Hi, nice to meet you guys, thats great to have a forum where also scientists participate. Thanks Stef for the link 
Dear @crifid2023 and @sorte,
Great to hear from you and welcome to the community. Hope you find the support you need here.
Cheers,
Thomas
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Hi All,
My name is Gavin, I live in Texas, US for 15 years now. I have a inactive chronic hepatitis 21 years, when first diagnnosed I was 19 when I try to donate blood. My mom has a same situtation probably it is a vertical transmission.
Recently I have realized that i have Steatorrhea and my uncled died from pancreatic cancer when he was 55 years old. I always think that Steatorrhea caused by my chronic conditions. I realized that it might be many other reasons, so I will see GI specialist , and they ordered CT Scan, blood tests, fecat tests etc… and they will go over the results.
I am really thankful that I found this community. Thanks for starting the community.
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Welcome to the community, @gavin. Sorry to hear about all your health conditions you are going through, but great that you are being pro-active and got to see a specialist. Hoping the best for your upcoming results and hope you find the support you need here.
Thomas
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I came to know about my hep b status in oct 2022.
I am an engineer by profession and have always loved coding and solving maths problems.
Currently, my hbv dna is undetectable but hbsag is positive. I am trying to eat a healthy diet and live a healthy lifestyle.
I have a supportive gf who is accepting of my hbv status and has been my biggest support in this tough time.
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Hi @data_guy788,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your story. It’s great that you have a supportive network, it can make a lot of difference.
I hope you can find the support and information you need from this website too.
Cheers,
Thomas
Hi, Last year i donated Blood after that i got to know i ave Hep B, First i thought if i take vaccination i would be fine but after doing little research i got to know if am infected vaccination wont do anything, last month i went to full body check up and told to physician i was once tested positive for hep b so he requested to do hep B blood panel, results came back as positive for hep b. i was trying to find appointment to liver specialist. i am 31 years old no symptoms . ALT levels are little high rest everything normal.
| GLOBULIN | 2.7 G/DL | 1.9 - 3.6 G/DL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A/G RATIO | 1.8 RATIO | 0.8 - 2.6 RATIO | |
| BILIRUBIN,TOTAL | 0.5 MG/DL | 0.0 - 1.2 MG/DL | |
| AST(SGOT) | 28 U/L | 0 - 55 U/L | |
| ALT(SGPT) | 61 U/L | 0 - 60 U/L | H |
| ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE | 56 U/L | 23 - 144 U/L | |
| FASTING | FASTING |
| HEPATITIS B SURFACE ANTIGEN | POSITIVE | NEGATIVE | A |
|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmation by Antibody Neutralization | |||
| HEPATITIS B CORE ANTIBODY | POSITIVE | NEGATIVE | A |
| HEPATITIS BE ANTIGEN | NEGATIVE | NEGATIVE | |
| HEPATITIS B SURFACE ANTIBODY | NEGATIVE | ||
| (NOTE) | |||
| Negative <8.0 mIU/mL | |||
| Borderline >=8.0 and <12.0 mIU/mL | |||
| Positive >=12.0 mIU/Ml | |||
| HEPATITIS BE ANTIBODY | POSITIVE | NEGATIVE | A |
Hi, I just feel regretful that I’ve not found this forum earlier. In the past, I tried to connect with other HBV sufferers on the domestic online platforms but most of the them are filled with advertisements or other kinds of spam.
I was diagnosed when I was in high school, around 16 years old. And now I’m 30. At first, I was just a carrier without symptoms. Things changed when I was in college. After a medical examination, I was told that my ALT and AST are very high and further examination is required. It turned out that my HBV DNA is very high too. To be more specific, HBsAg, HBeAg and HBcAg are all positive. The doctor advised that I could first try the interferon therapy. However, it turned out useless for me after about 2 months. Later I was prescribed telbivudine and started the long journey of oral antiviral therapy. In the following, I had changed the oral drug to entecavir and tenofovir disoproxil right now. The HBeAg turned to negative a few years ago though.
I’m right now pursuing PhD degree and I’m concerned about the possible obstacles pertaining to my health status if I would like to go abroad to study or work.
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First, thanks for creating this forum.
The way I found out I was positive is quite interesting: my 89 year old mother who was in perfect health, got sick (ankles swollen) and admitted to the hospital. Her doc was shocked…and called in a team of various doctors. Well, one of her blood tests came back that she had hep B.
I don’t know if I got it from my mother but my hepatologist and primary care doctor said not to dwell and think about it too much.
I’m now in the hands of a hepatologist that I see every 6 months. When I first went, a fibrascan was ordered which was fine. I get an ultrasound of the abdomen every 6 months which comes back fine. He takes alot of blood for tests and my blood test for my liver is normal. So, I’m still baffled and wonder what will happen next. I really don’t understand the blood tests other than they appear in an app on my phone and my results are right in the middle of the range which is good.
