INTRODUCTION THREAD: People affected by Hep B

Hi Perry,

If you HBV DNA is negative/undetectable, there is no risk of transmission.

Hope this helps,
Thomas

Hi Thomas,

Yes. It does help, There was a lot of confusion with all my blood tests, lost tests, wrong tests and the simple fact I’m not in the high risk categories but still contracted hep B left me slightly skeptical. And its good to have things confirmed.

Thank you

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No problem, @Perry. You raise a good point about “high-risk” categories and the slow realisation in the scientific/medical community that many people fall outside of these definitions may have hep B. For your information, there is now a growing movement pushing for universal screening (i.e. everyone should know their hep b status).

TT

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I am way. 43 years old from China to US.I know I have hep B 20 years+, but do not really seriously concern about it. Until recently I do my physical check, and my doctor remind me.
Nice to join this community.

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Welcome to the community, @wayyan.

Hope you find it useful!

TT

A post was split to a new topic: Hepatitis B and Hepatitis Delta

Hello everyone, my name is Ismail from Nigeria, I discovered that I’m hep B positive in year 2020 after I noticed that I am having constant malaria, I used to donate blood before even I donated blood in year 2018 and I was okay then, the challenges I’m facing here is that the cost of getting to know your viral load and the likes here is too high and the great mistakes I made was that, I went for the test when I’m about to get marry, I’m hep b positive and my wife to be was negative and she got vaccinated but we didn’t wait for 6 months and I didn’t undergone any treatment before we wed and she’s now 4 months pregnant, I don’t know what to do next because I knew what I went through before I could convinced her to marry me then. Please I need your advice.
Thanks

Hello everyone,
I’m glad that I was accepted into the community.
I have chronic hb infection which was diagnosed 12yrs ago. I started treatment 6yrs ago and have achieved viral suppression. HBV DNA load has been consistently found to be undetected a year after I started the treatment.
At the beginning my doctor said I would have to treat the infection with Tenofovir for 2years. However, I’m currently in the 6th year since I commenced the treatment and he didn’t ask me to stop.
Recently, while I’m in Poland, I ran out of medication. It took me about 7 weeks to resume treatment due to unavailability of 300mg of Tenofovir in Poland. Thus, I had to import the drug from my country.
Now, I do experience some strange changes within me - I immediately get bloated after meal especially when eaten on a table. I was afraid if that could be the consequence of abrupt stop of the treatment. The combination of this strange experience and anxiety prompted me to go for a liver function test and HB DNA quantification (in progress). The result indicated normal levels of ALT, AST, Bilirubin and GGTP.
May I please appeal to our experts to respond to the following questions?

  1. Is there a medical guidelines for stopping treatment?
  2. Does body produce an antibody that fights the virus while treatment is on going?
  3. Does treatment prevent the occurrence of liver cancer?
    4)when is it projected to develop a cure for chronic HB infection?
  4. What is the side effects of Tenofovir?

Thank you

Dear @Olawale96,

Thanks for sharing your story with us and your difficult situation. The major risks as I see it are 1) your wife developing a chronic hep B; 2) the baby being exposed to Hep B. If 1) has not happened, then you have no risk of 2).

So, I think that your wife should get regular monitoring with blood tests to see if she has developed HBV infection. Depending on these results, different medical interventions would be recommended. It is also important that the baby get Hep B vaccinations as soon as possible (within hours of birth).

Perhaps some @HealthExperts can provide additional information for Ismail’s situation?

Dear @ASYLAZ,

Great to hear that you had achieved viral suppression and sorry to hear about your stressful experiences. Stopping and starting medication can throw your body out of balance, so just allow some time to readjust and stay in touch with your medical professional about any health concerns.

To answer your questions:

  1. There are various guidelines from different organisations about when to stop treatment. Your doctor will know best how to interpret these. What is important though is that it can be dangerous: it should only be done after a discussion with your health professional and you need to be under careful monitoring afterwards to watch for any flares.

  2. Yes, just as if you are not treated, the body can produce antibodies to fight the virus while on treatment, but does not happen often. A chronic infection is difficult for your body to fight fully.

