybe we should re-examine FDA’s approach to drug approval - it is very costly and rigid, leaving the development of a cure mainly to the big pharmaceutical companies who have financial motives more than a cure. The history of TDF, TAF should be a stark reminder. A single drug to cure HBV would be ideal, but authorities should accept the concept of a multi drugs cure and change the requirement for the testing of the individual drug in the combination. So much is known about HBV, job discrimination should be enforced worldwide, accompanied by educating the public and universal vaccination. Finally, more money should be spent by governments and the public on HBV research and treatments.

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Hello, in my opinion, it’s not really other people’s stigma that gets you. It’s our own fear of rejection / fear of failure. You have to find some way to accept that you are living with HBV at the moment, and that’s ok. You don’t have to do things, such as work or relationships, perfectly.

It might be extremely difficult to do and you will get anxiety attacks in stressful situations. You have to somehow find the will power to just be uncomfortable, and after a while it will get better as you expose yourself to this uncomfortable feeling. Also, you can’t give too much fucks living with HBV, you should still be polite / nice, but if someone says something that doesn’t sit well in your mind you have to let it go with whatever way you find that works for you without causing too much self harm. I’m still working on this stigma myself, but really you gotta look out for yourself when trying to overcome stigma.

It’s a balance between keeping a not caring attitude, while keeping yourself still focused on your goals (still caring about your goals).

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Not exactly… it is the understanding that not only I have no control over my health anymore, since I have a virus that can mutate, causes the other problems such as varicose and immunosuppression in general. It’s also a clear understanding that I’m considered a carrier of STD, which scares away people, also, forces me to hide my status. To be precise after several disclosures I prefer to shut up about this. It’s painful to go to medical professionals, because they are not really caring about ppl with hepatitis b, because we are considered as whores, junkies and basically it’s our fault that we got HBV. And also knowing that in approx 20 years I would anyway die from some kind of cancer. Alone, because who wants an infectious wife, right? So it’s a full spectrum of beautiful feelings.

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