Helicobacter Forums

Hello to all - first of all, can't stress enough how happy I am to have found the forum and people struggling with this infection sharing their success stories. I am on the way to recovery hopefully but it's going very slowly.

My story started 2 months ago when I started having full feeling after eating + nausea here & there and sometimes burning sensations in my stomach but it was bearable yet after 4 weeks went to get my blood checked at my doctor and I was positive for h.bacter (>200uL) with also D deficiency. Yet my blood tests were always pretty good.
I received 1 week of Amoxystad(1000mg) + Chlarithromycin (500m) + Agopton (500mg). The treatment besides metalic feeling and nausea wasn't the worst. Nevertheless after 7 days, I went to dedicated internist and he said I should've taken additional antiobiotics and I got Anaerobex, Omniflora (both for 7 days) + Pantoloc (PPI) for 28days.
After both antiobiotics it started to get better but in slower cases. I am now in the middle of the treatment and trying to look positive on the outcome as I am 29years old and full into sports & healthy living - haven't drank nor ate fast food in like 7 years so all this is a big hit to my depression/anxiety of my life completely doing a 180°. I have in 14 days a recheck with another doctor for h.bacter as stomach gurgling has been there since beginning and it's presented around 80% of all symptoms combined. Other 20% are burning sensation and excessive gas/burping. I had diarrhea only twice in the last 2 months.

My question here is, my eating regime was always in this circles:
breakfast -> eggs/spinach/pickles/tomatoes/pepper/feta cheese (omlette) with some bread and something spread..
lunches were combo -> brocolli, chicken, steaks, salmons, sweet potatoes, rice (everything with coconut oil and himalaya salt), brussels sprouts..
dinners -> salads with horrse reddish, tuna, peppers, avocados, cucumbers,nuts..
I drank daily also 1,5L of tea with 3 lemons & ginger per day and loved watermelons, melons and ananas and all other fruits.
I also took whey protein, vitamin D and magnesium.

However, last two months I've been completely going crazy because I don't know what to eat. Some say reduce X enhance Y, other say reduce Y enhance X. I cut all "gastritis" acidic stuff, salt and tried to reduce to eat smaller. I eat more of yoghurts & cottage cheese, oats etc..

Could you maybe share the diets that helped you in recovery from h.bacter?
Thank you very much to all and from the bottom of my heart I wish we all recover and return to our life normally.

I think you have asked a very good question. The rehabilitation of H. pylori treatment is less focused as most people recover without problem. But for the unfortunate minority, it's a trial and error method. There is no guideline to what to do to help recovery.

I think eating normal and healthily should be good enough. Dont over do anything. Keep everything in balance.

Some people find probiotics helpful. So you can give that a try.

by the way, what happened to the follow up test? looking forward to hearing the results from you.

So after I finished:
1) Amoxystad(1000mg) + Chlarithromycin (500m) + Agopton (500mg) from 18dec to 1jan
2) Anaerobex, Omniflora (both for 7 days) + Pantoloc (PPI) from 4jan to end of January

I got tested with stool test after 14 days of PPI and my results came back negative. I also did ultrasounds of pancreas, liver, kidney and stomach and all seems well. I have been feeling much better after the use of PPIs as well, I only here & there get a little bit of growling & burning sensation in the lower part of the stomach but other than that I'd say im almost back to normal. To all suffering helico bacter, looking back i'd recommed following a strict diet with small meals, no stress, a lot of sleep and taking prescription pills as discussed with doctor.

I will still get gastroscopy next week (even if Doctor said it's not needed) just to be sure that everything is fine & then hopefully I can close this chapter. @Helico_expert -> how possible it is to reinfect yourself? Thank you

Sounds like you are free of H. pylori now. So congrats.

H. pylori survive poorly outside human body. It's sensitive to dry, UV, salt, spices, garlic, onion, honey, etc etc. So you wont catch it from street food or restaurant. What about contaminated water? the water has to be really polluted and you wont want to drink it.

