Helicobacter Forums

I took 14 days of Metronidazole, Clarithromycin, Pantoprazole in early november 2020. My stomach acid never came back after the treatment, my blood tests all checked out fine with a few exceptions such as low vitamin C, D, A.

My zinc, magnesium, and thyroid are fine. My digestion has been horrible ever since the treatment, taking Betaine HCL with pepsin, digestive enzymes and bile salts. I'm taking Thorne basic B complex, also 500 mg B1 Thiamine mononitrate. Prescription sertraline, Motility activator (ginger and artichoke extract).

I'm also taking Biocidin capsules twice a day at the advice of my Naturopath, I only eat twice a day because my stool seems to fill up my entire large intestine as if it's not being absorbed well due to lack of stomach acid or small intestinal problems along with a nuked large intestine microbiome. I'm not sure if I can handle antibiotics again for H Pylori and potentially for SIBO which I also suspect.

Pretty sure I have Candida as well, my tongue has thrush on it and ever since the antibiotics my ears have been ringing non stop. This tends to get worse after meals, so I suspect a leaky gut/intestinal permeability.

Any thoughts?

I probably missed a bunch of details

I think the most important detail you missed is the follow up breath test to check if you still have H. pylori.

Hi sorry to jump post asking for a friend but also I'm interested to know the answer a year ago my friend after having issues with her stomach had endoscope and h pylori was found she took the antibiotics and retested a month later by stool and came bk negative last week after having losses again with her stomach she tested by stool and did a blood test which both came back negative so my question is if she had h pylori before how did did her blood test come back negative as I read many time blood test will always show positive once you have treated h pylori thanku once again x

Helico_expert wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:06 am I think the most important detail you missed is the follow up breath test to check if you still have H. pylori.

I forgot to mention:

I did a stool test at 4.5 weeks post treatment and another repeat stool test about 8+ weeks after. Both were negative. The 3rd retest stool test recently done on February 16th which tested positive.

Sorry I also forgot to mention my acid levels never returned after the antibiotics, I was taking 1g Thorne's brand Betaine HCL with pepsin for a few months. I was taking as much as 14 pills with a single meal without feeling any discomfort, however I was always still bloated and i had difficulty breathing nasally and my nose has red capillaries on the sides on the outside.

Thank you for your replies

I read many time blood test will always show positive once you have treated h pylori

In most cases, the blood test will stay positive for at least a few months. Some studies have shown that the blood test can remain positive for 3-5 years.

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in response to Larry's post.
1. Breath/stool test rely on the bacterial load. While breath test is testing the urease enzyme activity present in H. pylori, stool test is testing the actual membrane protein of H. pylori.

2. if you dont have acid in your stomach, the H. pylori load can decrease. Therefore, breath/stool test can fail.

If you are indeed low in acid, then you may have to rely on histology test.

Both were negative. The 3rd retest stool test recently done on February 16th which tested positive.

It's difficult to comment on this as stool test is usually quite accurate. Perhaps you were reinfected from family members? make sure they get a proper check up and get rid of it.

I live with my father, hes recently been experiencing bowel disturbances and heart burn from any food hes been eating. Hes a big guy around 300 lbs admittedly. I'm only 129 lbs myself and still losing weight.

I guess it's possible I infected him or vice versa and then got reinfected by him. He has not been tested, I will try to get him to get tested.

Is it possible due to my low stomach acid the H Pylori load was low as you said and that gave false negatives on the stool tests post and then as I ramped up taking HCL pills the H Pylori load increased and finally became detectable in the latest stool test?

My naturopath has told me to take zinc carnosine, dgl licorice and mastic gum several times a day. I'm not sure what to eat because if I take HCL pills, the lining of my stomach might further get damaged trying to eat protein like chicken. I cant afford to lose my weight. 31 year old. 129 lbs male 5'6. My left foot has been in pain, joints creaky and muscle feels to be deteriorating daily. Nerve pain as well. I've had ringing ears as well ever since the end of my antibiotic treatment last year.

Thank you



Edit: 127.4 lbs as of this morning

I really am in a desperate situation.

I have a colonoscopy and endoscopy scheduled at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital next month in Boston, MA. Not sure what good this will do since I'm now reinfected with H Pylori again. My only reasoning is probably to see if my parietal and chief cells are damaged or absent in my stomach from the original H Pylori infection. The early signs were several palpitations, anxiety and panic attacks, POTS, sometimes gasping for air randomly even though I was healthy at first glance in late 2019.

I definitely had a alot of stress and i had lost weight by doing lots of exercise, eating pretty low carb meals consistently and working at a physically intensive job. I also injured my tailbone and had sciatica for almost a year before realizing the source of my sciatica was the tail bone injury which I wasnt aware of for a long time. Perhaps the tailbone injury had an impact on my vagal nerve and after I had it fixed by a chiropractor, it could have been another shock to my digestion system. I had perfect stools every single day (entire year of 2019) before fixing the tailbone and I didnt notice any issues after until middle of 2020.

Doesnt seem like I'm getting much help from any doctors I've been to. I guess I won the lottery for bad case of severe illness.

Thanks for sharing the story. The acid level is a catch 22. on one hand, you dont want to have too much acid, otherwise you'll get reflux, esophagus burnt, and stomach ulcer. on the other hand, you want to get a proper diagnosis of H. pylori.

I think you need the endoscopy done to get a proper measurement of your stomach pH. Then a histology to check your the severity of your inflammation. Perhaps, an immuno stain to see if there is H. pylori.

perhaps you can get a blood test done if they are able to tell you how much concentration of anti-H. pylori antibody (IgG, IgA) you have. Then you can measure it again every three months and see if the antibody goes down. if the trend is downward, then you are free of H. pylori. If the trend is constant or higher, then you are still infected.