Need Help Please!

[healseyi]

Hi. I was diagnosed with Hep B after my elder brother was diagnosed. My 2 younger brothers are free because there was vaccine at the time they were born. Unfortunately, I did not know early and because I have been infected from birth, series of tests confirmed that my viral load was very high and there was mild to moderate cirrhosis. Dr placed me on Tenofovir 300mg immediately and within 3 months, I made significant progress. There was a break in my medication because I traveled and by the time I returned, viral load had gone back to millions. My Dr then told me to keep taking the medication and that I may have to take it for the rest of my life. Now my viral load is <20. I strongly believe I can be completely cured so I need a working suggestion on what to do.

Also, the medication affects me a lot and makes sick. My last test confirmed that the drug appears to be affecting my Kidney. Sometimes I could feel the pains on my Kidney. Please, what can I do to stop the medication from causing another serious problem and also get rid of it at the same time? A friend advised me to regulate the rate at which I take the medication so instead of every day, I can reduce it to 3 times a week. Do you think this is a good idea? I tried it 2 weeks and the pains on my kidneys seem to have disappeared and I don't urinate too frequently like before.

I also want to know if I can take the medication with some supplements. I am considering taking a liver supplement called liver care which contains milk thistle and some other ingredients. I hope this will not cause liver problems.

Thank you as you respond to my concerns.

[living_with_hepb]

If you were diagnosed with mild to moderate cirrhosis and your viral load went back up when you stopped medicine, you may have to stay on the medicine for next 5-7 years and hopefully by then there will be a cure for chronic hep b. Till then, you shouldn't skip even a single day of medicine. Damage to liver occurs not directly from the virus but from the immune system fighting the high viral load in your liver. Tenofovir reduces the viral replication very effectively and thus lowers the viral load to undetectable levels but it's only while you keep taking tenofovir. If you reduce the dosage (as your friend suggested), virus will start rising back up and all progress you made will be lost. I can't emphasize this enough but DONT SKIP EVEN A SINGLE DAY of medicine. If it is affecting your kidneys, follow up with your hepatologist to see if he want's to put you on a different medicine (entacavir) but Tenofovir is the best medicine so he may suggest alternative approaches to mitigate effect on your kidneys.