Helicobacter Forums

I hope someone with similar history can help me.

After two years of tummy pains, my gp sent me to a gastroenterologist. He performed a gastroscopy in May, which showed I had HP. I took the triple therapy, but pains stayed and worsened.

Now, 7 painful months later, my gp is once again sending me to have another gastroscopy. But what to expect?
1.The HP is still there? If so, is it because my HP is resistent to antibiotics?
2. There is no HP, but only gastritis, and I must be patient?
3. I have cancer?!

I am so worried, what do you think will be the most probable outcome?

PS: I have urged both my gp and the gastroenterologist to have an breath-test, but they refuse for some reason.

The most probable outcome is that your HP is resistant to antibiotics and is still there. In that case, you will have to take another set of antibiotics. Ask them to send the biopsy for culture and sensitivity testing so you know which antibiotics to take.

2nd possibility, HP is eradicated (a simple breath test could already tell you this, you should always do one after treatment, another gp might be able to get you one done) but you still have some gastritis. Well you will have to be patient then. It does take some time for the stomach to recover.

3rd option; cancer? VERY unlikely. Not even worth worrying about it.

Good luck and keep us posted

agree with Helico_scientist. But I think you first need to get a breath test done to see if you still have H. pylori. Then we can start from there.

Thank you for both your answers!
I have urged both my gp and the gastroenterolist about the breath test, but they refused. I than went to another gp, but she would'nt do it either, saying its not "the golden standard", God only knows what that means. She only did a blood test, that only showed antibodies against hp. That means nothing!

I finally contacted a medical firm in Australia and asked if I could buy a breath-test from them. They recommended me to follow my gp's instructions....

My new gastroscopy is one week away, I will keep you updated.

I wonder what is the gold standard your doctor refers to. Anyway, here is a link to the general guideline for H. pylori treatment.

http://www.helicobacter.org/download/su ... iefing.pdf

With regard to patient follow-up after H. pylori eradication, UBT remains the preferred test. If unavailable, a laboratory-based stool test – preferably using monoclonal antibodies – could be used. The timing of this follow-up should be at least four weeks after the end of the eradication treatment

Then again, since you are going for the endoscopy test, perhaps UBT can be skipped. A CLOtest and/or histology will be good enough for the confirmation.

Hang in there.I had HP 2 years ago. I never got retested. I started to have heartburn and gastritis again 2 months ago. It's not as bad as when I had HP diagnosed, but still very bothersome. I went to a doctor yesterday and she referred me out to get an endoscopy, which I am not happy about at all. I have had the same internal freak-out about cancer too. I live in Chicago and no one seems to have to want to do a breath test. So I know how you feel.

I can understand in the United State, where H. pylori prevalence and antibiotic resistance is low, there is little doubt that there will be "re-occurrence" of H. pylori infection. The system works for the majority. Nevertheless, I would like to stress that "re-infection" is low, especially in the developed country where H. pylori prevalence is low. Most of the time is due to antibiotic resistance which leads to treatment failure. Because the doctors refuse to confirm the first treatment, patients will never know if it was reinfection or treatment failure. There is a clinical significance in these two cases. For reinfection, you are likely to be treated with the same drug. As for antibiotic resistance, you'll need a different set of antibiotics.

Thanks for your replies, it's comforting to know I'm not alone!

When is your endoscopy? I hope you'll share the findings.
I'll stop freaking out over the whole cancer thing. It's just that I have young kids and my work here is'nt done yet!

I honestly have no idea why Norwegian doctors refuse the breath test. They just say no, without any good explaination...

I have a consultation on 11-17-14 and I will ask questions regarding a breath test. At the moment, my heartburn is better; not gone, but better. Of course, it can flare up. It will keep you posted.

Here is an update:

I had my second gastroscopy two weeks ago, and the results are now in. The sores are gone. There's however a lot of chronic gastritis. The gastroenterologist said that this may last for years..

The helicobacter is still there, but he doesn't think it's giving me the symptoms. Since it wasn't eradicated the first time, he doesn't want to try again. We'll just leave it there, he said.

Also he told me to stop taking any more ppi's.

He also told me to lead a normal life without too much stress...