Helicobacter Forums

Would mastic gum use affect breath test results? Would mastic gum cause a false negative result?

I dont think mastic gum will affect the breath test. However, just in case it does, you should stop taking it the night before breath test.

Hi, I am a woman, 39 yrs old, live in Slovenia. Didn’t have any symptoms but randomly read about HP, bought pharmacy blood test that showed positive. Went to my doctor, he wanted a stool test confirmation that was again positive and than prescribed me a triple therapy. Afterwards I went on a gastroscopy and I was still HP positive, luckily no serious changes was seen and doctor told me I don’t need to come back to have another just take a breath test rather.

He prescribed me different antibiotics, again Amoxicilin and he added Tavanic. I got really scared about the side effects so I opted for some natural treatment that my mother in law’s friend gave her that supposedly curred her of HP. Later on I added some mastic gum as well, probiotics and liqorice root. I was taking that for a month and a half, last 2-3weeks only mastic gum. After 1 week after stopping also with mastic went on urea breath test (I wasn’t very optimistic and already seen myself with another round of antibiotics) on my big surprise the test came back negative.
Now I am thinking did I make a mistake, was I suppose to wait maybe more than a week after stopping with mastic, could this possibly affect the test result?

you may be lucky. but do you know the exact value of your breath test? if the cut off is 50 and you got a 48 or 49, then it may be a false negative due to the natural products that you were taking.

if your result was like 5 or 10, then it's probably a true negative.

Nevertheless, if you are doubtful, you can always repeat the test next month.

Yes, I have the results with me. I am attaching it so you can see the whole document. If I am not wrong I’d say my result is somewhere in the middle?

You are right, I think I will repeat the test in a month just to be sure.

I was reading your site all day, you provide truly valuable information. I wanted to ask one more thing as I couldn’t find related question anywhere else.

I have a 1 year old son and of course I am afraid that I will infect him somehow even with good higiene practice. More, I am now I am looking at what he does with HP on my mind and almost daily he comes to contact with his grandparents, he’s touching everything, trying to put fingers, toys in their mouth, sticking everything to his - I am totally stressed out. I try to wash his hands as much as I can and don’t allow touching other people faces but that sometimes happens in a split of a second. I read about your study about brushing teeth in the morning and I know for fact that they first sit down for a coffee and have breakfast, meanwhile my son come and here we are… I don’t know if my parents have HP but they are in their late 70’s so I would assume rather yes than no. Am I being too paranoid?

I know it’s not that bad if he catches it - but then, if he does and I am cured, he can reinfect me quite soon. So this other way around worries me even more - how many times can I go on antibiotics and beside how to even know if I’ll get reinfected if I didn’t had any symptoms? To test myself every year? What would you suggest?

Thank you so much.
Another maybe interesting thing to mention. My partner with whom I am together for almost 13 years was negative on blood test.

Thanks for sharing the report. I agree that it's somewhere in the middle. Not low enough to give an absolute definition of negative. But it is still a negative. You can check again one month later after you stop all the natural products that may inhibit H. pylori growth.

Children infected with H. pylori normally asymptomatic. Besides, the antibiotics are very nasty. Not only it gives side effects, it may also disturb the development of good bacteria in the guts in young kids. So no treatment is required until he is old enough.

It is possible to transfer back to you, but I must say the chance is very very very extremely low. The reason is because H. pylori is very fragile. It doesnt survive well outside human body. It dies after contact with almost anything. Salt, sugar, honey, chilli, broccoli, pepper, etc.

In addition, it is actually quite hard for adults to catch H. pylori especially living in modern society where we wash our hands and brush our teeth every day. Your partner being negative after so many years living together is a good example. You probably have very good dental hygiene. That prevent the spread of H. pylori.

I wanted to post an update about my situation.

I went to have another breath test a month later, so almost 6 weeks after stopping with mastic & other natural remedies. Just got the results and it says negative. I went to another clinic (they also test with C-13 urea test) but I didn’t receive the exact values as last time only it is negative and no further treatment is necessary.

Do you think this is enough or should I call them and ask for a detailed lab result? Would in 6 weeks the bacterial load rise that much it would be positive if I still have it? Or maybe only to a boarderline?

Having a small child at home in any case I decided I will retest myself maybe once a year or 2 years.

Sounds very negative to me.


I think your treatment was successful. So, congratulation.
To avoid reinfection, everyone (except children) living under the same roof should get a breath test done.