What does raising ALT mean in chronic hb

[FingHb]

About three weeks ago found out I was chronic hbv.  Just got my THIRD blood work done in three weeks.  Just found out I am hb e ag negative, HepBeAb positive, Hep B Core Ab, tot positive, and Hep B surface Ab, Qual not Reactive.  WHat does that all mean?  

My main concern is ALT has been rising for the past three weeks since I found out.  Its been at a high normal level of 44, to high level of 48, and now as of 1/5/2016 blood work, it is at 66.  and the normal I think is 0-44.  Does anybody know what and why my ALT is going up and up.  Am I getting liver disease, or cancer?  Has anybody gone through this before?  Going to my doctor on monday, but mind is racing and head is spinning a million miles a minute.  Please, can somebody advise me on what is going on, and how I should deal with it.  I know I should stay off the computer for a while about my hep b and everything, but I cannot help it.  Just keep on reading that rising ALT only equal liver damage!!!  Thanks again.  I feel like I am the only one asking all these questions on this forum.....Sorry!

[hepbcurepls]

i notice a lot of people in our community with hep b also have fatty liver. i notice it seems to go hand and hand with hep b carriers but my doctor tells me NO ! I remember stef2011 had fatty liver with a low bmi and i also remember some other members with fatty liver and hep b, but they were not overweight. Yes organic foods and staying away from sugar. healthy lifestyle is the best !

[FingHb]

Not overweight, but have fatty liver and hbv, double trouble, I know!  Trying my best to reverse fatty liver.  Taking vitamin E, as prescribed by Doctor.  Going to start working out more.  Do more cardio.  Healthier lifestyle, live longer.  Cut sugar and salt out of my diet, or greatly cut back, and eating one ingredient food, chicken, vegetables, natural foods.  And cutting process food as much as I can.  

[hepbcurepls]

are you overweight? have fatty liver? ALT raises with fatty liver. In my ultrasounds it shows I have fatty liver and my ALT was 50 and 56 one month apart. After I started ETV it dropped down to 24, but today I got my blood test and it was 34. I am 4 over the normal range of 30 but maybe it might be my liver. My ultrasound results show mild inhomogeneous liver, better than last ultrasound 6 months ago where it didn't say mild just inhomogeneous. Maybe I can contribute it to the 25lb weight loss but who knows.

[FingHb]

You guys are great.  Awesome support group.  Hopefully it was just stress!!  And I hope to offer support to somebody else, once I get used to having hbv

[stef2011]

fear is something we dont know in this community, we are scared of nothing because hbv can be totally blocked from making any damage

[Medsaid2001]

fear can elevate anything in my opinion

[ppmguy]

alt of 66 is not going to cause any damage. your new blood test that shows hbeag-, is favorable. in most cases that value has a low infectivity,and low damage rate. you can breathe easy now.
good luck

[ppmguy]

hi finghb, good to hear, your hbeag-.

[FingHb]

Thank you again!

[twinboys1girl4me]

Liver disease is confirmed by scans so get that Elastography.  Liver cancer is detected by ultrasound and they still routinely use AFP blood test as a marker coupled with ultrasound.

[twinboys1girl4me]

Guidlines vary for treatment, with e negative being viral load over 2000 iu/ml with ALT usually 1.5-2 times upper limit of normal.  Upper limit for normal for men is now 30 for alt.  Different things can raise alt, like alcohol, processed food, medication, etc.  The state of your liver is useful too, so that Elastography is needed.  My alt is slightly raised for a female but it's always been this way.  My liver doctor says alt also varies with nationality and Asians are lowest.

See what the liver doctor says on Monday.  With you being HbeAg negative you have had HBV for quite sometime, since all start off with HbeAg positive.  Since you are so new to this your doctor may want to monitor you closely for a year to see what stage you are or he/she may recommend treatment.  I would get the Elastography done before anything else is done.

You could ask your liver doctor to test genotype and mutations.  HBV has different genotypes which have some variations between each.  Mutations may help with HbeAg negative chronic hepatitis.

Good information below....

http://www.hepb.org/expforum/media-player.aspx?speakerID=drKeefe&topicID=e-antigen&language=English&mediaType=text