H. Pylori

[ebrbetty]

has anyone had this? I'm beginning to think this may be why I'm still having terrible stomach pains, gas and burning after I eat

what where your symptoms

thanks

[momandgirls]

Hi - I was positive for H. Pylori about three months ago. As far as I know, I don't have Celiac though I am going to have the blood test because I feel like I have a lot of the symptoms and my daughter has it. My doctor ordered the the blood test for H. Pylori because I complained of feeling like I was being choked all the time. My doctor thought it was either thyroid disease or an ulcer that had "burned" an area in my esophagus. The choking was actually my only symptom. But, common symptoms include stomach aches, reflux and excess gas (burping). As it turned out, I was positive for H. Pylori and also positive for thyroid disease (Hashimoto's thyroiditis). For the ulcer, I was given a course of antibiotics - two weeks of antibiotics (two different types, I can't remember now what they were) with Prevacid and then an additional two weeks of Prevacid. As I recall, it took a couple weeks for the blood test results to come back. I'm not sure how much I helped but thought I'd try!

[key]

I asked my GI about this and he said it isn't very common in people under 50 years old and didn't recommend even testing me for it. I have been having severe heartburn. Mainly in my throat.

Prilosec is helping me for now.

MOnica

[momandgirls]

I was 41 when I had it. It's diagnosed with a simple blood test and the treatment is a two week course of antibiotics. I would think it's worth knowing for sure.

[Rachel--24]

I asked my GI about this and he said it isn't very common in people under 50 years old and didn't recommend even testing me for it. I have been having severe heartburn. Mainly in my throat.

Prilosec is helping me for now.

MOnica

Thats not true. I would get tested. Your doctor is making an assumption that you dont have something based on your age? Thats just like saying you cant have Celiac if you're overweight. I'd get tested if I were you. Its better for your health to know something like that.

I was just tested and it was negative.

[ebrbetty]

thanks for the replies..I also have hypothyroid..years ago I had Graves.

I had a gastric emptying and was told my food digests at a slower rate than normal. I was also told by my gastro Dr that I have a distended stomach and inflamed dodium [sp] along with the borderline positive celiac blood tests. no ulcer showed during tests but He did say I have all the symptoms of an ulcer, can't eat butter, chocolate, pasta sauce, most spices and have tried most PPI'S with no help.

I think I'll call my allergist on Tuesday and see if he will take blood for H. Pylori..from what I understand pain starts a couple hours after eating, this is one of my problems.

as far as age goes, its untrue that it effects ppl only over 50, I believe your Dr is misinformed, as many of them are..my Gastro is the one who told me I could not have celiac disease because I don't have diarrhea a couple days later the blood test came back borderline positive [drawn by my primary care Dr]

[jkmunchkin]

I had actually self diagnosed myself with this a couple of years ago and it was confirmed with blood test and then an endoscopy. Actually this is a bit of a sore spot because the GI who did the endoscopy on although he noted there was something "funny looking" with my small intestine he didn't biopsy it. So I really should have had my celiac diagnosed atleast 2 years prior to when I did.

However I digress. It consisted of very sharp, painful stomach pains. Like someone was punching me in the stomach. If your blood tests positive for the H Pylori, definately make sure you have the endoscopy before you start the medication because trust me, you do not want to take it if you don't definately have it.

[ebrbetty]

I thought the medication was triple therapy? just 3 different antibiotics..are there side effects? at this point anything would be better than the pain I get 2 hours after every meal

[Guest cassidy]

I had surgery for reflux when I was 11. It came back a year ago and I've been on heartburn medicine every since. I had an endoscopy and they said the previous surgery had come undone. I didn't like that gi doc and went back to my primary care doctor. He did an H. Pylori test and I was positive. The weird thing is that I had the endscopy two weeks prior and the H. Pylori biopsy was negative and I had a blood test for it 4 days prior and that was negative so I don't know how it could have caused my symptoms for the last year.

I am almost done with my antibiotic. I only had one, but it caused nausea, stomach pain, and tons of gas. I felt like I was back on gluten. The symptoms have gotten better over time, I only have 3 days left to take. I don't have an ulcer or any symptoms that haven't cleared up with the gluten-free diet except heartburn, confirmed by my two recent endoscopies. I'm hoping this was my problem and I don't need surgery again, but it doesn't make sense.

H. Pylori doesn't cause reflux. It actually reduces the amount of acid that your stomach produces, so if anything, you should have less heartburn when you have the bacteria.

It is also contagious through saliva and other bodily fluids. I asked my doctor if my husband should be checked and he said he never thought of that. I figure if he has it and gives it back to me, what was the point of treating it.

[momandgirls]

My treatment was called PrevPak. I did not have an endoscopy (and nor was it suggested). I only had the blood test. The PrevPak comes in one big box. It consists of two antibiotics and a bunch of Prevacid and everything is marked clearly. You take two antibiotics and and a Prevacid twice a day for two weeks. After that, you take Prevacid twice a day for two more weeks. The only side effect I had was nausea (not terrible but annoying) but I get nausea every time I take an antibiotic for any reason.

Oh, I forgot to add...H. Pylori is the name of the bacteria that causes certain types of ulcers which, in turn, cause sore spots in the lining of your stomach. If the problem is an ulcer, you would, typically, have pain within minutes of eating or drinking something (even water). So, if you're having pain two hours after a meal, it actually doesn't sound like an ulcer. However, to be on the safe side, I would have the blood test anyway. After all, I didn't have the typical symptoms and ended up positive anyway! Good luck.

[jkmunchkin]

I thought the medication was triple therapy? just 3 different antibiotics..are there side effects? at this point anything would be better than the pain I get 2 hours after every meal

I don't remember exactly what the different medications where but yes there were 3 different types of antibiotics (but 4 pills) that I took 2x a day. One tasted like ass (and that taste would stay with me all day), and I know atleast one of the pills was a really high dose of penicillin. Side effects doesn't begin to describe what I had. I literally couldn't eat anything for the entire week I was taking the medication. You are supposed to take it for 2 weeks, but after taking it for a week I broke out in huge hives from neck to toe, that even the doctor jumped back when he saw them. They think my body most likely couldn't stand the high doses of penicillin even though I've never been allergic to any medications or penicillin before.

But that wasn't the worst part. If food even touched my lips - rice a banana, anything - I was running for the bathroom. I think I lost about 10 lbs. in that 1 week. By day 3 my clothes were falling off of me. (I'm really thin to begin with so this was not a good thing). The doctor told me I could take 1 Immodium and that should help. Well that only made things worse because then I had a combination of DH one minute and the next I was all backed up. I am not a whiner or a cryer. I wore a back brace for 23 hours a day for 4 years and never once complained, I broke my collar bone and didn't cry... with this, it literally got to the point that I was sitting at my desk at work and just started hysterically crying I was so miserable.

But apparently everyone reacts differently to the meds because momandgirls seemed to have very little side effects.

And yes as far as age goes with this, that is untrue. I was 26 when I had H-Pylori. And I also, didn't quite have an ulcer yet, but was told I was well on my way. I think the meds helped that though.