Hi @Autumn,
There are no dietary restrictions when taking these antivirals. The things you are encouraged to stop or limit, you do not participate in them, which is a plus for you. I drink tea, coffee, whenever I want to. Grapefruits, as we know, can affect the absorption of medications, other than that, keep doing what you are doing. Eat healthy as you can, limit stress, exercise, etc., and everything should be in moderation. Keep us posted about how you feel. Best, Bansah1
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Completely agree with @Bansah1. There have also been discussions around this in other threads: Lifestyle changes, nutrition, and supplements for hep b
Thomas
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@availlant and or @ThomasTu what’s the difference between HBV DNA viral load test and a Quantitative Viral load test? The first one is 2.5 times more expensive. Also which is best used to determine viral load? Which is more accurate? Would they give similar results for same blood sample? Which is recommended to help docs determine when to put one on treatment? Can one use them interchangeably? Any other useful information? Thank you in advance this is @CNN
Dear @CNN,
Testing for HBV viral load (HBV DNA) is always a quantitative assay which determines the amount of HBV DNA in your blood. It delivers a result which is expressed as standardized international units (IU) per milliliter of blood (mL).
Testing to see if HBV DNA is present or not (regardless of the amount ) is called a qualitative HBV DNA test (it should not be referred to as viral load). This test uses the same method as the quantitative assay above but it is not controlled or standardized to provide numerical output. Only a detected or not detected result can be obtained from this test (which is why it is cheaper).
The cheapest way to see if you are potentially infected with HBV is to perform a qualitative HBsAg test, which is usually $25 USD. If this test is positive, then the next step would be to perform a HBV viral load test and liver function tests to see if treatment is needed.