Chronic hepatitis b symptoms

[Liverpatient]

Hi, is there anyone here who experienced improvement or total loss of such hbv-related symptoms as continuous fatigue, generalised body pain, painful joints, muscles and bones, as well as loss of energy after you started with antiviral treatments? I'm really sufferiing by the above symptoms over a long period now, with increased intensity ever since I knew about my hbv infection last year. I really want to pressure my doctor to start with treatment, if it helps from those symptoms. Any suggestions?

[Liverpatient]

Thanks Bm2016 for your reply and your best wishes:) Let's all hope for a breakthrough in the treatment of hbv in the coming few years.

[Royal36]

ok great thanks a lot Bm2016.

[Royal36]

Sorry i mean early 2015.

[Bm2016]

@Royal36
I am not an expert in diagnose and treatment, everyone's immune system, and lifestyle is different, talk to your dr or other expert to get a second opinion, I would only tell you what i went through, sometime it was really worrysome when the dr said my alt is very high, and concerned about if the virus is doing damage to the liver, did liver biopsy and ultrasound, and result were normal, now when i think back, high alt could also mean immunse system fighting back hard to clear the virus.

2009 was the year my hbv dna went undetectable, coincidently, i got married, and first child was born, and first time ever, i took my flu shot end of that year because pediatric dr. said every family member who care for infant recommended a flu shot.
i do get cold and fever from time to time, especially when kids got it from daycare, but now only take 1 or 2 day to get rid of it versus before take 1 or 2 weeks. and sometime everyone got sick except me.
also started gaining weight, from 125lb before married to 155lb now.

i am not sure which, ETV or viread is better for you, but looking at the physical size, viread and truvada is 300mg, much bigger pill, but low or no resistant, and everytime i switched prescription, the dr. always want a blood report in 2 months make sure no mutation, and kidney and other organs are still functioning normally. i am the very lucky, rare less than 5% per year that went through hbsag seroconvesion by medication.

[Royal36]

Bm2016 I am on entecavir since early 2005, shall i inforce to my Dr to switchme to Viread? What do you think ? Thanks

[Royal36]

Congratulations budy!

[Bm2016]

@Royal36.
Now i am just started to enjoy all these greasy food, not evey day, just once a week.  I think joint, bone, muscle pain, lack of energy are not viread related, but rather hbv related, as soon as my hbsag non reactive, hbsab reactive, hbv dna undetectable, even though i was still taking viread for another year, everything started getting better.

[Royal36]

@Bm2016 you still eat steakhouse, kfc, sushi, pizza ? Ahhh i really miss those foods it has been almost two years since i have never touched those foods. Every time i ate those foods I feel a pain on my liver side probably due to the spice, cheese & oil on it.

[Bm2016]

I personally experienced changes, but not sure if they are hbv related, now I am 40,

I noticed my eye vision are better than before, never wore eyeglasses, In the past, my eye sight sometime see blurry, and tired, frequent need to wear sunglasses on a sunny day outside.

another symptom I noticed, before, when I dined out, eating sushi, burger, pizza, sandwich, anything with heavy sauce or seasoning, I would get a big headache next day, and eye area hurt, sometime just one eye, sometime both, tongue taste bitter, and heavy coating on tongue, bad breath, the whole body felt like got beaten up very bad, every bone and muscle in arms and legs hurt.  now I've eating outback steakhouse, kfc, sushi, pizza, and still feels fine like nothing happened the next day.

I also feel more energetic, less tire.
now I really have to watch my diet and keep exercise as the more I eat, blood pressure, cholesterols, and blood sugar will go up as age goes up.

[Liverpatient]

Hi Bm2016, thanks for your reply, and congrats again for beating hbv:) You are one of the very few lucky who clear hbv through treatment. I forgot how long you were on treatment, and whether you felt better health while still on treatment, or once you cleared HbsAg, and Hbv dna?
You wrote, "the whole body felt like got beaten up very bad, every bone and muscle in arms and legs hurt", yes, that is exactly how i feel everyday no matter what i eat.:(

[Bm2016]

around 2004 is when my hbv dna started to raised, at the time, dr. prescribed lamivudine/hepera, and the virus mutated, then dr. prescribed viread around 2005  and the hbv dna viral quickly came down under control. also tried travada around 2008 for a year or two and dr. didn't like my ALT keep raising to triple digits, then switched back to viread, took the pill daily for a decade.  I only experience bone muscle  pain if I ate heavy seasoned food, if I void those food, I won't experience symptoms.

the dr. did mention to me that while I was younger, the immune system is at its prime time, best time to fix the virus. but as age goes up, the immune system will decline, making immune system harder to keep the virus balance and under control.

wish you best luck.

[Royal36]

Have you considered taking Vit D3 ? It really helps a lot specially to overcome your energy.

[Liverpatient]

Hi Royal36, yes, i've in fact been taking vitamin D3 for many months now, even though my levels did not show vit-d defficiencies. I've also been taking  black seed oil, honey, and milk thristle for the past months. Lately i started taking magnesium as well. Actually my ALT level increased from 34 to 40, and hbv dna from 1100IU to 2700IU despite taking all these supplements. I think some chronic hbvers are just unlucky to have these hbv-related symptoms; so I may be pushing my doctors to start with treatment, because i cannot cope with these symptoms, just hope they disappear when i start treatment.