Halting H2 Antagonists for Breath Test
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 10:00 am
Since my provider hasn't given me much advice on preparing for the breath test (other than to stop PPIs and Bismuth solutions for 2 weeks), I've looked around at other medical practices for instructions and noticed that several suggest halting H2 Antagonists for 1-3 days before the test (one even suggested two weeks!).
I looked for studies into why this might be the case, but could only find one (from 2001) which observed a 13% false negative rate: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11232674/
Has anyone researched this further, and can explain why there is inconsistency in prep advice? Does anyone know whether H2s affect false negatives with the stool test equally - as I may request a follow up test in case the breath test shows negative.
I looked for studies into why this might be the case, but could only find one (from 2001) which observed a 13% false negative rate: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11232674/
Has anyone researched this further, and can explain why there is inconsistency in prep advice? Does anyone know whether H2s affect false negatives with the stool test equally - as I may request a follow up test in case the breath test shows negative.