Helicobacter Forums

Pylera is a good treatment.
it is true that you most likely caught it from your mother.
if you and your wife brushes teeth, at least in the morning, then the chance of infecting each other is low.

you are right about rifabutin and furazolidone. and the new PPI, vonoprazane. So you still have hope if the pylera failed.
alternatively, you can ask your gastroenterologist for a proper antibiotic sensitivity test, which include endoscopy.
That will tell if any of the antibiotics you used before can be reused.

it's common to have the "functional" symptoms continue on. The "wound" caused by H. pylori can take times to heal. Some wound can be permanent. Usually the older you are, the "deeper" the wound and harder to recover. But 30 years old is consider young.

it is true that you most likely caught it from your mother.
if you and your wife brushes teeth, at least in the morning, then the chance of infecting each other is low.

I do agree that having it from my mother is a possibility, but I thought it's likely I have it from my wife given that

• I didn't have any issues before I met her, and they started very suddenly and very intensely (lots of acid, upper abdominal pain, very bloated lower belly, nausea, duodenal scarring found in endoscopy) a few months after I started dating her. If it's from my mother, these symptoms should slowly start croppping up, no?
• I was orally pleasing her, in the process having oral-fecal contact, which is a way of transmission, right?
• She has a history of HP-like symptoms and was tested positive for HP 2 years after we started dating

Do you agree with this or is my reasoning faulty somehow?

It's calming to know that I still have another chance in case i still have HP, also thanks for that tip to do a sensitivity test since it might show which antibiotics I already took might work a second time, didn't think of that...

I can believe that some digestion issues like a bit of bloating/stomach aching from time to time can stay for a long time or even permanently. I was just shocked to hear the gastroenterologist confidently state I will have to deal with the current state of things for the rest of my life, since I had daily upper abdominal pain, bloating farting etc. But good to know that you agree with me on this to an extent, that there is a good chance I can recover to a large degree in the long run (which is imo proven already by the fact I feel quite a bit better after antiobiotics).

Thanks for your reassuring words. Really means a lot to me and gives me hope, after being so depressed and fearing that this discomfort and pain would never end or lessen! Will keep this thread up to date as new results arrive.

One more thing, I had this stinging close to my belly button that appeared 1 or 2 years after initial problems started, what could be an explanation for that? Is that just some imflammation due to the high amount of stomach acid etc. that can be expected to go away after eradication? I should have a gut endoscopy if this doesn't go away a few months after eradication at the latest, right? No doctor so far told me what this is or even could be, so obviously I am concerned this might be something bad...

It is possible to get it from spouse.
But it's probably not so important where it came from.
Most importantly is to have everyone under the same roof to get rid of it to prevent cross infection.

You can always go for an ultrasound to see if they can anything abnormal (eg. stones or blocked duct) under your belly.

Thanks! I will make sure to test my wife for HP as well once I know i am HP negative too! And I will also do a bunch of other tests to check for other possible reasons.

I had a stool test a few weeks ago, that came up negative. I am going to do a breath test in another month to be absolutely sure though. Also because a few weeks after finishing the Bismuth-based antibiotic, I started getting one-sided throat pain and headache and tiredness every day (mild but still annoying), and the throat doctor tested positive for a pretty resistant strain of bacteria in my throat, and gave me ANOTHER antibiotic. But instead of taking this now and messing up my chances to get rid of HP (since HP could develop resistance to this antiobiotic in the process), I want to make sure I don't have HP anymore first.

Also symptoms are not gone completely. Still frequent upper left abdominal pain/sucking sensation, slight nausea, stinging near the belly button. But if it's not an active HP infection that is causing this, my only other idea is that it's the damage caused by the HP infection (chronic inflammation, maybe due to the duodenal scarring found back in 2017?). If anyone knows how long-term I might have these problems and how I could heal, let me know...

Doing another HP test before I take the throat antiobiotics is the best strategy right? Or is it really that unlikely that I still have HP now? One the one hand, stool test is pretty accurate, on the other, I still have typical HP symptoms and I have plenty of false negatives in the past (imo)...