please STOP sending away hepB people

[mayamayaooo]

I appeal to everybody here, on many occasions people who asked about hep B are being told they are in the wrong forum. It is NOT TRUE, their questions are being redirected here as well. It is a HEPATITIS forum guys. Please, dont send them away. They are as troubled as you are.

Love,
Maya

[ladybug52]

I thought he had hep b only, I could be wrong.
bug

[zazza]

Jboyhk, may I ask you, did your hepatitis C clear spontaneously or with treatment? If by treatment, were you already infected with chronic hep B at that time? Did the chronic hep B imply any changes in your hep C treatment protocol compared to SOC?

[mayamayaooo]

I really didnt mean to offend anybody, if i did i truly apologize. I've read some posts and noticed that hepB guys are being told this is not hepB forum. I just wanted to clear that out as much as possible. It probably is a MedHelp issue but nevertheless, this is a great forum for all people that want or need to learn about hepatitis in general. My mother has hepB and i cant begin to tell you how helpful it was going through the forum archives. I am not posting much but Im following your stories and find them very inspirational. B or C, we can learn from each other, even if there are differences there are also many similarities in these 2 viruses.

best wishes

-maya

[zazza]

Am I correct in thinking that there is no cure for chronic hepatitis B? Could you explain what an inactive carrier means, if inactive are you still contagious?

So if interferon is not used for hep B today, might that not be because the body can not rid itself from the B virus even with the help of interferon?

[jboyhk]

Also HepB treatment is very similiar to HepC but maybe a few years advanced. So something can be learned even if you have HepC. I have Hep B and also HAD HepC.

15 yrs ago HeoB  was treated with just inteferon. Then they combined that with an antiviral therapy in about 1998. Now there are about 4,5 antivirals on the mkt and rarely is interferon used.

With HepB, they try to keep the viral load low with antiviral monotherapy while trying to keep mutations at a minimum. Sometimes the antiviral therapy causes the immune system to keep the virus in check on its own (the person can become an inactive carrier) and then go off the antivirals.

[ladybug52]

You sound frustrated!
"most recently declined treatment (including PROVE 3) due to retinal hemorrhaging,"
You declined or they turned you down for the program? I thought the latest was the EKG problem.
The brilliant minds here (yours included) are usually focused on hep c only. Jboyk is the resident hep B specialist that I know of.
Take care,
Bug

[jboyhk]

It is a MedHelp issue. The people correctly post saying its a HepB topic but this site then lumps all Hepatitis questions into same thread.

[EspritLibre1]

That was a great post and this is an interesting discussion.  When I went to post, noticed there were four choices - Hepatitis A, B, C or Liver ailments.  Could not get over the helpful thought-out responses received.  Hope someone with Hepatitis A, B, or someone with a liver disease feels the same welcome I've just received on my Hepatitis C concerns.

[ChrisDDD]

I didn't know HepB questions were directed to this forum.  By MedHelp?  Why is that?  When you go to post a question for the first time there is a drop-down menu of choices you can pick from that includes Hepatitis A, B, C, etc.  Personally I've just never understood why any HepB questions would be posted here.  I've never "sent anyone away", but when I'm on treatment and my energy and focus are extremely limited, I have been frustrated with having to sort through occasional posts about Hep B, a disease that my daughters and I have all been vaccinated for, for one thing, making it a different "animal" from HCV in that way and many more, I presume.  I haven't bothered to learn that much about it due to the fact that I have had HCV geno 1b for 31 years, am a three-time non-responder, most recently declined treatment (including PROVE 3) due to retinal hemorrhaging, am at Stage 2/Grade 3 with bridging fibrosis and, to my knowledge, there is still no vaccine on the horizon for HepC (to me vaccine=knowledge on how to treat/cure).  I guess I'm also jealously protective of the brilliant minds we have here and I want them to save their resources and energy for those of us with HepC, a disease with no cure and, yep, no vaccine.  Just my opinion.  Sorry if I've offended.

[ladybug52]

I didn't know anyone was being sent away. I usually flag jboy when someone posts, because I don't know about hep b. I'm sorry if anyone was sent away, I think we all just usually say stuff like mostly hep c patients here, or we don't post. Sorry again for the people who don't realize that when you have a hep b question, it's directed to this forum.
Bug

[Harry Potter]

And, too, some people could be co-infected with Hep B & Hep C.

[desrt]

Most of what I know about hep B I've learned on this forum. There are one or two individuals here (not me) who are very knowledgeable on the subject, but are not always around to help - there is a much larger wealth of experience on hep C here. I've never seen anyone 'sent away'. Sometimes the best you can do is give someone a reference to a diferent source of knowledge.
Personally, I never bothered to study B the way I did C because my hep B never required me to make any tx decisions.