The tests he takes are HBV Real-Time PCR, prothrombin time, basic metabolic panel, liver test, AFP tumor marker, cryoglobulin, and that’s about it. I am reading other user posts about ASL and AST tests but he hasn’t done them. Should I ask him? I am going to see him in 2 weeks is there something I should ask or a blood test I should request?
I feel great and I’m in fairly good shape. When will things start to go downhill or can you live with this virus and have a normal life and age expectancy.
Thanks for listening and I appreciate having this forum to learn about Hep B too. I’m sorry this is such a long post.
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Dear @Beinghealthy, @aiden, and @Penguin50,
Thank you all for sharing your stories and hope you find the support you need on this forum. Please feel free to read around to see if other threads can inform you and answer your questions. The main things are to keep positive and maintain monitoring of your condition.
To answer some specific questions:
ALT and AST tests should be part of the liver test that you have mentioned.
Many people live completely normal and healthy lives despite having Hepatitis B, particularly if it is well monitored and are provided therapy when necessary.
Cheers,
Thomas
Hi all. I’m in a state of shock. I had routine first trimester labwork done this past week and the Hepatitis B Surface antigen (and neutralization confirmation) came back positive.
Unfortunately, lab work for my OB just pops into my portal so I received this diagnosis by myself bright and early Saturday morning when looking at what I thought would be routine results. (side note: there should be a stop-gap where abnormal results aren’t just sent out like this and are seen by your physician for them to notify you)
I’m shocked and can barely catch a breath.
My previous pregnancies were all negative, I received the vaccine as a child, I have never been exposed to any needles in my life that were not in a healthcare setting, and my husband and I have been monogamous our whole 15 years married (yes, I trust him). My husband is in the healthcare industry so he was routinely tested about 10 years ago and his was negative at that time as well. His healthcare job is low risk for catching it there and has had no incidents that would be a probable point of infection.
We are stupefied about how and where we could have gotten this. I know it can be caught in other ways, but with the most common ways not applicable to our situation, it adds severely to the shock and disbelief.
I’m scared… scared for myself and this pregnancy, scared for my children and spouse… My brain is going crazy starting to link physical symptoms my spouse and youngest child have been having yesterday to possible hbv symptoms I have researched.
I know I just need to take a step back, breathe, get bloodwork done for the whole family (and detailed bloodwork for myself), and speak to the doctor. But as I am sure everyone here can relate when they were first diagnosed, every hour feels like days/weeks/months as my overly analytical brain worries about the unknowns.
I’m glad that I found this community as a resource for support and information.
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Dear @Jjcourage,
Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your story. I’m sorry to hear about the terrible time you’ve had and it is really a terrible way of finding out your diagnosis. As you have mentioned, there are a lot of people that have experienced this same thing and understand what you’re going through right now. Please know that you’re not alone and these feelings will pass with time. Also know that you can live a healthy and long life with hepatitis B with appropriate monitoring and support.
You might want to see the other threads about HBV and pregnancy. Perhaps others who have been pregnant while HBV-positive can also comment on their experiences (@Suwang88, @lien.tran, @Nafisa.Yussf, @Joan_Block, @UyenV).
TT
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@ThomasTu Thank you for the encouraging words. I finally spoke with my doctor’s office and they are putting in orders today for me to get additional testing, besides just the positive surface antigen result I already received. I am most scared for my youngest child, in case they have this as well. They received their full course of immunizations starting at 2 months old but we have no idea when or how I may have contracted this (possibly from the child actually as they had extensive hospital procedures in the first month of life). The statistics are scary for contracting this at very young ages. I need to step away from “Dr. Google” until I actually have test results back for myself and all my family members.
I have never been so full of fear and anxiety in my entire life. Your supportive words do help! 
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Thanks for answering my question. I did re-check and do see the ALT and AST tests are in the results and the marker is where it should be, right in the middle which is good.
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No problem, @Jjcourage. Please keep us up to date with how the tests go. Just remember that there is a community here willing to support you through this.
Cheers,
Thomas
Thanks Thomas Tu, what you did is a great inspiration for me.
I am from Zanzibar-United republic of Tanzania.
I am a nurse living with Hep B infection since 2017 when i got diagnosed at my office.
I fill so glad to find this forrum,which you established.
Despite of being in health field,I am living with overwhelmed stresses of this infection
, precipitated with my parent’s death history,
Both were died because of liver problem(father with liver cirrhosis and mother with HCC).
Actual it wears me a hard time in my life.
I hope joining this community will have great impact in my health.
Again thanks so much for the decisions.you made to establish this community.
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I went today for my 6-month check-up. My doctor was a bit concerned since I was on Bactrim for almost a month for a sinus infection and I have no allergies, so I have no idea how I got it.
When I get my blood test results is it okay to post here for someone to give me some feedback? Thanks again for this community.