I was recently diagnosed with a low grade chronic form of hep b & have no idea how long I’ve had it as I never had symptoms. My doctor said my liver looks healthy but I’m being sent to a specialist to know more. From what I’ve read on this forum & elsewhere, I don’t feel too terrible about this since it could be SO much worse. I’m doing my best to stay positive since I know that carries an incredible amount of weight in any diagnosis. I believe it’s most likely sexual transmitted which is frustrating because I haven’t had many partners & have already picked up a couple other std’s. All I can do is believe it has all happened for a reason & remember that I’m fortunate in many ways. I’m grateful for this forum to help me understand what I’m dealing with here & my heart goes out to everyone who is struggling in any way.
Hi @RainGirlee,
Welcome to the community. I love your attitude and thinking. I believe dwelling on the “what if’s” or the couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t etc. won’t change much but focusing on what one can do going forward is important. We can only control what we are in charge of. I hope you continue to maintain such a positive outlook as you find out more about your condition. Best, Bansah1
Thank you @Bansah1. I appreciate your kind words 
Welcome @RainGirlee
So glad you found this real facts forum before you headed into the fearful rabbit hole of google.
Your positive attitude is inspiring.
Blessings
Hello! Thank you for this community. I am currently in the US , Naples FL, 44 yr Chinese female (born in China, immigrated to us when 12 yr old). I was diagnosed with hep b at prenatal screening in 2017. My exposure was likely from birth as I had my family all tested and my dad also have chronic hep b while my mom has immunity (likely natural). My younger sister has immunity from vaccination. Apparently they started vaccinating all kids couple years after I was born. My doctor always said just monitor, no good treatment available. I recently got HPV(18+) related cervical cancer stage 2 b, no lymph nodes or metastasis involvement , had chemo-radiation + brachytherapy in oct-dec 2023. Recently in June 2024 developed delayed radiation disease of severe sigmoidcolon stenosis and proctitis with ulceration (pain + bleeding). Still in treatment with HBOT and other therapy. My Hep B DNA jump from normally 250-400 to 933 in June and ALT increased to 55 from 20-25s . There’s no liver specialist in my area ( closest is university of Miami 5hr away) so I’m seeing gastroenterologist, who didn’t seem interested in rechecking levels. I also found out recently that an aunt who passed away 20yr ago was due to liver failure/ disease . Family wasn’t sure if it was cancer. I feel like with my cervical cancer/ HPV virus , I have comorbidity and came to find out more about the intricacies of monitoring / survillence and hopefully convince myself and my doctor that I might be a candidate for antivirals. I feel like most doctors are not familiar with Hep B enough to want to touch the antivirals
Hey there, my mom (she is 63) and my brother are both chronic hep b and I myself also had hep b from 11 to 42 after which i got spontaneously cured (with no treatment). In all our liver fibro-scans the results are 0 fibrosis (no scarring of liver at all), alt and ast went up at times, then went down and never stayed high fir very long. Huge numbers of people live their whole lives till very old age with hep b. Paradox of this virus is that it does not do much to your liver until your body starts a very strong reaction to it and kills infected cells in high numbers so main damage comes from immune response. After a few such attempts the virus often wins and then for long periods of time your immune system remains calm and doesn’t attack (but stills keeps the virus alin check, a balance, like a peace treaty), and the virus by itself doesn’t do harm at such times, in many cases high replication of the virus is caused by new attempts of immune system to fight. In many patients such fights are rare and for many years straight there may be no damage to liver at all like in the case of my family. Don’t be too anxious about the virus, live full life and enjoy it!
Dear @sfok09, welcome to the community and hope you find the support you need here. I’m sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis and all the complications around it. I hope you are continuing to recover OK.
It is important to maintain monitoring (this includes all the tests including HBV DNA PCR) so that you can catch any changes early. It might be worth checking out the physician directory on the Hep B foundation website - Physician Directory (U.S. & International) » Hepatitis B Foundation. There appear to be providers in Forth Worth and Weston who are knowledgeable about chronic hepatitis B.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Hello everybody, I don’t see the button to post something, wanted to share my results and ask experts
Hello, I am from India, my father have help b since 2011, but when we knows, start entecavir 0.5 mg twice daily last 4 year. He have liver CERRHOSIS also, but last 1.5 month he loss Wight of 15 kg and yellow body and pain in liver side so admitted in hospital, doctor says he have thrombosis, some veins may in blood clots and also liver enlarged size of 16.5 cm, now what I do? Can liver transplant is a best solution or take medicine regularly? Please reply soon. Thank You.
Hi @Jigar2808,
Welcome to the community and I am sorry to hear about that. May I ask why he was taking Entecavir twice daily? I suspect something worse happening to him based on all the symptoms you have mentioned. I don’t know how far his liver is gone and hard to say whether liver transplant will be helpful. Other professionals will give you some clearer perspective on this matter. Hold on out there for some more responses. Best, Bansah1
Entecavir 0.5 mg, so doctor says take 2 tab one after one so 1 mg taken.
Hello I’m new here and I was hoping to be able to get some answers. So in October I tested positive for Hbsag. My doctor thinks I’m already in the chronic stage because my Hep B Core Ab and Igm are negative. In January 2023 my Hbsag was negative( just for reference). My doctor did more exams…the HBV DNA was undetectable, Hep be Ag is negative, my ALT and AST levels are normal. So what is likelihood of me testing negative for everything else without taking medication?I’m thinking it is a false positive I just don’t know where I would have gotten it from. What is your opinion? I’m kinda really stressing out and can’t reach my doctor for answers and she made it seem like a false positive was very unlikely. I haven’t gotten vaccinated recently but I did read on the internet that taking biotin can cause a fake positive result…my multivitamins have 1000mcg of biotin maybe that could have done it?
Hi @TigerLily,
Welcome to the community. I hear you. Hepatitis B virus is common and endemic in certain parts of the world. It’s possible that you had it all along but because it usually doesn’t cause any symptoms you don’t become aware of it. This is common among most chronic patients. If your HBsAg was negative in 2023 but positive in 2024, it is possible to have a false positive case here. Could your test in 2023 be a false negative too? Another test can be ordered to clear this up. Unless you were exposed after your test in 2023. I am surprised vaccination was not recommended to you in 2023. Try not to stress yourself a lot about this, continue with your care because you might never get an answer for where you got it or why.
I hope this is helpful and we are here for you. Keep us posted. Bansah1
Dear @TigerLily,
Great question and completely understand your stress about this.
If your total Anti HBc antibodies are negative and all other HBV markers are negative, then it is more likely that your HBsAg test is a false-positive. It is worthwhile getting another test for this.
Re: biotin, I guess it may be theoretically possible. But just from first principles, biotin is captured pretty quickly in the body and there’s not much free biotin that would likely to be floating around in the body to cross-react with the test.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Hello, I am so glad,discovering this group make my dais easy, I found about my of hep b condition the last month, I work in the health field, I have been in a long term relationship with a man who passed about 20 days ago, he got HCC, we used to think he got from his job (surgeon) but we didnt know exactly when.
I did Labs 2 years ago and they were fine, the only one that came positive was anti hbs, but the last test I did a month ago anti hbc total and anti hbs are positive DNA negative, anti hbe and eag and sag are negative, I am afraid, liver disease is a dramatic one, but when I read some of your messages, people who overcome this and continue their life, I fell relieved, I never knew when I got infected, I don’t recall having any kind of discomfort, I don’t know if antihbe get negative after some time, or its possible a mutation of the viruz like a doctor said, I don’t want to transmit to others, even though I know information about the viruz, I am unsertain about everything.