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Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2020 11:09 pm
by Helico_expert
Your problem may or may not be because of H. pylori.

But you have tried the treatment, let's wait for a month and repeat the test. See if your HP is fully eradicated.

Even if it did work, some patients can continue to have symptoms for a while, depending on the damage done.

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2021 4:14 am
by Lauren
Shamaiza wrote:
Mon Sep 28, 2020 2:59 am
Thank you for getting back to me,

I’m waiting for my appointment date to come through the post any day now for the endoscopy to see if there’s and h.pylori present, but because I’m on the esomeprazole I would have to come off it 2weeks prior to the appointment so that I can get a clear result!! And not a false negative.

I even went to the hospital today to get some answers and I didn’t manage to sleep at all last night, I was just told I’d have to wait for the appointment to come through 😫 she also gave me lansoprazole 15mg to take instead of the esomeprazole and told me I could up the dose by taking it twice a day.

My symptoms are only getting worse as I feeling these medications are only masking the true diagnosis!!

I feel so helpless right now,

I eat and within half a hour my stomach is getting hunger pangs as if I haven’t eaten all day, my throat feels so sore and no amount of paracetamol is making a difference!! because I’m not showing any red flag 🚩 symptoms ie, black tarry stool, vomit blood, weight loss, I’m just being told to wait.

My anxiety is only making things worse as my mum passed away 2yrs ago from cancer of the esophegas.

I just want to feel normal again 😢

What were your results how are you feeling now ?

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:16 pm
by Full_Regalia
Hello all, my turn with H Pylori!

It all began 3 to 4 years back when I started developing bloating after eating a decent meal. Now you need to understand that the quality of food eaten was below my typical threshold of feeling very full but above what I needed to be satisfied. So i didn’t give it much thought and back then I was dieting on and off and just thought that my stomach was contracting.

This went off for a few years and with time the threshold of quantity to get bloated was steadily diminishing but never reached an alarming level and again I wanted to lose weight so I brushed it off. (In hindsight and now thinking about it I believe these were indeed the first symptoms of H Pylori but I’m not 100% sure)

Finally 2 months ago I had a kidney stone attack. Extremely painful experience and I go to the emergency. Doc says it’s a small stone and discharges me with painkillers. He gave me NSAIDs (ibuprofen and naproxen). I had some consistent pain over the next 10 days and I proceeded with taking these painkillers. I wasn’t aware that I should take stomach protection with.

After 10 days of consistently taking the meds I started developing stomach issues after every meal. I thought it would go within 3 days but it actually got worse. Bloating, sweating, cramps and pain. I go to the emergency and doc ask me about previous medical history and I tell him about the kidney stone and the NSAIDs. He quickly deduced that this is NSAIDs induced gastritis and gives me anti acid and tell me you’ll get better in 3 days.

But i didn’t get better. After a couple of weeks of further stomach symptoms I finally decide to see a gastroenterologist. I describe my situation and was told to do a stool and blood test to check for H Pylori among other potential ailments. I come negative for pylori and everything else. Next he schedules an ultrasound scan and i also come clean.

Finally the doc decided on and endoscopy. After completing the procedure he informa me that i am positive for H Pylori via biopsy, he puts me on 3 antibiotics ( amoxicillin, Metronidazole & levofloxacin and pantoprazole as an PPI )for 10 days. I’m now on my 8th day of treatment and I’m still not feeling any better. That’s it. I will keep updating this post with further development. I took a new appointment with the doc on the 10th day (in 2 days) of treatment because i feel that i won’t be getting any better by then still.

Typical symptoms: bloating 45 mins after ingesting food. The duration and intensity of the bloating depends chiefly on the quantity of food ingested as opposed to the type of food. Anything beyond 3 mouthfuls I get mild bloating. Above 5 mouthfuls it’s intense bloating. After the bloating a dull epigastric pain settles in and the duration and intensity is proportional to the bloating. Both these can last from 1 to 6 hours. Also note that I can get one without the other. I have absolutely no reflux or œsophage problems. No ulcers and no blood in stools. Nausea maybe once a week.

I can mostly control the symptoms by eating small snacks throughout the day

Thank you for reading

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:36 am
by Helico_expert
Your symptoms are due to the damage caused by H. pylori and the inflammation cells.
When H. pylori is eradicated, the inflammation will slowly retreat. Hence, you will gradually feel better.
Some lucky patients can feel improvement immediately. But some patients can take a long time to feel normal.

The recovery is subjective to the severity of the damage done. It can be days, weeks, months or even years.
The younger you are, the quicker the recovery.

So, the key to recovery is the free of H. pylori. Make sure you make an appointment to get a follow up breath/stool test done one month after your treatment.

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:17 am
by Full_Regalia
Thank you helico_expert for your answer.
My question is why did I came up negative for H Pylori during the blood/stool test? It only showed up positive during the biopsy.

Also why can’t I immediately test for H Pylori after the treatment is done to confirm eradication?

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:39 pm
by Helico_expert
It's rare for blood test to get a false negative result. If you had H. pylori, your blood will carry antibody against H. pylori, even if you got rid of it, your immune system will remember and remain positive of antibody against H. pylori.

That is why you cannot use blood test to confirm the eradication of H. pylori. Your blood test will remain positive for months or even years.

stool test can fail when your bacterial load is very low. Stool test rely on the proteins on the H. pylori cells. If the number of H. pylori cells are low, then you may get a false negative result from stool test. PPI and antibiotics can reduce the H. pylori cells number. Even if the PPI and antibiotics did not get rid all the H. pylori cells, they can suppress the H. pylori growth. So if you are taking PPI or antibiotics (or any anti H. pylori herbs), then there is a chance for stool test to fail.

Also why can’t I immediately test for H Pylori after the treatment is done to confirm eradication?
H. pylori is a very slow growing organism. it will take two to three weeks for them to grow into big enough number to be detected by breath/stool test.

So if you took some treatment that kill off 99% of the H. pylori cells. It will take about 2-3 weeks time for the 1% resistance strain to grow back. Then you can determine if the treatment had successfully eradicated the H. pylori completely.

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:21 pm
by Full_Regalia
Thank you. It all makes sense. I’m really hoping I get 100% eradication with these 3 antibiotics!

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 1:17 am
by Full_Regalia
This is my 2 days after finishing my antibiotics course. Although I’m glad to be off the meds, I haven’t seen any improvements. All the existing symptoms are still present

For info my diagnosis was:
Stomach: hyperemic antral mucosa
Final diagnosis: antral gastropathy. H. Pylori infection

I was expecting some sort of improvement even if the final healing needs a few weeks or months, but I’m still at square one.

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 1:06 pm
by Helico_expert
Let's wait another 2-3 weeks, without taking any other medications, then you can get another breath/stool test done to see if your HP is still there.

Re: My H. Pylori Story

Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 6:30 pm
by Full_Regalia
The symptoms are subsiding, I would say I’m 20% better. Last 3 days I had mild symptoms, today I’m symptom free. I’ve been off the PPI for 4 days today. I am still following the diet without deviation. Hopefully this is the beginning of the healing phase.
I’ve scheduled a HP test in 3 weeks