Just started H. Pylori Treatment...

[newhpyloridiag]

Thanks tornado, good that you are feeling good. Thanks for the suggestions.

I gave up on Kiefer after 2 days coz, it made me nauseous. I switched to the yogurts. I bought a bottle of Pro-Biotic tablets but afraid to use them, considering the Kiefer effect.

Like you said, going gluten-free , it will be very tough to eat outside.

I will try to see if the following things make me feel better.
1) Chamomile tea with Honey
2) Aloe Vera juice

[tornado82]

Ive read a lot of good things about the aloe juice. Many people who suffer from Acid Reflux claim it helps them more than their PPI medication so they came off medicine and drink the juice instead. Its worth a try I suppose. It may be tough to drink though, as I don't think its very tasty. Let me know how it works for you...I may try it myself. Ive been skipping the kefir too, mainly because its just not all that great tasting, and its very thick. The first time I used it I felt it made me really bloated but the days following that I used it I was ok. I used it for several days there while on the antibiotics.

Ive got this cough sensation that is continuing still today. The chest pain is pretty much completely gone now, but this feeling of needing to cough is annoying. Not sure what to make of the transition from pain to a cough. Ive been eating and swallowing fine. Food seems to be going down without any issue or pain. Stomach feels fine and normal as well. Bowel movements are normal and properly timed. Everything is good it seems except the chest still, seemingly right in the middle of the esophagus where this cough sensation is now residing and persisting. I am burping some here and there, but burping is mostly normal I think.

Im still on 2 Prilosec per day but I think Im going to drop to 1 per day starting tomorrow. The only other pill im taking aside from that is a One-A-Day mens multi vitamin, which I generally take after Lunch.

If this cough would go away id consider myself fully back to normal...Still crossing my fingers that the chest pain doesn't return as it did once before already.

EDIT: I wanted to add, this may be worth noting or not, but Ive read that Vitamin B defiency can manifest itself as digestion problems in the stomach. Have you been tested for Vitamin B levels in your blood in any previous tests? Do you take vitamins? You can get some cherry flavored Vitamin B12 pills at the pharmacy that you stick under your tongue for 30 seconds then swallow. They taste as good as candy. You may try increasing your Vitamin B intake if you suspect it could be low. Vitamin B as you may know plays an important role in the bodies metabolism, by helping the body turn food into energy. Prolonged PPI usage can also cause B12 Deficiency. You can read more about it here: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/guide ... oms-causes

Just trying to come up with things that COULD be causing your symptoms. Best of luck buddy.

[newhpyloridiag]

Good progress. You are 90% back to Normal. Cough doesn't mean a blockage. It means irritation. May be strep throat. May be the esophagus is slightly irritated so nothing to worry about it. Give it a week, may be it will disappear like the chest pain.

Yes, I got tested for B12 and Folic Acid. My B12 was some 380 level. The standard range is like 200 to 850. May be if this pylori is gone, may be mine will increase. Yes, I got those cherry flavored tablets from Costco, but my test came back and it was with-in range so I didn't continue using them. Thanks for sharing though.

Try to go from 2 prilosec to 1 and see, if things change.

Thanks for the wishes, good luck to you too.

[tornado82]

figured id stop in and post an update. I'm still doing really well. Chest pain has not returned, and the cough I had been having is also now gone. I am still not having any kind of stomach issues, and haven't really through this whole ordeal aside from 3-4 days when I started antibiotics. Nothing that I would call out of the ordinary though with the stomach currently. Appetite is pretty strong and I've begun to slowly put the weight back on that I had lost. I've decided to stick with the no carbonated drink decision and kick it for good. I'm also being very mindful to not lay down after meals and the like. Just an overall effort to try and ensure these issues dont occur in the future. I would say my overall awareness of my eating habits has been really heightened as a result of this ordeal, and I think thats been a good thing.

Im now starting to wonder if I should call and cancel the Endoscopy. Its still 5 weeks out or so, but If I continue to feel fine, I feel as though the endoscopy may just be a waste of money. My g/f and family have urged me to go ahead and have it done "to be safe". Ill figure it out over the next week or two. If I was to cancel the endoscopy I would of course schedule to have the breath test done, because I still need to make sure H. Pylori was eradicated.

Ill post back to give a closure to my story here, no matter what I decide to do.

@newhpyloridiag: How have you been doing the last several days bud? How is your situation progressing?

[Helico_expert]

Congratulation! I am very glad that you share you story here.

[newhpyloridiag]

figured id stop in and post an update. I'm still doing really well. Chest pain has not returned, and the cough I had been having is also now gone. I am still not having any kind of stomach issues, and haven't really through this whole ordeal aside from 3-4 days when I started antibiotics. Nothing that I would call out of the ordinary though with the stomach currently. Appetite is pretty strong and I've begun to slowly put the weight back on that I had lost. I've decided to stick with the no carbonated drink decision and kick it for good. I'm also being very mindful to not lay down after meals and the like. Just an overall effort to try and ensure these issues dont occur in the future. I would say my overall awareness of my eating habits has been really heightened as a result of this ordeal, and I think thats been a good thing.

Im now starting to wonder if I should call and cancel the Endoscopy. Its still 5 weeks out or so, but If I continue to feel fine, I feel as though the endoscopy may just be a waste of money. My g/f and family have urged me to go ahead and have it done "to be safe". Ill figure it out over the next week or two. If I was to cancel the endoscopy I would of course schedule to have the breath test done, because I still need to make sure H. Pylori was eradicated.

Ill post back to give a closure to my story here, no matter what I decide to do.

@newhpyloridiag: How have you been doing the last several days bud? How is your situation progressing?

Fantastic. If you are feeling fine, then don't need an endoscopy. You can just get the breath test.

