Drinking after RECOVERY from Hepatitis B?

[LucyMed]

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Hey! I am a 27 year old young lady. I just wanted to ask a question and I am not sure where I should ask this. But I guess I might just give this a try.
I came down with Hepatitis B last year around January 1st 2004. I came down with Jaundice and all the symptoms. I don't know where I got the virus from. I recovered in two weeks. My enzyme levels came back to normal in two weeks and I have been fine since then. Everything is fine now but I just have one question.....Can I drink alcohol again now after recovering from Hepatitis B?
I haven't touched alcohol ever since I got the disease last year and I have never been a heavy drinker in my life. However my social life is becoming extremely difficult without alcohol. Can I drink alcohol again now? Please help me by answering to this question here. Thanks!

 

[Shah_Patel_PT]

I am sure you can, in moderation, as long as there are no drug interactions.

Your virally infected liver has had ample time to regenerate.

 

[ocean11]

Hi,

First of all let me say that I'm sorry to hear you were diagnosed with Hep B. It's always hard to be diagnosed with a serious disease, especially when you're young, and if it alters your lifestyle!! but with that being said my personal advice is NO you shouldn't drink alcohol, it could INDUCE changes in your liver metabolism and perhaps trigger another bout of illness with this disease. However, I do think that a glass of red wine once every 2 months isn't too bad.... but nothing more than that...

If a lack of alcohol is disrupting your social life, you need to look within yourself and see what is truly the matter. No one should have to drink alcohol to be happy or have a good time. I tell myself this every time I go out!

Trust me, don't abuse your liver or you'll be even sicker...... and will NEVER be able to party......

 

[beanbean]

LucyMed,

These forums are not the place to seek medical advice and it is not allowed here. You need to talk to your own physician regarding any issues regarding your past hepatitis. Your health is very important and should not be entrusted to a bunch of med students on the internet.

 

[Shah_Patel_PT]

LucyMed,

These forums are not the place to seek medical advice and it is not allowed here. You need to talk to your own physician regarding any issues regarding your past hepatitis. Your health is very important and should not be entrusted to a bunch of med students on the internet.

I agree!

 

[nabeya]

Then why did you see that you're sure it's ok as long as if it's in moderation. Are you 100% confident in yourself that she can go out and drinking on the weekends and it's not going to harm her? Probably not which is why medical students shouldn't be giving advice like that, especially on an internet message board since somebody might actually take that advice seriously.

I agree!

 

[LucyMed]

Thank you for giving your valuable advice. For some personal reasons I cannot ask this question to my Physician. Is there some place on the net where I can ask this question? Are there any websites? So, now I am not going to be able to drink again???

Yes it was extremely depressing when I was diagnosed with this aweful disease last year. I didn't even want to tell anybody about it. But Thank God I survived. If it had become fulminant or Chronic I would have died. The worst part is I still don't know where I got the virus from. My doctor told me that since my enzymes were normal I didn't have anything to worry about. Doesn't that mean my liver has regenerated by now and can handle alcohol? I have stayed away from alcohol for a year now but I can't imagine life without it. It is a so much a part of life......toasts at dinners, champagne at weddings, and the beers at parties....and not to mention the social pressures. May be this message board is not a place to ask this question. But please try to help me. Otherwise please tell me what other websites I can ask this question to. Thank you.

 

[beanbean]

Why could you possibly not ask your own physician this simple question? Any conversations between you and your doctor are confidential. If this really is a problem for you, you need to find another doctor.

I understand your desire to want to know if it is safe to drink socially, but please get this information in a responsible way. There is no internet site that can answer this question for you and trying to get answers about your health this way is dangerous and stupid.

There are plenty of people, myself included, who do not drink alcohol and do just fine socially. If your doctor indicates that you should not consume alcohol ther are plenty of other beverages to drink at toasts. I have never felt any social pressure to drink. Most people could care less if you are drinking soda or beer and others are quite happy to have a sober driver with them.

