Thanks, Joan and everyone’s insight and encouragement. I switched to a new doctor, and she really listens and takes the different factors of my life and job into the consideration of which medication I should start with, and she says she’ll try to get a special authorization for me with Vemlidy. I am glad I switched doctor after listening to you all.
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So glad to hear that you switched and are happy with the new doctor! Always trust your instincts and expect respect from your providers (and others in your life, too). Keep us posted. Always, Joan
Hi @HopeForCure
welcome to Hep B community.
i for one personally went through same situation your going through, the interesting thing would be i optioned to control my diet and lifestyle, it maybe stressful at times, but i just had to pull it in to make the most out of the stress.
currently am not on any treatment, just because i have no access to any Liver specialist in my country. so i optioned to lifestyle at its been going great for 3 years after being diagnosed with chronic Hep B. eating more vegetables, fruits and water with less sugar, at times meat but not often, am just keeping in mind foods that would burden the liver to process longer and slower are what i try to avoid.
I don’t know if covid19 would worsen liver enzymes like ALT and AST, i do hope our fellow colleagues who have better knowledge might enlighten us.
once again welcome to the community.
Hi to everyone!
I really appreciate the hard work behind this community and all the subject topics which are really helpful for us who are HBV infected.
I was first diagnosed in 2010 with HBV and told that I am an ’ healthy carrier ’ and nothing to worry about.
My mother died 9 years ago because of complications related to HBV, HDV and HCV. She suffered a lot, back then in our country (Moldova) there weren’t any of the nowadays antivirals which would help her to deal with the infections.
In spring 2020 I became ill and for nearly 6 months I wasn’t diagnosed and tried many different medications but didn’t help, until I was diagnosed with HBV and high viral load.
Then my new life started.
I was enrolled in a trial, then in a second and 9 months ago I started taking TDF which helped my a lot in reducing DNA to undetectable and feeling better.
8 weeks ago I started a third trial. Combined medications of TDF, AB-739 and Pegasys.
Here I come to the question about Possible side effects of TDF or AB-729.
About 2 weeks ago I started to a have a ‘strange’ dry cough which is ‘strong’ but not often. It may happen once or twice a week.
I wonder if this dry cough is or not related to any of these two medications.
I have to mention that I haven’t started yet the Pegasys.
Also I experience sometimes mood changes which might or not be related to the work (this period of time I am busier than usual and I feel like 24 hours are not enough for a day 
).
I am sorry If I bored someone with my long text but hopefully there is some who might answer to my wondering.
Thank you 
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Dear Ecky,
I would first say that participating in a clinical trial is a good way to get access to new medications which have the potential to achieve functional cure. It can also be a bit stressful but remember you are being followed very carefully by the investigators in this study. Their first priority is your health and well being.
You mentioned that you have not yet started Pegasys however the informed consent document you signed should have contained detailed information on side effects to expect from all of the medications you will be taking in the trial.
In rare cases, long term TDF can cause mild alterations in bone density and kidney function. These can be managed with changing the frequency that you take your TDF from once daily to every other day.
Mild fatigue is a common side effect with Pegasys - try to do the best you can to eat and sleep well. Pegasys is an immunotherapy and part of the “immunostimulation” will also feel like flu like symptoms (which are also caused by increased immune function).
Depression and mood changes can also be affected by Pegasys but can also be due to other stressors in your life.
AB-729 belongs to a class of drugs called siRNA (or synthetic interfering ribonucleic acid). All medications of this class have the potential to cause low level inflammation of the upper respiratory tract (lungs, trachea and throat). Increased rates of upper respiratory tract infections have been reported for many siRNA drugs. Given that you are taking an siRNA medication, the persistent dry cough should be investigated as a potential side effect of AB-729.
Hope this helps.
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Dear @availlant, thank you for making time to answer my questions, it helps me to understand more about the medications I’m taking 
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I have had stomach pain for some times, never attributed it to the antiviral. Only due to recently stopped taking it for a while and then resume, did I realized it was the cause.
Apparently this is one of the most common side effect of the drug. The hospital only give me stomach acid reducing drugs for it, which works but themselves having many side effects.
Since tenofovir is a life long drug, I wonder how other people are dealing with its side effects?
