Symptoms of Chronic HBV

[Liverpatient]

Chronic Hepatitis b symptoms

Hi, I'm a 43 year old man; I was first diagnosed with HBV in April 2015. And I still have the virus in my body, hence I'm a chronic carrier. I also have problem with my kidneys, because doctors found protein and blood in my urine more than ten years ago, and I still have these problems with my kidneys. I guess I've something called glomerulonephritis, but I'm not sure about the severity. Two weeks ago I had a 24 hour blood pressure measurement; I've not yet recieved the answer from my doctor but I could see the majority of the readings were more than 150 (top number), and more than 90 (bottom number).
My symptoms are: tiredness, aches and stiffness from neck to toes; espesially I've more aches on the back of my lower legs. I've shivering of hands and legs, I'm quite depressed and anxious; problem sleeping at night; very hot and uncomfortable feeling mainly on soles, but also on hands to some degree, especialy during the night. This makes sleeping difficult, and of less quality. I aslo have frequent need to urinate, particularly during the night, cutting my sleep. I also have bad appetite, and I do not want to eat, but I force myself to eat, because I know once inside, the food would help me. I often have problem with gas in stomach, and I take very long time in the toilet; I've had this problem since I was young. I've also had bad breath since childhood, and this has severely damaged my self-confidence, causing me to isolate myself, and develop social phobia. Another symptom is my joints contantly make a popping sound; particularly my knee-joints, ankle joints, shoulder, hands, and hip-joints. Sometimes I get mild pain when the joints pop. I also have frequent bleeding of nose, that doesn't stop quickly.

And here is my lab-tests:
HbeAg negative
HbsAg positive, I do not yet know quantity
AbsAb negative
Anti Hbe positive
Hbv Dna 1100 IU/ml, using real time PCR
Vit D 82, the ref. given is 50-200
Fibroscan Normal, it was about 5 Kpa if I remember well, taken in September 2015
S-ASAT 24, reference given was <45
S-ALAT 34, reference given was <70
S-GGT 29, ref. was 68
Inr-value 1,2
B-HB 13,8 ref 13,4-17
B-Trombo 129, ref 145-348, etc.

I've not yet started with any medication, neither with HBV, nor with the kidney problem.

My question is there anyone here with similar symptoms and tests like me; i wonder what is causing the symptoms I mentioned, my HBV infection seems to be mild one; could it be the kidney problem that is causing the symptoms I mentioned? Are the syptoms I mentioned normal for people with similar HBV status as that of mine?

Sorry for my long post; but I would appreciate any feedback, Thanks.

Liverpatient

[hepbcurepls]

your gfr of 82 is actually not that bad. next you should seek a nephrologist and find what is the best way to preserve your kidney function without damaging your liver. if your gfr is 82, you should not be experiencing any symptoms yet with that little kidney decline. double check your labs and see if your egfr is 82.

[Liverpatient]

Thanks again; as you said I'm going to follow up with my kidney function. As you see from my test results above, the U-albumi is 110,7, when normally it should be below 20. Also the albumi/creati ratio is 7,2 when it normally should be below 3. So something is really wrong with my kidneys, because the symptoms have worsened lately.

[Liverpatient]

Hello, thank you for the reply and encouragement. I'm not sure when I contracted HBV, but I guess it was by birth or from childhood; I'm not sure. Regarding the kidney function test; I've not yet undergone any such test that shows the function level in percentage; may be I've to ask my doctor for this test. But I've also read that HBV could cause kidney complications, so there may be a connection there.
I've some lab reports for following results; i guess these are showing kidney function?
S-creati 99 with ref 60-105
S-GFR 82 ref >68
S-biliru 7 ref <26
S-albumi 42 ref 36-48
U-creati 13,1
U-albumi 110,7 ref <20
microalbumi
albumi/creati 7,2 ref <3,0

As you said, I think my symptoms have more to do with the kidnyes, and not the liver, because my hbv infection looks mild from the tests so far. Do you experience some of the symptoms I've listed; if so have you recieved any treatment for them? Thanks again.

[hepbcurepls]

I am in a similar boat with you. I have damaged kidneys and I think it happened from uncontrolled high blood pressure for about 10 years. My kidneys egfr 72 , 1.3 serum creatinine. I was born with hepatitis b so I am also a carrier. Have you checked your kidney function, the difference between 30 percent kidney function and 70 percent kidney function is a big difference. I think you should check your kidney function by blood and 24 hr urine test. Were you born with hep b or acquired as an adult? There are some research papers that state hep b causes kidney issues because the virus travels to the kidneys. As far as symptoms you are describing , hep b causes no symptoms but kidney function decline does.

As for some good news for your situation the hep b drug tyzeka / Telbivudine has shown great promise in improving kidney functions in hepatitis b patients, but the actual medication creates resistance for hep b.

below is a article published that may be of some help. If my kidney function becomes worst, I would have to persuade my doctor to treat me on telbivudine as a combo therapy with tdf or maybe even taf in the future.

http://www.natap.org/2014/HBV/011714_01.htm

good luck and god bless