Scared

[HGAROSE]

I recently attended A&E for something unrelated to this and had blood work done, there is now an opt out screening that is done for BBV'S for anyone over the age of 16 having bloods taken in A&E. I received a call yesterday informing me that the screen for hepatitis b came back as reactive, they will be sending me a letter for further blood work etc they said i shouldn't be worried but i am. I am worried about my health and my relationship. Does anyone know if reactive means positive? and what exact test was taken? I am literally going out of my mind cannot think about anything else, haven't left my bed all day and a lot of crying. Any replies/advice would be much appreciated!

[JHutton1994]

You may want to give these people a call. They should be able to advise you hepbpositive.org.uk/helpline

[HGAROSE in reply to JHutton1994]

thank you so much i will

[BritishLiverTrust8 Moderator British Liver Trust]

Dear HGAROSE

If you would find it useful to talk things over with our nurses, our nurse-led helpline is open Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm on 0800 652 7330 excluding bank holidays.

Best wishes

British Liver Trust

[Smegmer]

"Reactive" on an initial hepatitis B test can mean that something was detected, but it doesn't confirm a diagnosis. These screenings are designed to cast a wide net — sometimes they pick up signals that turn out to be false positives. That’s why they said you’ll need further blood work to confirm what’s going on.

It’s very possible to have a reactive result from past exposure, from a vaccine, or from something non-specific, and still be completely fine and not infectious.

[HGAROSE in reply to Smegmer]

thank you this has put my mind at ease a little but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't still worried, i have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow so i'll come back to this post once i have my results

[HGAROSE]

so i've just come back from my appointment with a little bit of relief obviously it's not 100% certain but i was told it's very unlikely that i have it and it was just a false positive, will hopefully receive my blood test results on monday for confirmation. had a fibroscan and was told my liver is very health, no abnormalities so fingers crossed for monday.