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In my case, I don’t think Tenofovir causing the stomach pain. I had problem with stomach pain in 4 months before I was diagnosed with hep B. At the same time I got treatment with Tenofovir, my doctor gave me Omeprazole for my stomach. About 3 months later, I stopped Omeprazole and started taking probiotic that help digest food and it’s over-the-counter in US. For about 6 months, I thought I got rid of the stomach problem, so I stopped taking probiotic and a month later the pain came back so I have to take probiotic again and up until now.
I don’t know if someone else has stomach problem while taking Tenofovir, but it is not my case.
Instead of prescription drug, try to take probiotics like “Probiotic 10” or Align. Hope it will help.
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Thanks for sharing. I’m glad you found something that work for you.
I’m very sure mine is from tenofovir, unfortunately, as it stopped when I stopped taking the drug. I never tried probiotics supplement, but I do frequently eat yogurt. They do seem to help for a short time, which in my case is likely just placebo. I do rather take placebo over nothing.
Hi @apatient,
Good question. I have been taking tenofovir for many years and don’t have any issues with any stomach pain. I’m not sure when you are taking your pills, but maybe experiment with the timing in relation to food? Maybe you could see if things change if you take your pill before, with, or after a meal?
Otherwise, it might be worth seeing if there are other issues, like gastritis/stomach ulcers that are causing your pain.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Hello everyone, i’m 26 years old and started taking medication few months ago. It seems like i need to take it for the rest of my life. I just wondering if you are taking medication like me. How long have you been on it? I jut read all of the risks/side affect if taken the drug for a long time, it scares me so much.
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I’m taking the pill for the past 2 years. Don’t see any side effects!
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My husband just started the TDF antiviral and has a lot of nausea. He also currently has jaundice so I am unsure which or if both are causing the nausea? He also has VERY intense itching? Is it ok to give him pepto bismol to help his stomach?
My husband has only been taking TDF for less than a week now. The nausea is still there, but less vomiting. He was prescribed a medication for the intense itching caused by the jaundice. The Dr cleared him to use Pepto for his stomach when needed.
I have been reading this thread because it mentioned “brain fog”. Yesterday was the first time my husband mentioned it. He said he just couldn’t remember anything from the day? I was warned by the Drs to watch out for confusion and such, but this didn’t seem like what they mentioned to me because he was completely able to articulate what he meant? Could this brain fog just be a temp side effect because he is new to the antiviral and his levels are so high and he is jaundice?
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Hi @SamanthaMech ,
The doctors are probably talking about hepatic encephalitis. This is where toxicity from your liver goes up to your brain or something like that. My doctors had me on some new ‘on-patent’ drug for my extreme brain fog called Xifaxin that is used for hepatic encephalitis almost two years ago. I had brain fog left over from brain damage I had after starting treatment and as that was getting better, I got hit with Covid twice and had brain fog with a renewed vigor each time. Now, I don’t know when I have brain fog if it’s from the brain damage 5 years ago, getting Covid twice in the past two years or just plain old age… probably a combination.
Hopefully @healthexperts can give you a more precise and informative answer than I did.
-Paul
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I read this and got a probiotic for my husband and it really has helped with his stomach pain and nausea while taking TDF.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
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Dear SamanthaMech,
The “brain fog” you are mentioning was most likely caused by his elevated bilirubin. This should disappear as his bilirubin levels continually return to normal.
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Since his Bili levels have come down, it has gotten much better. He is thinking like himself again.
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Dear SamanthaMech,
Great news.
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Dear @availlant @ThomasTu @Joan_Block and other experts here: I started TAF on Nov. 9 and got my first blood test results from Yesterday. It seems kidney function is impacted and AST/ALT levels increased from June 14 tests:
Creatinine: 1.21 (June 14 2022) → 1.35 (Nov. 28 2022)
eGFR: 69 (June 14 2022) → 60 (Nov. 28 2022)
AST: 17 (June 14 2022) → 27 (Nov. 28 2022)
ALT: 16 (June 14 2022) → 32 (Nov. 28 2022)
Albumin: 5.0 (June 14 2022) → 5.0 (Nov. 28 2022)
MCV: 98 (June 14 2022) → 99 (Nov. 28 2022)
MCH: 33.3 (June 14 2022) → 33.3 (Nov. 28 2022)
My questions to you all: how bad are these results? Should I switch antiviral med? I never had treatment before.
Thank you very much!
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