 

[LucyMed]

Yes, my doctor didn't keep my disease confidential. He actually revealed all my details to my relatives when they called him up to ask about me. I cannot trust this doctor or any other doctor over here for that matter.
I guess I will just go and try out alcohol and then check my enzymes after that. But I haven't had the guts to drink another drop of alcohol since my disease. So, I just thought of asking for some advice before I make a plunge into the sea of death. I hope you all have empathy with me. Please try to understand my problem instead of telling me to do the impossible. It is very easy for a non-alcoholic to tell a social drinker to quit drinking. The fact that I have been away from alcohol for so long has surprised even me .But to live the rest of my life without it?? I would rather drink it and die.

 

[f_w]

Yes it was extremely depressing when I was diagnosed with this aweful disease last year. I didn't even want to tell anybody about it. But Thank God I survived. If it had become fulminant or Chronic I would have died. The worst part is I still don't know where I got the virus from. My doctor told me that since my enzymes were normal I didn't have anything to worry about. Doesn't that mean my liver has regenerated by now and can handle alcohol? I have stayed away from alcohol for a year now but I can't imagine life without it.

You need to talk to two physicians:
- a GI/hepatologist
- a substance abuse specialist

As someone pointed out, this is not the place to get medical advice from.

If there has been a breach of confidentiality on your doctors side, address that issue with him/her. If you can't get a resolution of your concerns this way, address the issue with your state medical board.

(Btw. You don't know how you got hep-B ? In the college population, hep-B and a host of other infectious agents tend to travel in the company of 'social drinking'.)

 

[Doctobee]

Yes, my doctor didn't keep my disease confidential. He actually revealed all my details to my relatives when they called him up to ask about me. I cannot trust this doctor or any other doctor over here for that matter.

I think you definitely need to find another doc. I think it might be against the law for a doc to disclose patient info without the patient consent (unless you are a minor).

I guess I will just go and try out alcohol and then check my enzymes after that.

That might be a bad idea. Why can't you just find another doc??

BTW.. I'm really sorry that you had such a terrible desease, and it's a really good thing that you recovered from it so quickly! I have been vacinated against HepB, and now have antibodies against it. Having recovered from it yourself, you should also have antibodies against it and be "immune" against it in the future (I don't know this for sure and this is just my thinking - logically). And if that's the case, you should be ok having a glass of alscohol here and there, but not too much. Also, I agree with the poster above that you should really seek true professional advice from a DIFFERENT Doc.

Good Luck!

 

[Bap2qwrq7]

So, I just thought of asking for some advice before I make a plunge into the sea of death. I hope you all have empathy with me. Please try to understand my problem instead of telling me to do the impossible. It is very easy for a non-alcoholic to tell a social drinker to quit drinking. The fact that I have been away from alcohol for so long has surprised even me .But to live the rest of my life without it?? I would rather drink it and die.

Yeaaah. Troll much? This overdramatic crap is a bit much.

"I would rather drink and die"
"Plunge into a sea of death"
Good lines, I'll have to remember them.

Besides, you have gotten some good advice as it is. Quit feeding your addiction.

 

[DocRugby]

lucy -

i'm just a student too, but here's my two cents - as an undergrad, i did ~3 yrs of HepB research, and the clinical hepatologists generally said that 6-9months after a return to normal, patients could drink again in extreme moderation (like 1-2 drinks 1-2 times a month). hope this helps a bit.

 

[f_w]

Please, please guys/gals. Don't dispense medical advice here.

You haven't seen the patient, you haven't seen her labwork, so don't treat her through the internet.

 

[caribsun]

i dont know. im just a med student. sorry

but if ur healthy and recovered from an acute Hep B infection, you have

surface antibody pos
Anti-HBcAg IgG
HBVDNA neg
E Ag neg

 

[f_w]

You haven't seen the patient, you haven't seen her labwork, so don't treat her through the internet.