Helicobacter Forums

Hello I am a 31 year old female, I was diagnosed with this awful bacteria 4 months a go after numerous trips to the doctors with indigestion. I tested positive on a stool sample. I was put on metronidazole and clarythmerycin and a ppi for 7 days, I felt great for 4 weeks after but sadly the symptoms all came back I tested positive on another stool sample and was then put on a second treatment of clarythmerycin, amoxicillin and a ppi for 7 days. I felt great for a couple weeks then all symptoms came back. I then tested positive on an endoscopy and am waiting to hear what my 3rd treatment will be. I am desperate for some advice please from some one who actually knows about this bacteria, as sadly my gp isn't very experienced. Would you be able to suggest what the next best treatment would be please. Thank you very much for your time.

Hi, I am sorry to hear what happened to you. It's annoying because the treatment is always long and you need to wait additional 4 weeks to find out if that treatment works. But there is still lots of hope. You'll need a quadruple therapy for your next treatment. Please find our publication in following link. Perhaps you can discuss with your doctor about using one of them. Most importantly, do not lost hope. Be positive! Always look at the bright side.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 12089/full

Important note:
1. Cannot use Clarithromycin and Metronidazole anymore.
2. Amoxicillin can be reused many times.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and reply to me. Having advice from you guys and the online support benefits me and I'm sure hundreds of other desperate people.
I just have a few questions please-
I live in the uk, would I have a better chance of eradicating this bug if I asked for sensitivity testing before giving me more antibiotics?
At the moment I can not see a light at the end of the tunnel and my children and husband just want me back to normal ASAP!! I'm trying to stay positive, I just need to hear some positive thoughts and that this bug can be beaten??
Thank you again

Hi, I'm sorry to know that you are in a similar situation as I am and I feel your frustration. I was diagnosed with hp 6 months ago. Since then my GP and my Gastroenterologist has been blindly giving me antibiotic therapies none of which worked so far. I've just finished my 3rd therapy. Don't know if this is going to eradicate the bacteria. What annoys me is that when my gastroenterologist did the endoscopy, he did not do a culture to find sensitivity. When I asked why he had not done a culture, he said he will do it at my next endoscopy. It just doesn't make sense to me! Endoscopy is an invasive procedure and all necessary test should be done at the first time.

Some justifies that it is not cost effective to do a culture for sensitivity test as we are among the 10% -20% for whom the triple and Quadraple therapies do not work. Well, from millions of people's point of view I may be just one person - but to me, my health and my life is priceless. I don't mind spending some money to get the best possible treatment to cure a potentially deadly bacteria. I don't think bombarding my stomach with such high dose of antibiotic one after another is doing me any good either and already spent hundreds of dollars on these costly antibiotics and medicines.

So, I would suggest you consult your gastroenterologist about getting an antibiotic sensitivity test done before you start another antibiotic. Have it done even if it costs you out of pocket, if you can afford it. Not doing the test may be cost effective for Medicare. Doing the test is cost effective for patients.

"Culture, requiring an endoscopy, has excellent specificity and is necessary for determination of antibiotic sensitivities. However, culture is difficult to perform, so negative cultures may be falsely reassuring. Several studies have shown that higher eradication rates are obtained when antibiotics are chosen based on susceptibility testing rather than chosen empirically, and this may also be a cost effective approach.20 Strong evidence of infection certainly raises the motivation of the patient and the physician, therefore improving cure rate."

docs/200808%20stenstrom%20Hp%20Treatment.pdf

Easy for others to say stay positive - but for patients, it is not so easy when treatments are failing.

agree agree and agree. if it is something that you can afford, it is always better to have bacterial culture done and antibiotic tested. not only that it increase the success rate. it also reduce antibiotic resistance to all your other bacteria in your guts.