My fight with H.pylori

[cityfisher]

Hi all,
I have been going through hell since January of this year but the last 3-4 weeks been feeling better.
Today I got bad news - Urea re-test 2 months after completing HP PAC came back POSITIVE.

Background:
Age,34 male
Bad constant stomach pains. No interest in food, etc. Cant sleep ..Always tired.
started TECTA - PPI
Did blood test Jan.25= h.pylori postive.
Finished 7 Days of HP PAC on Feb4. ( Had blood in stool during these 7 days and Felt like death, hardly slept)

Feb.6 went for Endocopy and Colonosopy.
Gastro found wounds in stomach that appeared to be healing, no active ulcers.
2 weeks later. Biopise came back saying : Chronic Gastritits. They did a Silver stain on the bioposie and said NO SIGN of h.pylori.

Feb.17 -Lost 15 lbs to date. started feeling bad chest pains throughout the day,, Mostly right center of chest -- somtimes pain on left side. Went for xray/echo/stress test/ etc ALL CLEAR... Cardiologist said my heart was great. Chest pain doesn't appear to be heart related.

March.10.. stomach pains have greatly improved. started eating more and trying to gain weight back.
Stopped TECTA PPI

March.29 - stomach feels better. maybe not 100% but much better. Still have chest pains -- Family doc thinks its ANXIETY related chest pains. and for me to relax and come back if not improved.

April.10th. - Still feeling chest pains .. mostly right center.. Doc prescribes Trazadone for sleep and relief of anxiety.. I fill the prescription but dont start it. Decide to take some herbel for sleep(Called Sleep8)..

April.18th - Still chest pains but Light and less frequent... Stomach much better.. gained 8 lbs of 15 lbs back... eating more and hitting the gym.

April.20 - Physical -- Doc checks me out.. ALl good.. No BP issues.. Blood is great... Still have light chest pains but doc thinks i should give it more time.
Before i leave, i mention to him ... Should i get re-tested for H.pylori? Sure why not.. sends me for UREA breath test.

Today: Office calls me .. Doc wants to see me.. UREA came back positive.

I'm feeling the best Ive felt in MONTHS... little to no stomach.. light chest pains but my attitude has improvied.. sleep improved a bit.

Now this... Positive H.pylori.. Not sure whats next ... I find it odd that my Endoscopy was negative but i test postive through the UREA.

Im worried about starting the HP pac again -- Defiantly the worst week of my life -- In between the worst 3 months of my life.

Thought I was on the mend!!! Im trying to stay postive but this just threw me a curve ball.

Thoughts?

[Helico_expert]

let me summarise,

Jan - Blood test positive for HP and took HP PAC
Feb - Endoscopy negative
Mar - got better
Apr - got worse, re-test HP, positive

HP Pac that you took in Jan explained the histology result in February.
the positive UBT that you got in April suggested that the HP PAC failed to eradicate ALL H pylori and the survival continue to cause trouble in March.
So, now you should take another set of antibiotics (eg. PPI, Amoxicillin , Metronidazole) for your H. pylori eradication.

[cityfisher]

Almost correct.
I'm actually feeling much better. just lingering chest pain.
Stopped ppi. March.1

No stomach related pains for the past 3 weeks, and for 3 weeks before that minimal stomach discomfoet.

I've been keeping a daily log of my symptoms.

Is it wise to take another round of antibiotics when I have no stomach related symptoms?
My worries is the hp pac will cause more damage than good.

[Helico_expert]

If you dont take another set of antibiotics, your symptoms will most likely return in near future. So it is better to get rid of it and then, you have one thing less to worry about.

as i mentioned in your other posts. You cannot take clarithromycin (from HP PAC) again as your H. pylori is already resistant to it. You'll need to ask your doctor for a substitute. A metronidazole is a good substitute. Also, you can add in pepto bismol to increase the kill strength.

[cityfisher]

Thank you!! Will Chat with my Dr today.

[cityfisher]

Doc recommended quadruple therapy but since I have no symptoms like before thought I should chat with my gastro before starting it.
saga continues...

[Helico_expert]

i would follow your doctor's instruction. He would know the local antibiotic resistant pattern best. For extra information, it is almost impossible for H. pylori to become resistant to amoxicillin and bismuth (pepto bismol). So you can always have these two antibiotics in your cocktail treatment.

[cityfisher]

Gastro confirmed that Quad therapy is the next course of action but since i dont have any symptoms, its up to me to make the decision.
He also said. H.pylori does bad things and you dont want in your belly. regardless if you have symptoms or not.

I may chat with a naturopath and maybe try something else before going with the quad therapy.

[Helico_expert]

You dont have to take treatment if you dont have symptoms. However, you had symptoms before, so I think it's better to have it eradicated before any permanent damage is done.

[cityfisher]

Update:
Since i have minimal symptoms i decided to visit a naturopath and see what they had to say.

2 hours of discussion was really beneficial and she confirmed that people she has treated HAVE got rid of h.pylori using non antibiotics.

I thought its worth a shot.

Once the 3 months is complete and I have re-tested I will post here. including what suppliments I took.

No point in posting the details until I can definitely say "H.PYLORI = NEGATIVE"