[Question #11977] Hep B
11 months ago
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37 white male 5'10 200
Unsure about HEP B vax status. In 98' city said it was mandated in school district. Not sure if just for new students.
Live USA Big City.
two experiences at Asian parlor this year.
Apr/may 24' received unprotected oral until i ejaculated in mouth with English speaking born in America Asian woman in her 30's or younger. Said she was tested and clean.
Aug 22nd 24' had protected penis to vagina intercourse until ejaculated in condom in her, condom held cum so it didn't look like it broke with a different Asian who spoke pretty good English.
I had physical done in January all blood work was good. I was negative for everything even Hep B plus I did std/hiv tests, after each incident which require 2 weeks post incident, but those test did not test for HEP B only hep c.
So I recently been having upper center abdomen discomfort, that has been having me burp more often, starting a mild dry cough, soft liquidy different shades of brown stools not 100% water but not sure if it's considered diarrhea, gassy/rumbling stomach, indigestion, heart burn, acid/ sour taste in mouth.
Either a shade of yellow urine or clear, no dark brown I don't think. I went to urgent care, MD pressed on stomach and I was tender under ribs in the center. Im worried about Hep B
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
11 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your interest and your confidence in our services.
Too much is made on many education resources about hepatitis B virus (HBV) as an STD. It's really, really rare -- with almost all cases now in men having sex with other men. Even if you weren't vaccinated, almost certainly your partners have been. To my knowledge, I haven't come across a heterosexually transmitted case of HBV in 30 years. And it sounds like you had entirely safe sex as well. (HCV is even less often sexually transmitted, and not at all between males and females. The ONLY well documented sexual transmission scenario for HCV is for potentially traumatic [bloody] anal sex practices between males.)
I'm confused about your HBV test results: "negative for everything include Hep B" and later "did not test for HBV". Which is it? Two weeks is too soon to detect a new infection, but fine to determine immune status from prior vaccination. If text actually was done and positive for HBV antibody, but others (HBs antigen), it proves you weren't infected.
You symptoms don't suggest hepatitis at all. If you told the urgent care doctor about your concern for hepatitis, or if she suspected it herself, presumably liver function tests (LFTs) were done. If not, they could be done now (I'm speaking of liver enzymes and bilirubin, not HBV testing). If normal these would prove you don't have hepatitis B (or any other hepatitis).
Bottom line: virtually no risk for HBV and no serious suspicion you have it. But the only way to know for sure is to be properly tested both for HBV to check immune status, if not yet done; and perhaps LFTs. Feel free to let me know those result if and when done. In the meantime, I hope these comments are helpful.
HHH, MD
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11 months ago
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Appreciate the work you do and Sorry about the confusion.
Jan 24' full panel blood work through family physician with full hepatitis ABC panel and stds/hiv'--- all normal
Planned parenthood has a 2 week waiting standard for std so after both april/may 24' incident and August 24' incident. I had std/hiv/hep c done ---all normal
The only test I haven't done is the hep B panel after my incidents.
The symptoms have been over 5 days, and I never had heartburn, indigestion, or anything like this before. The timeline for my unprotected oral incident in April/may I thought kinda lined up with the symptoms starting..
Yeah I'm not too worried about hep c that test was negative on the panel I had done in Sept after August incident so I know I'm good from the may incident.
I'm married and nervous.
I tried finding Vax status
11 months ago
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Coming from your experience what is the timeline and main symptoms of hep B.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
11 months ago
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As I said, the chance of HBV from the exposures described is near zero, even if a partner has the virus and you were not vaccinated. If somehow I were in your situation, I would not be tested for it. (Even in the highest risk patients attending public STD clinics, HBV testing is rarely done. It's not worth it given the rarity of newly diagnosed infection. Anyway, follow my advice above about testing.
Most new HBV infections cause no symptoms. Of those with symptoms, typical onset is 10-20 days after exposure. Malaise (just feeling bad), perhaps pain in the upper right abdomen, more severe cases jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), and sometimes joint pains due to transint arthritis.
Married or not, this is like being nervous about being struck by lightning. Your odds of HBV probably are similar.
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11 months ago
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Than you for your help.
Weird metal taste in my mouth. Haha I'm not sure what's going on. I hope I'm OK.
Thank you sir !!!!
11 months ago
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Could you keep this open. I have a script to test for immunity from hep b... I'm good start there.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
11 months ago
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Threads are closed after two follow-up comments and replies or 28 days, whichever comes first. However, I won’t count this comment and reply. But no more comments of any kind until you report your HBV immunity test result.---
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11 months ago
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Small update... I'm going for immunity testing and doctor tomorrow but now today my wife 30 mins ago messaged me about severe upper abdomen pain radiating to back/ shoulder/ arm.. she's 36 we been together for 20 years. Now I'm worried becausethis isn't just my own anxiety...... its only about hep B im clear for all other test. please don't close thread just update
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
11 months ago
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I have no comment -- and as I said above, you've used up your comments on this thread. Please do not start a new one this topic. But I'll make a deal with you: if it turns out you have hepatitis B, feel free to return and let us know and we'll refund your posting fee. Given your near zero risk for HBV infection, I will be surprised if anything turns up. Good luck.---