Anything I can do to increase my odds?

[liberrylady]

I was diagnosed by endoscopy and biopsy with H.Pylori in early August. Dr. put me on triple therapy: 4 amoxicillins, 2 clarithromycins, 2 prevacids per day. I messed up and took only two amoxicillins per day for the first five days, then realizing I had more of those left than the others, figured out my mistake and upped the dose on day six. On day ten after the morning dose, I began having swollen lips. My GP advised me to stop the antibiotics. I contacted my specialist and the nurse advised the same, stop the treatment and take benadryl. It took two doses of benadryl to reverse the swelling in my lips and to stop the feeling that my throat was involved as well. After three days off the meds and on benadryl, my lips returned to normal. The specialist contacted me today and said to come back in 9wk for a breath test to see if the H.pylori is gone. My question, is there anything I can do in the meantime to help get rid of H.pylori without taking antibiotics? Should I take prevacid? I was eating AB yogurt after reading some journal articles saying it could help. Should I continue that? Any other suggestions?

[Helico_scientist]

Unfortunately, only antibiotics can eradicate Hp. I doubt the treatment you took will work as you haven't taken the full treatment. You can do a breath test in four weeks (stop prevacid 1 week before breath test). If test come back positive, you can try different antibiotics. It is very likely you are allergic to amoxicillins and that your hp is resistant to Clarithromycin now so I would avoid these two from now on. But don't worry there is other options you can try: metronidazole, ciprofloxacin, bismuth, rifabutin... Good luck

[Helico_expert]

Be positive. you may be cured. let's wait for the breath test result 9 weeks later. you cant take any prevacid prior breath test.

[liberrylady]

The result of my breath test today was pretty much what everyone expected since I was unable to finish the full course of triple therapy with Amoxicillin, Clarithromycin, and Prevacid: h.pylori still there. My specialist is not available this morning so I await another prescription of antibiotics. Hopefully I can tolerate a full course of them and kill H.Pylori for good. I have tried Cipro for UTIs in the past, and it made me anxious and gave me insomnia, so I am hoping there is a better choice for me.

I am wondering if there are tests to tell which antibiotic I was allergic to for sure. It is most likely amoxicillin, but it would be great if it were something else. Is there a test for allergy to amoxicillin other than to take some and see if you survive? As I age (I'm 64), I would like to know I could depend on penicillin if something came up like pneumonia,etc. I asked the test technician, but she did not know.

[Helico_scientist]

It is good to try to eradicate the bacteria with different antibiotics. If you have taken Cipro before, then I would avoid it. The most important is to stay positive, Stress won't help. Many people go through these antibiotic courses, there is some side effects sometime but they don't last.
Allergic tests do exist. You can talk about it with your GP.

[liberrylady]

Now on my sixth day with the Pylera kit. I would have to say that the side effects of Pylera are similar those I experienced with Cipro a few years back, but of course I am sticking out the course and remain hopeful that this round of meds will do the trick. Next time I see my GP I will ask him to help me verify if I am allergic to Amoxicillin now. Thanks to all who provide this site, it has been quite helpful. I'm remaining optimistic that I won't need to return.

[Helico_expert]

keep up the good work and keep us posted.

[rashad44owls]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15387326
Broccoli seems to help. Make a green smoothie with broccoli and kale.

[Helico_expert]

interesting study. However, the sample size is only 6 and only one person was examined by endoscopy. I think this "treatment" is very unreliable. Probably can be used as a supplement but definitely not a cure.

[Laurite13]

I am curious to know if you were able to finish the Pylera. I was not due to an allergy to tetracycline.

Some supplements that have been proven to increase eradication rates and reduce adverse effects from antibiotics are :

Vitamin C - 5g/day
Vitamin E - 400IU/day (these two were studied together and found to have a synergistic effect)

Lactoferrin (bovine) - 250mg/2xday
Probiotics (namely Lactobacillis and L Acidophillis) (these two were also studied together and found to have a synergistic effect together)

N-Acetyl Cysteine - 600mg/2x day (improves delivery of the antibiotics to the tissue)
Cranberry Juice or D-Mannose (just as this makes bacteria that causes UTIs unable to adhere to the bladder lining, it does the same for HP in the stomach)

There are many other herbal supplements that are said to be good at helping eradication of HP but I only am taking the ones in which I read several published studies on and that were proven to help in conjunction with antibiotics, which included all of these named here.