Thanks hepatitisresearcher. You are a life saver for us. Please look after Anothony.

congrats on starting treatment. Wish all the best. I hopefully you will achieve serconversion and undetected DNA in a couple of months and you will. Stay positive. keep smiling, Jim

Mine is Hepsera with Zeffix combined treatment, half way through my 4th month. I did a blood test about 2 weeks ago to check out the DNA level. But I'm currently overseas at the moment, so I'm still waiting for my parents to send me the results (if they recieved it).

So far down the track, nothing much really, some noticeable things happened to me ever since I started on it are.

1. Red blood spots on my skin, >90% on my arms (NOT Spider angiomata)
2. Rash on the skin sometimes
3. Discomforts at my right ribs area and sore back (it was quite frequent when I just started, sometimes there were split second of sharp pain, rarely get it now)

Some things not sure if it's related
1. skin become itchy sometimes when it that part of body is cold, mainly legs and feet.
2. lost 4.5kg in 3-4 months (might be to do with my change of diet, currently I have 2-3 glasses of juice as breakfast, about 2-3 servings of fruit salads per day, and main diet consist of veg, rice, fish and eggs, only have about 1-2 meals that have meat in it, doesn't even add up to the amount of meat I used to eat per day.)
3. Skin is a bit darker than before, not very noticeable

ah, one more thing I'm not sure, is that i'm getting joint pain easily for the past month

Thanks for the site. [email protected]
I don't think is a forumlike environment. Looks more like they'll be sending news letter regarding HBV. correct me if I'm wrong.
I've sent them an email though

The single use of Hepsera in your case needs further review.But first your viral load: Check your results: Are you maybe > than the dynamic range? ( Higher?)

I'm glad for the info. Basically, you're stating the viral load method the lab used is not helpful in determing my exact number?
Anyway my email is ***@****
Of course I'll keep any info confidential. Hope to hear from you.
Thanks in advance.

I am suspecting that you are higher than the upper limit of your VL test. The accuracy reported in your VL number is strange. You need to look for a greater than>  >   >  sign before the number. Is it there?
Also to initiate proper thinking regarding if Hepsera alone is a good choice for your treatment, all the info is needed, including other labs ALT chempanels, biopsy results, age, race, reason for HBV infection if known or suspected. All this info figures into treatment plans.

Yes u're right. The greather than sign is there. Is actaully stated this way. >17857143 IU/mL
Does this give you more idea? And also, if you don't mind giving me your email add, I'll email you all the info you think is necessary to determine tx.
Thanks

You might be as high as a billion or more.The test needs to be repeated with a lab that does the Bayer bDNA testing that has no upper limit. It does have consequences to be very high, since the chances that you can get resistent to Hepsera are higher. Hepsera has on average 28% resistence after 5 years. Maybe you need a course of Interferon first.Cannot give my e-mail out, but you might be able to give yours then I will respond if you keep it confidential. Also - be patient - there is limited time for me to do this You will need to go back to your Dr. and discuss it with him. He tries to be good to you so he wants to give you Hepsera and not just Lamuvidine which many still give first line.

Below is the lab results collected from the doc yesterday. I'm not very hands on reading the viral load yet. Maybe u might be able to explain futher if I'm less or greather than the dynamic range by looking the these results.

HBV DNA, QN, 17857143   IU/mL

Dynamic rage of this assay is 357 IU/mL to 17,857,145 IU/mL

HBc Total Ab, s Positive. Expected Values: Negative

Hepatitis Be Ag (HbeAg), s Positive. Expected Values: Negative

Hepatitis Be Ab (HbeAb) s,  Negative  Expected Values: Negative

I recommend you join a HepB only list where you will find more answers than here.

Send blank email to [email protected]