Helicobacter Forums

My symptoms started in October 2010 with big armpit lumps (very painful and warm) in both armpits and Achy joints. (During this period I didn’t experience weight loss or headaches)

- Armpit lumps recurrent for this period on/off, except for the last three months.
- Recurrent abdominal mild pain and/or discomfort (Mostly in the lower right side, maybe the illeocecal junction and the cecum and discomfort in the bladder area, rarely in the left side and back, also during the night)
- Bloating and Abdominal distension (improved a lot after going lactose free)
- Fatigue (Gone with a gluten/dairy diet after a few days)
- Achy joints (mild, sometimes muscular, mostly joints)
- Paresthesia with pain, in any part of the body, looks gone after starting PPIs medication, I think it was more acute when consuming caffeine drinks.
- Dizziness/brain fog, this went to maximum in two crisis when I couldn't even lay down or sleep, not even concentrate or eat anything, sick feeling, the only relieve was to walk.
- Diarrhea (food not digested and floating stool) and constipation during crisis, not very frequent I could guess that might be related to lactose, but not for sure.
- Ulcers in the tongue and mouth (not very often, mostly when I had a crisis) and sporadic pain in the ears.
- Higher than normal liver readings observed for as far as I can remember.

The symptoms that is more acute and intolerable is the last one dizziness and sick feeling, it comes mostly before passing stool but can last for the day or several days, to a degree that I cannot even stay in a chair having lunch or dinner with other people or even sleep, I need to go and walk.

I had some cases of vertigos (mostly during triple therapy), not that so frequently, sick feeling and dizziness appeared around one year ago, there are periods when it happens and period when it doesn't happen, during the last 6 months I had several mild crisis and two strong crisis when I went to the hospital very dizzy, I couldn't even sit down and I had high blood pressure at that time (I didn't get high blood pressure again).

I followed a gluten/dairy diet for some weeks and I got a very good improvement and I felt full of energy instead of constant fatigue.


Tests Done:

- IGS: gliadin igA: 1 gliadin agG: 2 agE: 9 (All very low and normal)

- Vitamines: Vitamine D -> 29 (low but normal), Copper a bit low

- Thyroid: All in the range but for TSH it was 3.2 (The range here is 0.3 - 4.2)

- Ultrasound scan: Seen a inflammation in the terminal ileum

- Stool Test, all normal except for Helicobacter P

- Bloodtests: All normal except monocytes a bit high, and high readings of liver enzimes (95 first, after 75 and after 79 range 0-55), also triglicerids a but high.

- Colonoscopy: All Normal ( Cronh's ruled out )

- Gastroscopy: Severe erosion with ulcers and erythem in duodenus and stomach, early metaplasia without displesia seen, Helicobacter found.

- Biopsy of Stomach and Doudenus, one piece each (only), count <30% (celiac ruled out), lactose intolerance found.

Medication: Taking Vitamin D, finished triple therapy for helicobacter, taking probiotics and PPIs to heal the ulcers.

I did some gluten challenge on my own,after some time without gluten, I felt a bit sick the next not too much, I continued taking gluten, no major sympthoms, a bit of pain in the illeum and a low energy, but nothing else, I'm not sure if I should do home made tests, but I visited many doctors with no luck, I don't know what else to do, I'm thinking in NCGS or on taking a genetic test for celiac.

My day to day symthoms are mild, very mild, is more like low energy and very mild joint pain, but the crisis (I had 2) were very bad, some pain in the illecum and other parts of the intestine, couldn't sleep, felt very dizzy and weak, couldn't eat or even rest in the sofa, those two crisis happened in the last 6 months, with up and downs the weeks after.

It looks like gluten-free diet makes a difference but I tried only once for a few weeks, need to confirm trying again, any ideas?

Could just be all related to Helicobacter? I need to re-test for Helicobacter in a month after I've just finished my PPIs (Omeprazole).

The doctor was very surprised as I didn't have any pain in my stomach.

Thank you very much for sharing your very interesting story.

at the moment, H. pylori is only known to relate to gastric diseases. So your other non gastric related diseases are not sure. Then again, some studies found that some skin problems (eg. rosacea and rashes) were cured after H. pylori triple therapy. I think those skin problems were caused by bacteria and were killed together during the antibiotic treatment.

