Helicobacter Forums

Hello! I have been reading this forum for a while and it was of great comfort during my first treatment. Here is my background:

Had my last IVF attempt in Feb this year, immune system suppressed with 2 drugs, unsuccessful. Not long after weaning off the steroid for this I started feeling nausea that gradually got worse and worse until I wasn't eating and went to emergency in late March. Had a gastroscapy at the end of March to look for suspected gastritis, everything looked good but biopsy came back positive to h.pylori.

Triple therapy, Nexium HP7 pack, at the beginning of April, twice a day for 7 days
Nexium 40mg
Amoxicillin 1g
Clarythromycin 500mg

Felt awful the first few days but was feeling OK at day 5. Stopped all the meds and nausea came back just as bad and. Suffered for a week or two, started in Zantac 300mg a day which made me feel much better. I have been taking the Zantac ever since, am now on 150mg twice a day and feeling much better.

Had follow up breath test Wednesday last week and got the news on Monday this week that I am still positive. Been to my doctor today and have a new script. I am going to try to decipher the doc's hand writing below as I haven't filled the script yet:
Omeprazole 20mg OD
Bismuth sulphate 120mg QID
Flagyl 400mg TDS (looks like TDS, could be 1DS)
Tetracycline 500mg QID

Doesn't say how long for. Is this the correct treatment? I am feeling better that I originally was however have zero appetite and lots of gas still. The nasuea comes and goes and is mainly in the morning.

That's a good regimen with very high cure rate. Usually 14 days treatment.

Hope you get well soon.

Thank you for replying and thank you for running this forum. It is very helpful.

Wanted to provide a small update. The last lot of drugs I had trouble getting so I waited a few weeks to see my gastroenterologist and he prescribed me slightly different which I obtained at a compounding pharmacy:

Tetracycline 500mg 4 daily - 5am, 10am, 3.30pm, 9.30pm
Furazolidone 100mg 3 daily - 7.30am, 1pm, 6pm
Bismuth citrate 300mg 2 daily - 7am, 5.30pm
Esomeprazole 40mg 2 daily - 7am, 5.30pm

Is this better or worse than the previous script? Should I be trying to take a probiotic in there somewhere or just wait till I'm done?

I'm on day 2 of 14 and nausea is worsening, understand it's a side effect of the meds and my GP supplied Maxalon to help. Pharmacist mentioned from day 10 - 14 is the worst.

I agree. Try distract yourself with work or hobby.

The treatment is good.

Thought I'd add an update in case anyone finds my thread.

I'm day 11 today and so far the treatment has been ok .. not great but not quite as awful as I thought. That being said I need to stop the tetracycline today. Taking it on an empty stomach is making me so very sick the past few days, I've had no sleep from trying not to vomit. It's been OK up until 2 nights ago. The pharmacist said getting to day 10 was fine, day 14 better, but I just can't do the intense nausea for 4 more days.

I will continue the bismuth, PPI and furazolidone till Wednesday and hopefully post a negative follow up test in August.

i agree with the pharmacist. 10 days is good enough. finish the rest.

remember to get a follow up breath test a month later.

Last day tomorrow, I will be happy to never see another capsule again!

Helico Expert I wanted to ask about the Nexium - I am on 80mg a day, is it OK to go straight back on to Zantac for a while or should I completely stop them all or should I wean down the Nexium dose?

it is better to stop gradually. It's like a pipe being blocked. if you release the pressure suddenly, it's gonna burst. So it is better to slowly release the pressure.

you can switch to Zantac and see how you feel. if not enough, you can switch back to nexium.

Just coming back to advise that I had my follow up breath test today and the result was negative to Hpylori, finally!

I have had some symptoms since, spicy food seems to get to me and still lots of gas so we are going to look into food allergies now. I am very happy the treatment above worked for me!