ok i got the results from a hep test...my hubby has cirosis of the liver and sometime within this past year got hep. B and hep. C he is/was a serious alchoholic but he hasnt picked up a drink in 2 days he swears he will stop and so far he has on his own but we dont understand the test results on the paper it says hepititis Bs, hepititis Be what does that mean...they r both neg but there still saying he has both even though he only has the antibodies and no antegens. somone please help.

Interpretation of this lab results is not easy. I suggest you to consult your doc
Petr

ok i got the results from a hep test...my hubby has cirosis of the liver and sometime within this past year got hep. B and hep. C he is/was a serious alchoholic but he hasnt picked up a drink in 2 days he swears he will stop and so far he has on his own but we dont understand the test results on the paper it says hepititis Bs, hepititis Be what does that mean...they r both neg but there still saying he has both even though he only has the antibodies and no antegens. somone please help.

hey j,

I'm guessing there has been some miscommunication or some missing information here. If indeed he tests positive only for antibodies and NOT antigens for hep B, this would usually mean he had once had hbv, or was vaccinated, but NOT now carrying live virus. However, there must be something else the docs were trying to say, or something that got lost in the translation. Maybe that he once had hep b, but no longer? this is the case with me, for instance, so I test positive for the antibodies, but not the antigen. With hep B, if I remember my reading correctly, about half those who get it recover without treatment.

Hep c is usually less hard to inrerpret. In this case, if the test found the antibodies, you need a further test (its a test for viral rna, a PCR) to detect whether live virus is present, or the antibodies reflect a previous exposure and recovery. Only about 10 to 15 percent of people who contract hcv recover without treatment, but some do.

In either case, what makes you think your husband just contracted these viruses, and both of them at that, in the last year? Usually they take many many years, even decades to produce cirrhosis.
Of course, you can get cirrhosis from drinking, from fatty liver, and otherwise. Since you describe your hubby as a serious alcoholic, this is the likely cause of the liver damage but if the hep viruses are suspected, believe me it would be very rare for them to do that damage in just a couple of years. Hep A, yes, but not usually hep B or C.

As I'm sure you've been told by now, it is hard to imagine a more dangerous situation for the liver than the combination of hep and alcohol, so under ANY circumstances, I hope that hubby puts down every sort of drink, NOW.

Talk further to the docs, ask EVERY question you can think of, write down the answers. Come back and tell us what you hear.

Good luck

sean

ok everyone i am sry it has taken so long i had a lot of things going on in my life lately i just found i have emphazeuma even though i quit smoking i know its not that bad compared to others lifes but i also have failing kidneys and hypertention(high blood pressure) also something with my heart its beats at like about anywhere from 120 per min. to 172- per min. so i have not been feeling that great lately. my hubby on the other hand he is not doing so well and i know i will be losing him really soon because he has not stopped drinking well he did but all of a sudden he is back to it even more then before. he did get cyrosis of the liver from drinking its not from the hep b or c. hes been an alchy for a long time now. so thats where that came from and as far as how i know he just contracted hep b and c in the past year is because he has never been vacinated for hep. and he did not have hep antibodies any other time he was tested and we did it every year and he was clean before this time. and he addmitted he has cheated on me within this past year and he thinks that that is where he got it from because she was not clean. i did ask the doctors about his results since they never explained then the first time but i pointed out that he has only antibodies and not antegins and they said yes and that he is not contagious at this time. however i did take my children and myself to get vacinated anyway for saftey. i still dont know what to tell my kids its so hard to tell them there daddy is gonna die. his eyes are now fully yellowed from the jaundice though. and he just dont care anymore he is real sick bt drinks a lot now. ive come to the conclusion all we can do now is make the best of what time we have left with him. the doctors and i dont think he will last a year. so that is the update im sorry its so long but i dont know when i will be on here again im tired a lot now then ever. and i have 4 kids to take care of. well thank you all especially you sean for all your help. hope things work out for everyone.