Helicobacter Forums

I was wondering if one of the experts on this forum could comment on a question regarding the effects that H-Pylori has on the immune system. My understanding is that it can do a real number on someone and cause all sorts of problems, and I've had my share in the last year, and I'm still searching for answers.

I had the Urea breath test done on Feb 19th and I'm anxiously waiting for the results. In a way, I am hoping the test will be positive because if it's not, I'm not sure what's left to investigate. On the other hand, I'm afraid of the antibiotic treatment I'll have to go through if it is positive.

About a year ago, I was given some amoxicillin for a tooth infection which is about when all my problems began. My problems started with Proctitis and I may have had, so I'm told, also a bout of Clostridium difficile . I was informed about 25 years ago that I have Ulcerative Colitis. I had a celiac blood panel test done about a year ago and my Gliadin Ab IgG was 70 (anything above 20 is high). My Gliadin Ab IgA was 21 and tTransglut IgA was 2.
My Gastroenterologist told me I had a sensitivity to gluten. I went off all gluten for almost 6 months and felt I showed no improvement. Meanwhile I have been told by two different allergy specialists that those results for the blood panel didn't necessarily mean I had a sensitivity to gluten.

Following are my questions, and I apologize for the length of my post so far.

Could the damage from H-pylori cause the stomach wall to break down to the point where it allows gluten to pass through the wall into the blood stream and set off an immune response? And could this possibly account for the high Gliadin Ab IgG reading of 70?
Also is it a good bet that if I test positive for H-pylori, then could this H-pylori have already built up a resistance to the amoxicillin that I have been prescribed twice now in the past 3 years?

Finally, is it true that taking L-glutamine can assist in the repair of the stomach lining?

I have been unsuccessful in getting these questions answered by my doctors as well as receiving contradictory information from them.

Thanks for your time and a big thanks for this site.

I've read a lot about Dr Marshall and I admire him so much for his achievements. He's amazing.

Rick
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

thanks for sharing your story.

H. pylori is related to a lot of different stomach diseases. Unfortunately, the real mechanism is still unknown. it seems like everyone have slightly different diseases. In general, everyone has gastritis. most of the people will be asymptomatic. some people developed dyspepsia. even less people develop ulcer. and only a very small group of people further developed into cancer.

For some reason, H. pylori will not develop resistance to amoxicillin. so if you are not allergic to amox, you are very lucky. because you can keep trying different antibiotic combinations with amox to eradicate H. pylori. another drug that H. pylori will not resistant to is Bismuth. it's a heavy metal and it forms pores on H. pylori. It's not harmful to human. so, combination of PPI, amox and bismuth plus one more antibiotic will be powerful enough to get rid of H. pylori. Read our recent publication on these combinations.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... aintenance

supporting document:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10 ... 4ca1d1eb37

L-glutamine is usually taken to protect the stomach lining. usually it is given for patients who takes long term aspirin for preventing stroke. NSAID or Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, are pain killers that will damage the mucous layer in your stomach and leads to stomach ulcers. in fact, 50% of the stomach ulcers are cause by NSAID instead of H. pylori.

I hope I answered your questions. if not, please ask again.

Thanks Helico-expert:
Your answer to my amoxicillin question and resistance to H/P is reassuring. Thank you. Do you know if there is any test that can be performed to tell if I could be allergic to amoxicillin. Also is there anything I could do or take or ingest, to help prevent things like Proctitis and C-diff etc. from occurring from the antibiotics? As my last experience with amoxicillin was no fun at all, which is a understatement.
The 6 months I spent on the Gluten free diet really sucked. I do like my breads and pastas. Do you think there is any possibility that my immune response to gluten could be a result of leaky gut and could H/P cause this. (fingers crossed) Is there any hope for bread and pasta in my future?
Regarding your comment on the L-glutamine. Aside from the baby aspirin I take daily with food, I also take two 1.2G of Mezvant (Mesalamine) daily to keep the Ulcerative Colitis under control, and it's my understanding that these pills are ASA which, in theory , are not suppose to dissolve until they reach the colon. Have you heard of any problems with this drug regarding stomach ulcers. I've been on these for several years and can't really say if they help or not.
When I read about L-glutamine on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamine
it stated "Glutamine-enriched diets have been linked with maintenance of gut barrier function and cell differentiation, suggesting glutamine may help to protect the lining of the gastrointestinal tract or mucosa." I don't know if the wiki site is a reliable source for information or not. Perhaps you could comment on the truthfulness of this statement.
Thanks for all you help so far. Hope I'm not wearing out my welcome with all these questions.
Rick6

you can get the amoxicillin allergy test from blood. any GP should be able to do it.

in regards to Ulcerative Colitis, it is a risk when one takes too many antibiotics. I am not familiar with colitis nor Mesalazine. My understanding is that Mesalazine is also an anti-inflammatory but the machanism of how it prevent colitis is still unclear.

celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that the intestine is sensitive to gluten. A blood test should find out if you truly have celiac disease.

on the other hand, perhaps you can also explore gluten digestive enzymes. you probably can get it from chemist. the enzymes will digest the gluten for you.