Hi @wyvern,
If you think you have some new knowledge to share, look for the senior authors on papers that you find interesting and perhaps just Email them. Couldn’t hurt. That’s pretty much how a lot of new projects or ideas get started. Good luck on this academic journey!
Cheers,
Thomas
Welcome to this community! Great to see you hear and hope you can provide your expertise in the area to this forum!
Cheers,
Thomas
Hi Thomas. Whatever I can do to help. 
Sure I will.
Thank you!
bonjour ma communauté je m’appelle Issa pour la famille mais Mamdé Djenade Gilbert d’état civil. je suis ravis d’intégrer la communauté pour échanger à propos de notre santé.
je suis rendu compte en 2010 de ma positivité à l’hépatite B, et depuis lors je n’ai pris aucun traitement médicinal. j’étais soumis à un traitement bio en décembre dernier pendant 3 mois, mais après les tests mon état reste toujours positif.
vos conseils et orientation seront la bienvenus.
cordialement
je précise que je suis Tchadien.
pour ceux qui ne connaissance pas, le Tchad se trouve en Afrique Centrale.
Individuals positive for HBsAg should be investigated further by liver function tests, HBV markers, such as HBeAg and HBV DNA, and ultrasound examination. In most HBsAg carriers, those with normal liver tests and low level of viral replication, antiviral treatment is not indicated. In the other, long-term antiviral therapy is needed
Prof. Pietro Lampertico, MD, PhD
Full Professor of Gastroenterology
Head of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division
Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
University of Milan
Via Francesco Sforza 35
20122- Milan
Italy
Phone +390255035432
Fax +390250320410
Hi Chris, so nice to see you post on this new forum. You can help by spreading the word that this forum is available for those living with or affected by hep b! And of course if there’s anything that you feel we should know please feel free to let us know. Finally, your expertise will be much appreciated in responding to folks who share their concerns, stories and questions. Together we can overcome!! Always, Joan
Welcome to the community, @Gilbert and thanks for sharing your story with us.
We would advise you to be monitored by a liver specialist (hepatologist) to get the best advice for you and to provide you with ongoing monitoring of your liver health. It is better to detect any changes sooner rather than later so that you can act to prevent more serious diseases like cirrhosis or cancer.
I am not exactly sure what “un traitement bio” is, but there are many false treatments marketed to people with Hepatitis B that do not work (and in fact can even harm your liver and make your disease worse). Scientifically, there are only certain medications that have been approved, proven to work and are safe. These approved drugs are listed on the Hep B foundation website here (they are shown in the blue boxes): Hepatitis B Foundation: Drug Watch.
I hope this helps and that this community can support you through your journey.
Yours sincerely,
Thomas
Dear @PLampertico,
Welcome to HepBcommunity, I am really honoured that you could join us. We appreciate your deep expertise and hope that you can provide input on many of the problems that people living with Hep B face.
Yours sincerely,
Thomas
Hi everyone,
I currently live in Ghana, and I work as an RN.
I’m have been living with HepB infection since 2003. During that time when I was diagnosed, I didn’t receive the news with all seriousness until March, 2020 when I began experiencing severe abdominal pains, particularly, in the right upper quadrant area. So I was put on tab tenofovir 300mg daily, but few months into treatment I had pains in the my abdomen which was unbearable, so I decided to stop this medication. I haven’t stopped the medication completely but I take it every other day.
In my case, the disease has affected my upper airways and eyes. I have severe eye pains ( I don’t understand whether this is glaucoma or not ) as well as pressure in my nose; this is some kind of chronic sinusitis and a condition called ‘nasal cycle’, whereby one nostril gets blocked whiles the other allows for movement of air. As a result, I have angina pectoris; which is chest pains usually radiating towards the left side of my neck and shoulder. I believe the chest pain is mainly due to decreased levels of oxygen intake and high amount of CO2 in my blood. I have been experiencing these symptoms since 2003.
This is a great forum.
Yes will share this in our FB page.
Welcome, @Private. Thanks for sharing your story and sorry to hear that you are undergoing so many medical issues.
I would like to comment that stopping your anti-viral medication is a serious decision that you need to make with your doctor; stopping or altering the dose your medication can lead to worse health. Please make sure to discuss this soon with your health professional about this and about trying to get the pain under control and also determine what the cause is for this.
