Helicobacter Forums

Can someone please help. My mother has never smoked a day in her life and rarely sick (no lung issues) but after being diagnosed with H Pylori over a month ago due to gastritis and having severe hiccups and coughing and nausea for about a week, she was admitted to hospital and after erradication therapy she finally started improving stomach wise, but coughing is still present and so bad doctors did xray and say she has lung hyperinflation. After the erradication therapy for h. Pylori her stomach symptoms are better but now she coughs and gets out of breath. This never happened until the H. Pylori caused the gastritis and hiccups. Will this lung situation go away? Did H Pylori and the severe hiccups cause the lung hyperinflation? Cant seem to get a straight answer from doctors. They plan on giving her a pulmonary function test in a few weeks. Does anyone have any answers? Her lungs were fine until the severe gastritis and hiccups set in. I just find it hard to believe in a weeks time she developed lung hyperinflation.

Hi ncbluejay,

H pylori infection itself does not cause lung hyperinflation or lung problems.
However, gastritis related gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GORD), which may cause micro-aspiration, can induce lung irratation. GORD related coughing is well known in the medical field. Unfortunately, the gastritis and GORD may not cease immediately after h pylori erradication. Doctors usually advise at least another month of PPI (proton pump inhibitors, an acid suppressant) after h pylori erradication to encourage gastric mucosa recovery.

For your mother's scenario, doctors will usually ask for more history regarding her symptoms - for example, how long has she been coughing for, how long has the h pylori been treated, is she still haveing reflux/heartburn symptoms, are the coughing worse during night time and early hours, how short of breath is she, how far can she walk before she needs to stop to catch a breath etc. i would suggest to trial for another month of PPI and see if the coughing starts to improve. Xray is a vague test to determine hyperinflation, pulmonary function will be able to give much more information. If the coughing does not imporve after PPI treatment, a pulmonary function test is not unreasonable, as long term GORD (including silent micro-aspiration) can cause chronic lung disease.

Thank you so much! Finally an answer that makes sense!