Regarding me, I am doing ok, not great but not bad. I am able to eat decent quantities but the fullness is not gone yet. Earlier I used to get full as soon as I start eating, but now I get full after eating (it goes away in an hour) and I am not eating like too much. Apart from that, other symptoms (like pains, chronic belching,relux,gas) have slowly gone. I am not losing any more weight from when the treatment started but I only gained like 2 pounds. Both my GP as well as Gastro suggested to take a follow-up stool test instead of the breath test. My 30 days will complete on the 29th, I was planning to give a stool sample on the 5th of Aug. GP advised to stay off the PPI for atleast 2 weeks. I am off PPI from the 22nd. He said when I stop PPI, I could see "rebound hyperacidity" for a week or two. He said, if it is bothering you too much, then go back to taking PPI again. So far the last 2 days, I have little reflux and little belching, but not intolerable or something.

My lightheadedness and low platelet count (around 100k) still exist, so looks like they are from something else that's going on, not H.Pylori (unless the stool test gonna say, still infected). Just sick and tired of all these issues and just praying to get back to what I used to be before.

Really happy for you, you successfully nailed it.

[tornado82]

Back again for a little update. Im still doing pretty good. The 24 hour chest pain has still not returned. Yesterday and now today however I am having some intermittent chest discomfort that I feel is in fact Reflux that is happening. I am burping a little too often to be normal as well I think. I feel like whatever ive been dealing with still is not fully gone, and is trying to linger around. Ive decided that i am likel going to go forward with the endoscopy given this, and just see what I can learn from it. If the doctor says everything is normal then oh well, at least I will know that much. Im still 4 weeks out from endoscopy however.

Im still taking 1x prilosec OTC (20mg) per day. I take it in the morning before I put anything in my stomach and then wait 30 minutes to 1 hour before eating anything. Im not taking any other medicine aside from that right now. I pop the occasional Tums here and there when I feel the discomfort, though the tums doesnt seem to do anything to it. I just refuse to accept that I have GERD just all of a sudden. It makes no logical sense. Whatever it is however, its still lingering in the shadows I feel. My chest just feels a little off at times, and its not normal.

[newhpyloridiag]

I was feeling the same, like how come GERD show up suddenly. There is some inconvenience after stopping the PPI. Only the follow-up test will tell if this Pylori $hit is eradicated or not.

Peace of mind is important, so I guess take the endoscopy as scheduled.

I have to give a stool sample for test on the 5th of Aug.

[tornado82]

To prepare for my endoscopy my doctor wanted to see my latest blood test results from the ER visit I had so I went and picked them up today. Ive been looking through the results here and trying to research the items that are shown to be high or below the normal ranges listed in the results. Id love to know if any of these mean anything or if I should be concerned. If anyone, especially a doctor, could give any insight into this it would be helpful. My research is ongoing on all of them but reading stuff online doesnt give a good indication sometimes if I should worry about some of these abnormalities. Ill list below everything that is either High (H) or Low (L) that was in my results:

----General Chemistry----
17 total items are listed under this one. Only one shows as abnormal:

CK 248 (H) Normal range: 38 - 174

----Hematology----
17 total items are listed under this one also. A handful of them are out of normal range. they are as follows:

WBC 10.9 (H) Normal range: 4.8 - 10.8
MCH 31.2 (H) Normal range: 27.0 - 31.0
% Lymp 10.5 (L) Normal range: 20.5 - 51.1
% Gran/Nuet 84.9 (H) Normal range: 42.2 - 75.2
ABS. Lymp 1.1 (L) Normal range: 1.2 - 3.4


----Hematology----
A 2nd page has another "hematology" heading and only has 4 items on it. 1 item is not normal:

Abs. Gran/Neut 9.2 (H) Normal range: 1.4 - 6.5



Some of these like my White Blood cell count (WBC) and my MCH value are just barely out of normal range, so Im not overly concerned about that. What Im most concerned about is the "Gran/Nuet" values that seem decently high, my %Lymp value that seems substantially low, and my CK value (Creatine Kinase) which seems decently high. Those 3 items concern me. Out of 4 pages of blood results these are the only items not in normal ranges. All of my other blood work results including Thyroid Function, General Chemistry, and Cardiac Markers were all within normal ranges, as well the majority of my Hematology and General Chemistry which I have not listed here. My research so far is only suggesting generic information such as "Could mean you have a viral or bacterial infection" but I am more wanting to know is it really abnormal to see the items above be out of line like this? Is it something to be worried about or is it normal that these things could fluctuate like this? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: It seems the % Lymp is low simply because the % Gran/Neut is High. In the section where these two items are located there is also % Mon, % Eos, and % Baso. When added up these all total 100% so these figures I guess are simply showing what each cell type makes up in the total WBC? Hmmmm Would love to know why these two cells are out of whack, one being pretty low, the other pretty high.

EDIT 2: Ok im turning this post into a novel, but Im actively researching this and typing this out as I read. It seems my low Lymp value may not be the real big concern, given my Actual Lymp count (Abs. Lymp) is nearly normal. My Neutrophilis is elevated a good bit however, and this is what I think my biggest concern is. My WBC is too high, sitting .1 point out of normal, but even if it was just inside the range, it is still elevated for some reason. Im wondering if my anxiety is a likely cause of this increase. When this blood test was taken my anxiety had been kicking in pretty moderately for a good 3-4 days. But, I dont want to just write it off as anxiety unless there is a normal correlation. Ok I think im done with edits now.

[newhpyloridiag]

Lol. I guess anxiety will not affect the blood count. Just the neutrophils are high. Which means there could be an infection or inflammation, which may mean you may be having a cold or something. Nothing to worry about. I had like 16.1 one day and after 36 hours I had 8.9.