Nevertheless, ulcers were found in your stomach. you are having the right treatment. Let's wait one month and see check if the H. pylori is eradicated. Remember, H. pylori is the root of ulcer. without confirmation of its eradication only means the possible coming back of the ulcers.

Thanks a lot for your reply,

I read that Helicobacter causes Increased Intestinal Permeability and this could be the reason of other symptoms like achy joints, malaise, dizziness etc... And this also could explain why many patients they still have symptoms after eradication of Helicobacter, they need to heal their leaky gut to improve, does it make sense?

nope.. not really making sense to me. Probably because I am not expert of "intestinal permeability".

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11173917

Existence of H. pylori itself was associated with increased permeability of sucrose. Also, the permeability of sucrose increased as polymorphonuclear and lymphocyte infiltration increased. The increase of mucosal permeability suggests that antigens like protein penetrate into the body and result in systemic reactions

I took the tryple therapy without luck, I'll go for pylora for the next round...

Hi,

I read through your post with much astonishment because many of the symptoms you described also befell me once H pylori infected my gut. Initially I thought these symptoms were also unrelated because I was unable to find these particular symptoms in any medical literature. You mentioned elevated liver enzymes as a symptom and one of my symptoms was exactly that: High ALT & AST. I even started to get jaundice (no joke) My Gastroenntreologist tested me for all Hep viruses but nothing however came back positive. My Rheumatologist ascribed it to a possible autoimmune disorder but again nothing else was indicating this. Another symptom that you mentioned that struck me immediately were the mouth ulcers. Prior to H pylori infection I never got these annoying pests, and again my Rheumatolgist ascribed this to an autoimmune disorder which in my heart I knew was complete bullocks. And of course the other symptoms such as fatigue, watery stools, dizziness (especially after eating). Eventually I had to completely change my diet because I was unable tolerate fructose and other sugars as well as starchy foods because they gave me severe hypoglycemia.
After eradicating H pylori my liver enzymes returned back to normal and the jaundice disappeared, however the mouth ulcers keep returning because H pylori caused permanent gastroesophageal reflux disease which constantly saturates my mouth in stomach acid and thus irritates the lining of my mouth. Additionally I also got Candidiasis because of antibiotic over-use. Through out my life I must of gone on at least 20 rounds of antibiotic treatments for various of infections and conditions. What really bothers me is that now almost my entire life revolves around my health, I want to focus on other things but everyday I am confronted with very poor health. I really hope you do better than I did and hopefully make a full recovery ! AMEN.

After 4 rounds of antibiotics I erradicated the Helicobacter, still some of the sympthoms continued, pain in the illeum terminal and rectum with inflation that can be seen with CT scan.

I had two colonoscopies and endoscopies with multiples biopsies of the ileon, duodenum and rectum, celiac disease was discarded (On top of that I don't have the genes) and crohn's was also discarded.

I tested for intestinal permeability that was quite normal (not 100% normal but nearly) and IgGs that showed many intolerances the first one milk, I tested for lactose intolerance and it was ok, I removed from my diet dairy and gluten and the improvent was very good still not 100%, then my doctor put me on Low FODMAPs and I'm doing that looks pretty good, I'm feeling very good and energetic all the sympthoms are gone.

The diet is restrictive and I'm planning in introducing one food at a time, but I'm very very suspicius of gluten and milk, not sure if it is the lactose or the milk protein itself, I tested with some gluten and I got headaches and malaise every time, I tested with Dairy and I have mainly the inflamation in the intestine and rectum, but I think that there is something else that also causes that effect.

I guess that all this is caused by an imbalance in the microbiota, I taked lots of probiotics (30 billion a day many courses) but I guess that is the diversity, I might go for a fecal transplant in the future, but so far I cannot complaint about the improvement.

thank you for updating us your story. I think it's important to every members here. At least we know many of the digestive problem is due to allergies. Hopefully you'll get better and better. Please keep us posted with your story.

I had ileum pains and a lot of digestive problems after a treatment with 10 years ago. I went to doctor who was specialized in healing macrobiotic disbalance and he helped me a lot. For six weeks he put me on a diary, gluten-free and sugar-free diet and for about 1 year I had to take probiotics.

After a month with low FODMAPs and 50 Billion probiotics I'm introducing back some things and I can tolerate small amounts of gluten and dairy, so far so good...