  3. Yes, treatment reduces the rate of cancer and liver disease over time.

  4. There are hundreds/thousands of scientists working on a cure at the moment. We have a lot of possibilities under trial and examination now. It’s hard to know exactly when a cure will be developed, because we don’t know which will work and which won’t. We just have to wait until we see the results from these studies. Some other discussions about it are here: New Drugs to cure Hep B?; Is Cure coming in future?; VIDEO: Community Information on the Progress Towards a Hepatitis B Cure; Upcoming HBV treatments

  5. For the majority of people, there are no side-effects for tenofovir. I myself have been on tenofovir for years and I have experienced no effects at all from it. There are some people who do report effects. There is a discussion here on them: Possible side-effects from antiviral therapy

Hope these help,
Thomas

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Hello! I’m Thea, 22, from Philippines. I was diagnosed with chronic hep B when I was 16 and I haven’t go to the doctor anymore. I would just like to ask if a person with hep B like me could still go to to work abroad specifically in Australia or Canada? I would be so glad if this will be noticed. Thank you and God Bless :slight_smile:

Hi @theamwrllo,

Welcome to the forum. I can comment on the Australian side: recent changes to the health cost threshold for visas means that your Hep B should not stop you from working here.

Hope this helps,
Thomas

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Thank you for your reply, sir Thomas. Do you think having a Hep B is a hindrance to work abroad? That is the only thing that scares me to go out of my comfort zone, my health condition.

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I think where you are hoping to work makes a big difference to this question. My experiences in Australia and Europe have been generally very positive, and it hasn’t really affected my ability to work at all.

In general, compared to someone without hep B, you will probably have to put a little more effort into finding a GP and/or specialist to monitor your status and provide you with appropriate prescriptions if you’re on treatment. This can be challenging, but is not impossible and many patient advocacy groups have made this a lot easier. I think if you already speak the language with any fluency (which you do), then you are in a much better situation than many others.

Cheers,
Thomas

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Hello, i reside in the UK. My friends call me Leroy ( I’m female by the way)…loved the movie, Fame, and decided to christen myself Leroy after one of the dancers in the movie; 11or 12 yrs old at the time.

I found out I had CHB during my routine pregnancy blood test 17yrs ago. I was shocked, in denial and I think I may have asked for repeat blood tests. I had never heard of HB prior.

My husband at the time, stated he didn’t have it. I did mention to my siblings and very close friends and I’ve been quite fortunate that I’ve not been made to feel an outcast within that circle, to the point of forgetting i have CHB.

I started becoming very conscious of my CHBV status after my marriage ended and I eventually ventured into the dating scene; I felt like an outcast, insecure within myself, and very upset that I’ll be judged by what I have and not who I am.

Now, I own what I have, CHB; it’s not going anywhere i’m stuck with it, although not by choice and feel more confident within myself than I did. It’s a health condition i wish I never had, but hey.

My viral load fluctuates, but not at an alarming rate. When I read some posts, I count myself lucky; I’m not on any medication ( I pray it remains so), my liver scans have been ok so far. I now go for blood tests once or twice a year.

I’m glad to be part of this community

Best wishes to everyone on here.

Kind regards

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Dear @Leroy,

Welcome to the forum! Thank you for sharing your experiences and your positive attitude you have developed to living life.

Wishing you all the best and I hope this community supports you as you need.

Cheers,
TT

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Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the warm welcome and well wishes.

Kind regards

Hey @Leroy it feels good just to read your post. Keep up the good spirits :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Leroy for being such a positive voice on this forum. Sounds like you worked through a lot of stuff and it will be great to have you share more of your journey in response to others who post. We can all learn from each other! Always, Joan

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Hi @Leroy ,

I have a 16 yo but have known since 2001. My viral load fluctuates so every time its above 2 or 3000, I think my dr will start med but so far they haven’t. I am e antigen neg e antibody pos. I see a new dr in Nov. I used to dread the thought of starting med but reading comments here, I kinda want to start soon as I rather take the med even if there are possible side effects than find out I have cirrhosis or cancer. But so far my fibroscan and ultrasounds are ok and I haven’t need a biopsy.
I am proud of the courage you have to date again and to accept yourself and this condition. I wish confidence for us all. It is fear that stigmatizes even tho they will most likely never have to deal with this chronically like we do. Plus there is vaccine to prevent this. I still have not told anyone besides immediate family and this group. Best wishes.

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Good morning @CGNepal, apologies for not responding in time, I literally just read your response.

I’m pleased my post had an impact on you. CHBV can be daunting, I’m work in progress, but better than I was years ago.

Do take care.

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