I am curious about distinctions: When people say that have been living with HepB for X number of years, does this mean since diagnosis or infection was traced to a beginning point? Just curious. I was diagnosed March 2021 at 51 years old but my GI doctor said that my cumulative test results suggest birth infection. So what’s my starting point?
Both my parents are deceased (neither liver nor HepB was included on medical examiner reports) so I have no definitive way of verifying anything. Thankfully, my daughter was vaccinated at birth which I assume was just regular protocol.
While knowledge can be overwhelming, the more you understand and educate the healthier you can be by being cognizant about your condition.
I’ll be 50 in September, found out I was HBV positive donating blood at a school blood drive when I was 16 in the US. They did not know much back then (similar to your story but believe I contracted this being very premature and needed intervention/transfusion). I picked up again the diagnosis/education in my early 20’s, newly married and this came up again when we were having issues getting pregnant and they had to draw blood before we went the IVF route. Fortunately, we were able to have 3 healthy children, vaccinate, and husband and children (now in early 20’s) are protected.
You most likely will live long after 50 y/o, with healthy lifestyle and regular monitoring. I used to say similar….if I only make it to watch my kids grow up……and now if only to grow old with my husband and watch possible grandchildren, etc. Life is funny as we age, we always want more time. I try and stay in the moment, because that is where the fear comes - thinking ahead of the what-ifs. With that said, it’s often hard for me too and a good reminder to just do what I know to do to try and live healthy. My liver doctor says with me HBV has had some positive, in that I do take care of myself, as she sees many in the US without HBV that drink alcohol way too much, do not exercise, and eat poorly. She says this is very bad because these people she sees in her office as having a fatty/possible diseased liver, often type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and all those things lead to a possible worse outcome than with manageable and monitored lifelong HBV.
Lastly, there is so much hope on the horizon and so much more they now know, so you being in your 30’s have a good chance at seeing a cure/or functional cure in your lifetime, while still at a good age. Take care and stay well!
I’m sorry I missed your post. Just came across it tonight.
When we say we’ve had this disease for XXX it’s usually means when we were first diagnosed, through blood test and told by Dr. I’m pretty sure there’s no way to trace how long you’ve had the disease, just along time. A lot of us don’t even know how we got it or where. Some people are able to trace where they picked it up, others are born with it, and others just don’t know. @ThomasTu