Hello All,
I’ve been on antiviral for 18 years now. Starting with lamivudine, hepsera, adefovir, viread, vemlidy. Undetectable dna with low alt,ast no issues for the last 18 years. Switched the meds not because resistance but just thought to switch to a more effective drugs according to the doctor I have been seeing. My dad died of liver cancer in his 50’s because he was unaware of his condition and never got the proper treatment and was on a typical normal diet. In the past 2 years, I’ve been on a plant based diet. I’ve heard that according to the “China Study” by Dr. Campbell, he found high liver diseases among the kids who consumed animal protein in Phillippine in the 70’s. So, I stopped eating meat and began consuming much more plants. I feel relatively healthy now.
Another reason why I began a plant based diet is to reduce my cholesterol from 250 to 170 just over 6 months with diet alone. I was never obese but my diet used to be american standard normal to bad. I don’t know why I had high cholesterol because I never consumed dairy that much or even the meats prior to going plant based only. I was still kind of thin like 90 pounds but my inside must have been pretty bad. I once also posted here in the past if vemlidy contributed to my high cholesterol level…My husband eats more meat and dairy but his cholesterol is lower than mine. It could be that his base cholesterol level might be lower than mine given our body type. Not sure.
Given all these conditions, I feel uncomfortable to take vemlidy 12.5 mg that I take on a daily basis.( I’m 4 feet 10 and weigh 85 pounds so I began cutting 25 mg pill in half after a year of starting vemlidy.) I was told that I have to be on antiviral for life. I am a genotype C, Asian descent, probably contracted hbv as a child, 54 years now, female. Probably not a good idea to stop the antiviral. However, I wonder if I should try…
Is there anyone out there who has similar condition as me who has stopped antiviral treatment and managed to be ok?
I know Thomas listed 4 different outcomes if antiviral is stopped. I just wanted to see if I can manage to be ok stopping the antiviral until the flare occurs.
Most important question. If one stops antiviral treatment and relapse occurs, can one go back to antiviral and would that treatment be just as effective as before or would it not work as well?
Sorry for the long post and would highly appreciate any feedback and experiences you’v had with stopping antiviral.