Is this h plyori still or something more sinister?
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 9:18 pm
It all started back in early October. I was on holiday with my girlfriend when I began to get stomach ache in my upper left abdomen and behind the lower ribs and loose stools shortly after arriving there. I chalked it down to probably having some bad food whilst there and thought nothing of it. That is until I continued to get stomach ache and loose stools after we returned home.
I had had something similar a year prior that resulted in my doctor prescribing me anti diarrhoea tablets which seemed to clear it all up after a couple of weeks. Thinking it was something similar, I booked myself in to see the doctor.
He felt around my stomach, didn’t feel anything weird and prescribed me with hyoscine butylbromid and sent me for a stool test. The stool test came back clear but my stomach was still aching so I went back to the doctors at the end of October.
This time round they sent me for a full blood count and another stool sample. The stool sample came back clear once again, as did the blood tests. The doctor prescribed me ranitidine and sent me for a helicobacter breath test where the earliest I could get in was 2 weeks after the appointment. It wasn’t until the end of November that I was able to have the test and get my results back, testing positive for h pylori.
The doctor prescribed me metronidazole (400mg) and clarithromycin (500mg) for 1 week and lansoprazole (30mg) for 2 weeks – this is nearly 9 weeks since the symptoms began. I began the take the medication and it seemed to really help with my symptoms. The stomach ache reduced drastically and I thought I was on the mend.
However, around the 14th of January (nearly a week after finishing all my meds), my stomach ache began to return, going from aching every other day to being every day. Once again, I returned to the doctors, who felt around my stomach briefly and then prescribed 4 more weeks of lansoprazole and said nothing more. Taking these reduced my pain again and I thought I was finally going to be over it. No such luck.
I finished the lansoprazole around mid-February but the stomach ache once again returned around a week after I stopped the lansoprazole. Since I wasn’t able to get to a doctors, I went to my local pharmacy and told them about my symptoms – they gave me some nexium, but told me that the doctors should have booked me in for another breath test to make sure the h plyori had gone. Ringing my doctors, they said that yes, I should have been retested and booked me one in which I took this Tuesday. However, between the time of them booking me in and then taking the test, I had really bad stomach ache. The pain has mostly always been in the same place – upper left stomach, just below and behind the ribs, but it’s also started to ache round the back and up towards the left shoulder. I went for an emergency doctors appointment, who prescribed me more ranitidine (150mg) and said I had to wait for the test.
Does ranitidine effect a breath test? I’m scared I’m going to get a false negative etc.
I didn’t take any the night before the test and only started taking them again last night as my stomach ache started to return and I began to feel really tired and a little light headed. I’m really scared it’s something bad.
I had had something similar a year prior that resulted in my doctor prescribing me anti diarrhoea tablets which seemed to clear it all up after a couple of weeks. Thinking it was something similar, I booked myself in to see the doctor.
He felt around my stomach, didn’t feel anything weird and prescribed me with hyoscine butylbromid and sent me for a stool test. The stool test came back clear but my stomach was still aching so I went back to the doctors at the end of October.
This time round they sent me for a full blood count and another stool sample. The stool sample came back clear once again, as did the blood tests. The doctor prescribed me ranitidine and sent me for a helicobacter breath test where the earliest I could get in was 2 weeks after the appointment. It wasn’t until the end of November that I was able to have the test and get my results back, testing positive for h pylori.
The doctor prescribed me metronidazole (400mg) and clarithromycin (500mg) for 1 week and lansoprazole (30mg) for 2 weeks – this is nearly 9 weeks since the symptoms began. I began the take the medication and it seemed to really help with my symptoms. The stomach ache reduced drastically and I thought I was on the mend.
However, around the 14th of January (nearly a week after finishing all my meds), my stomach ache began to return, going from aching every other day to being every day. Once again, I returned to the doctors, who felt around my stomach briefly and then prescribed 4 more weeks of lansoprazole and said nothing more. Taking these reduced my pain again and I thought I was finally going to be over it. No such luck.
I finished the lansoprazole around mid-February but the stomach ache once again returned around a week after I stopped the lansoprazole. Since I wasn’t able to get to a doctors, I went to my local pharmacy and told them about my symptoms – they gave me some nexium, but told me that the doctors should have booked me in for another breath test to make sure the h plyori had gone. Ringing my doctors, they said that yes, I should have been retested and booked me one in which I took this Tuesday. However, between the time of them booking me in and then taking the test, I had really bad stomach ache. The pain has mostly always been in the same place – upper left stomach, just below and behind the ribs, but it’s also started to ache round the back and up towards the left shoulder. I went for an emergency doctors appointment, who prescribed me more ranitidine (150mg) and said I had to wait for the test.
Does ranitidine effect a breath test? I’m scared I’m going to get a false negative etc.
I didn’t take any the night before the test and only started taking them again last night as my stomach ache started to return and I began to feel really tired and a little light headed. I’m really scared it’s something bad.
