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GINNY

i was diagnosed with chronic active hepatitis b and an 8mm tumor they think is just a hemangioma. should i trust that? and i have severe abdominal pain with gastritis gastroperesis, and esophogus failure and nobody has figured out why and i want to know if the hep b  is causing this.  i am so tired all the time and in pain my life has turned into misery and i feel i need real help these dr.s have taken 7 years to get this far and the tumor is new and i am scared of all this and want to go on the right diet etc. any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated.  Thankyou all so much.  Ginny
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Avatar universal
regarding alaska, very interesting subject i would love to know more for the obvious reasons. i  appreciate you taking the time with me i just want to feel good again and the dr's have had no real answers but i do have an appt. in denver at the universty hospital in feb with a hemotologist and hopefully it will all get sorted out. if you know of any interesting sites regarding alaska or anymore information for me my e-mail address is ***@**** i would love to read more and learn all i can. thanks again i enjoyed chating with you and would love to hear from you again. thanks! Ginny
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Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
chronic HBV( and HCV as well)  can and typically does  unspecifically activate the immune sytem and tip the scale in favour of autoimmune diseases. Reducing the immune reaction to the virus by reducing the resident HBV in the liver and also the circulating immunecomplexes as can be achieved with antiviral therapy has a moderate chance to reduce this immune activation and hence help the secondary manifistations of such activated autoimmunity.

In Alaska , the native Alaskans have a very high level of  HBV, for reasons not to be discussed here.Since HBV was in your family through the hemophilia treatment as one can suspect, this is not of relevance.

It is possible to have  chronic HBV for 15 years with only mild liver damage, but it cannot be predicted at all in an individual case. A biopsy is probably needed to clarify the status of the liver.

the anti HBe status is  important to know. the antiHBcore positivity is quite meaningless at this point. All these things are minimal pieces of info to proceed with the clarifications of your overall HBV status. You need a specialist that understands how to order and interpret these analytical tools.
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Avatar universal
i know it was the anit HBcore that she talked about. i have a low positive for rhuematism could that be caused by hep b or is it a separate problem? is it possible to have chronic active hep b for 15 years with no liver damage? and what does alaska have to do with it
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Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Thre is a total protein level and an albumin level in the chempanel. the albumin matters most, since the liver produces it and if there are less liver cells, the albumin production becomes subooptimal.

Thge "active antibody" could be anti HBcore or anti Hbe. This disease is neither simple not trivial, but it is entirely possible that your current health problems are only partly related to it. All "extrahepatic manifestiations" of HBV are a challenge to the practitioner and only a handful of specialists can make the proper connection. But if your HBV is active - in the sense that you have a large amount of virons in your blood and if the liver panel indicates even marginally elevated LFTs- , the extrahepatic manifestations could get better if your HBV disease  is treated and brought to undetectable status with antivirals.
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Avatar universal
all i know is i have chronic hepatis b that is active what is a viral load? i am from alaska and i am cuacasion. i lived in alaska for  30 years. i also have hemophelia in my family and they are all dead from hiv or hep b. my eantigen is what? i am confused? i know i have the active antibody.  do you think this could be making me sick? what is the albumin? is that the protein? thanks ginny
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Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
With low to moderate grade cirrhosis = "compensated cirrhosis" you can have a "normal" liver panel.
Low  Albumin is a sign of low synthetic capacity of the liver, but albumin values are often inaccurately measured.
Do you have a HBV viral load and if not why not? What is the status of your eAntigen? Are you Asian or native Alaskan?
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Avatar universal
thanks for you information. i am just so confused. i have been so sick.  have you heard of anyone with all this gastric symtoms related to the hep b? or joint pain? can your liver panel come back good and can you still have cirrosis? my only problem on the liver panel blood test was low protein and i wondered what that meant. thanks ginny
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Avatar universal
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Your liver hemangioma is probably  just that  - a benign lesion in the liver. Your complex other symptoms could be related to Hep B or not. Viral load, Serostatus, blood chemistry, and most importantly a liver biopsy are necessary to check the stuatus of your liver. the other problems that you have could partly be related to what is called extrahepatic manifestations of chronic Hepatitis B. This cannot be easily investigated in this Forum. You also need a minimum knowledge base re HBV disease, like Mark suggested from Wikipedia, in order to start understanding all the terms and aspects that are possible in that context. Most importantly you need a local specialist in this disease that will try to clarify as much as possible and start treating your Hep B with an appropriate antiviral medication once your status is properly understood.
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Avatar universal
anyone out there have chronic hep b?  what are your symtoms? pain? i am suffering miserably and want to know if  the hep b can make your body hurt and the gastritis, gastroperesis, esophogus problems i have could it be related? anyone know of a good dr. in colorado? please help ginny
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Avatar universal
cat scan diagnosed the hemangioma and i see a hepatologist feb 22, 2008 and as far as the esophogus it was the tube up the nose down the throat test and they said i had wave failure and stage 2 failure and it does hurt but i really don't understand it.  thankyou so much for writing me i am new to this.  i have always loved life and now i am a single sick person and it is rough i don't have many relatives or friends i am from alaska and now live in colorado. do you know if chronic active hep b can cause all these problems? what is your story? look forward to hearing from you. thanks Ginny
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Avatar universal
Hi Ginny,  So sorry you are having a rough time. Are the doctors you are seeing specialists in gastroenterology or preferably hepatology? If you have chronic hepB you should be seeing a liver doctor, and you should be on antiviral medications for it (there are several available now).

How was your presumed hemangioma diagnosed? Ultrasound? Perhaps the next step should be an MRI, which is pretty good at confirming hemangiomas. And whatr's up with your esophagus? "Esophagus failure" is a pretty vague term. Did the doctors you are seeing offer you any further details?

You should find out more about Hepatitis B. A good place to start might be the Wikipedia entry on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_B

Best luck,
Mark
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Avatar universal
are your liver test normal? mine are exept my protein levels are a bit low. why are you having the biopsy?  how do feel in general? how long have you had hep b? or is it some other kind? i am so new to this and been sick for so long i just am interested in talking to anyone who knows anything.about this thanks Ginny
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Avatar universal
I am set up for my liver biopsy next Sunday, so I haven't been through it yet. Their is some good info I got on the other Forum Hepatitis Community. Check it out. As for my Hip arthritis, I have been in pain for 3 years
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