It's usually not easy for adult to catch H. pylori. Especially living in a modern society where everyone under the same roof is aware of hygiene.

Can you catch it from kissing? maybe. If the person who kisses you have a good oral hygiene, no reflux, then the chance is extremely low.

To prevent reinfection, you should get everyone (except children) under the same roof to eradicate their H. pylori. Practise good hygiene. Brush your teeth in the morning (at least), and wash your hands after toilet.

Can you catch it from your pet? maybe. So dont let them lick your face and food.

Hi,

thank you for the answers. I have a gastroscopy to check the status of stomach even with symptoms subsiding & stool test eradication confirmation just to be sure that everything is in order in the stomach.
Helico_expert, how long after eradication can you still have some symptoms(such as growling & burning sensation in the stomach even though this has gotten so much down, i'd even go far as to say down from 100% to 20%)?

Given the fact that I was on monthly antibiotics of 5 antiobiotics + 1 ppi, it must have screwed up my stomach and colon, right?
Thank you for your help, i highly appreciate it.

Good question. But there is no definite answer. The recovery is very subjective. Usually the younger you are, the faster you recover. Some damage done by H. pylori is permanent. Therefore, we encourage everyone to get rid of H. pylori even without symptoms.

Some people can have their microbiota disrupted during the heavy antibiotic treatment. This is still a very young area and still under a lot of discussion. I guess the comfort I can give is to tell you that you are not the only one who gone through this heavy treatment. Almost all of Prof Marshall's patients took strong antibiotic treatments as he only sees the most difficult cases; and almost none of them have trouble with disrupted microbiota problem.

Just eat healthy and do exercise. Think positive.

Hi Helico_expert.

I have finally received my biopsy results after gastroscopy. Biopsy shows no bacterial overgrowth, also negative helico bacter pilori. Doctor also said everything else seems fine. Nevertheless, doctor said that I still have Ex-Helicobacter-Gastritis and a little bit of GERD (which should be common).

My simptoms are slowly but surely getting better, the only thing sometimes I still have is discomfort in stomach and growling. Doctor said that my stomach still shows inflamation (gastritis) and recommended going for 40g 6weeks PPIs. However, then after I told him that I was on 20mg on January and felt good, he said that 20mg should also be fine and in the end he would recommend that.

This is the results (unfortunately in German language).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qNf8qE ... sp=sharing

On the 2nd picture, I am also attaching images from gastroscopy if helpful (nsfw obviously - for those that can't look at those images, but nothing weird).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qxhc5i ... sp=sharing

My food revolves now around eggs, avocados, spinach, gluten-free bread, bananas, raspberries, blueberries, kefir, yogurt, zander, salmon, chicken, tofu, turkey, rice, sweet potatoes, aspharagus, brussels sprouts, brocolli, zuchinni, rice crackers, low fat cottage cheese, greek yoghurt, chia seeds, apples, turmeric, quinoa, licorice root tea and added vitamin d + multivitamins if it's helpful.

Would it make sense now to go for 40g weeks PPIs or 20g weeks PPIs? I know that helico bacter might make my acid already low or high but I would like to be sure that with PPIs i don't make something counterproductive to my stomach. On first PPIs on January I felt really good indeed.
Thank you very much.

PPI can help by reducing the acid and relief some stomach discomfort.
You can try 20mg for a week, and
if you think it's not getting worse, you can continue 20mg.
if you think that it's not helpful, then you can increase to 40mg and see how it goes.

Hi Helico_expert.

After 3-4 to four months of eradicating HBacter, I am now feeling more or less back to 100%.

However, the only symptom that remains is intestine growling/belly gurgling (feels more like intestines(food going down) than stomach gurgling) <> especially if I eat more fyber/protein. Never acquainted with any pain though or anything like that. What would you recommend as supplement to also get rid of these symptoms? I heard of digestive enzymes, but i am not 100% if they're meant for that.

Thank you, Andi

hmm.. just eat healthy. Some symptoms persist is normal. Your stomach is trying to adjust back to a stage where there is no H. pylori.