New member: here’s my story!

Introduction/Orientation
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Hello everyone! First of all thank for the approval!
I learnt about this group through a YouTube channel called “ San Francisco Hep B” and they introduced me to this website’ which I’m so happy to find out there’s people like me who’s going through same thing as me and could relate more with me!

I was born in 97 to a Chinese family, my dad I learnt later he was Hep B carrier later on in 2005 passed away due to liver cancer, I have 4 siblings they all are healthy and I’m the only one who has Hep B, which is a bless and curse, I’m happy for them same time I live in constant fear, Last year, 2021 July I went to annual check for Hep B, the doctor told me my ultrasound came back good, ALT/AST are in standard range, however I carried the virus load of 2.87E+09, normally they would suggest people who’s over 30 to take on meds, but due to family history, they advised me to start earlier, so I did, I take this meds called Vemlidy TAF everyday, and in six months, my Virus load shows up at 6.44E+03, in 2022 July which marked a year, my virus load was 1.34E+03, which still is detectable, I’m very worried about it, cause I know a lot people who’s on meds and they easily drop the virus to a undetectable level, i asked the doctor, he suggested me wait couple months to do a recheck to see if I need to add one more pill in my daily routine( I would like to know if anyone has same experience and what’s your solution to it)

Second question: my ultrasound always come back good, but this time it shows a number “ portal hypertension 11mm” the doctor told me it’s still in standard range nothing to worry about, but I’m very scared cause every ultrasound I have before always show “ portal hypertension normal” , and I’ve learnt some cases where when people starts to be on meds, their ultrasounds come back worse, can someone tell me is this normal? 11mm? Since I’m on lockdown I can’t even go to the hospital even I just had my body rechecked two months ago I just wanna recheck again to make sure.

Sorry if I type too much! Hopefully someone can answer some of my questions! Thank you in advance

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Hello limin One of the experts will explain things to you.I really enjoyed your story and wanted to say welcome to the community.I’m still waiting for a specialist regarding my hepb chronic diagnosed.stay strong anytime you want to Express yourself on here don’t hesitate.

Sincerely
Canada🍁.

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Welcome to the forum, @Limin. Thank you for sharing your story (glad you figured out how to do it in the end).

Regarding your questions: 1) the meds are working very well, your lab results show that your virus level has dropped over 1 million-fold decrease. This is really huge. Other people may take shorter to get to undetectable because they are starting from a lower level, but it can take many months to get to undetectable. I still am at low (but detectable) levels after being on tenofovir for many years. Know that this is protecting your liver from progressing to injury though.

  1. I assume this number is the portal vein diameter. In this case, this can be considered normal. There are many papers trying to show what “normal” diameter is. Some studies have shown that up to 13mm is normal (e.g. https://www.ajronline.org/doi/pdf/10.2214/ajr.139.3.497). I think this is not absolute and has to be interpreted with your other results. If your other results do not suggest cirrhosis or significant fibrosis, then it is likely that it would not be something to worry about. But always best to get the opinion of your doctor to make sure.

Thomas

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Thank you! And I’m very happy I found this group:) I’ll be active on here from now on hope everything goes well with your test’

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Thank you Thomas for reply! And I did figure out:)
Yes I was supposed to say portal vein diameter it kept me up these night since it never been a number on my report before! :sob: I’ll keep doing recheck once I’m able to go out.
Thomas for your situation, did the dr advise you to add entecavir into your daily routine?

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Dear @Limin,

No, just tenofovir so far.

TT

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