Cheers,
Thomas
Hello everyone,
I found out I had Hep B when I was 18 during 2nd year medical school in Sydney when we needed to undergo routine blood tests before commencing clinical work in the hospital. It came as a total shock as the only way I could have contracted it was via vertical transmission. At this point my mother got tested and was found to be Hep B positive. I am now in my 40s with a family including 2 young children and through the years I have seen and read many developments on Hep C yet very little progress on Hep B. Many years ago I tried to get covered for various insurances (life/income protection etc) but found it was difficult to actually label what I had in terms of Hep B as the insurance companies wanted an exact diagnosis but when I was first diagnosed, all I was told was “You’ve got Hepatitis B”(!) Do you call the condition Chronic Hepatitis B or Chronic Hepatitis B Carrier, or Hepatitis B carrier… to me it’s still unclear. On some rare occasions I feel episodes of extreme lethargy whereby even breathing is a chore and wonder if my liver enzymes are high but other than this I don’t think I experience any symptoms of the condition. The risk of developing liver cirrhosis however is quite terrifying…
I’m keen to find out how others have gone around getting covered for insurance and what actual diagnosis have you been given for the condition.
Also I’m assuming that due to having Hepatitis B, one automatically cannot donate blood or be an organ donor but again these things are not openly discussed…
Thank you for creating this platform for improving the knowledge and understanding of living with this chronic condition. There seems to be a lot of information already posted - just need time to sift through it all!
Kim
Hi Fawole, I am from Ghana and I agree with you. The discrimination in Nigeria and Ghana is extremely terrible. It’s nice to e-meet you, Fawole. I am optimistic that there will be a day that a cure will be found. It’s actually awesome that there is a community like this for us to share our experiences with CHB.
Dear @kimbopumpkin,
Thank you for joining the community and for sharing your story. I am sure it was a shock for you finding out in this way, it sounds like you (and your mother) got diagnosed before much of the liver disease occurred, so that may be a good thing to have come out of the experience.
I personally am not sure about how to talk to insurance companies about this. Perhaps @Joan_Block might have more to say, I know she had to talk to US health insurers about plans. Someone in Hepatitis NSW might also be able to help: @stao, any thoughts?
I am glad you found us (I saw that you said The Pulse article had led you here, so I’m really thankful that they ran it!) and hope we can support you through this time.
Cheers,
Thomas
Hi Kimbopumpkin,
I’m a senior HBV researcher and can answer a few of your questions about the virus that were in your post.
Most places do not allow blood or organ donation from HBV+ patients due to the risk of transmission to the recipient of the donation. There have been some cases of donation from HBV+ donor to HBV+ recipient, but I don’t know how common that is.
You are correct that there has been relatively little improvement in HBV therapy recently compared to the remarkable results obtained with HCV. Rest assured that the research community is working as hard as possible to improve therapies, and there are a large number of promising, creative new approaches in preclincial and clinical studies. The HBV research community is optimistic that improvements are on the way, but predicting how soon is impossible due to the uncertainties inherent in scientific and medical research.
Terminology. Your condition is a chronic HBV infection. You are also an HBV carrier because there are infectious HBV viruses in your bloodstream, although they may be at very low levels depending on your viral titers and treatment regimen. “Hepatitis B Virus” is the name of the virus, and it causes a disease called “Hepatitis B”.
Variable pathology like you describe is fairly common for people chronically infected with HBV. The virus can replicate in the liver for long times (even at very high levels) with the person feeling no symptoms at all. At other times, patients have symptoms continuously. In either case, “flares” can occur when viral levels suddenly increase to high levels, and this is usually associated with an exacerbation of disease. This may be what you are experiencing.
I hope this information helps you. I wish you the very best, and I encourage you to seek routine medical care for your infection. Your physician will have the detailed information about your case and will be able to help you choose the best care for you. Fortunately, the existing drugs control hepatitis well and are quite safe when used as directed.
John Tavis, PhD
Hi Kim, so glad that you’re proactively reaching out to learn more about hep b and how to live successfully with it. Unfortunately, so many people find out when in school or during employee health physicals (which is how I was diagnosed 30 years ago!). But it sounds like at least you’re able to continue your medical studies? And you live in Australia so your health insurance is probably much better than here in the U.S.
In regards to life insurance here in the U.S., we have to be honest about having hep b because the companies will find out anyway since they require blood tests and physicals. Fortunately, the companies seem to be more progressive than 30 years ago when I couldn’t get life insurance because of my hep b. Last year, I qualified but had to pay double the premium than my husband paid who does not have hep b. But at least now I and other folks with hep b can at least get life insurance! If an person’s employer provides life insurance then it’s not a problem since a group life insurance policy provided to employers does not (usually) require individual medical exams or disclosures.
For health insurance, as long as a person is employed then health insurance is available to anyone. The problem is when a person doesn’t have health insurance through work or is self-employed. Although these folks can get health insurance, they may have to pay higher premiums because of their hep b. When President Obama was in office, his Affordable Care Act allowed people with known preexisting conditions like hep b to obtain health insurance - a real breakthrough for these folks!
For you Kim, however, if you’re training to be a medical doctor then I assume you be will be employed and have ready access to both health insurance and life insurance. But please let us know if you have other experiences or questions. Always, Joan