Alternative ulcer(H.pylori) treatments?

[RasJi7]

My husband came home with 3 prescriptions, 2 antibiotics and a prilosec to treat what they found to be H.pylori from his blood tests.

He has had severe pain after meals for months and the only thing that helped was prilosec type meds. He's been following the nutritional guidelines that he has been given by the doc but he still gets the pain.

My first reaction to 2 antibiotics (or even one) is that there has to be a better way to treat, most of the time.

Is there anything else he can try, does he really need to kill the H.pylori (and all his good bacteria too)?

Thanks for any info!

He's a strong healthy(otherwise) man, should I just let him take these antibiotics and then give him probiotics when the treatment is finished?

Is the doctors rec. treatment going to permanently cure the ulcer/s? Where does the H.pylori bac come from?

Sorry for all the ?s I know you ladies know your stuff so I am hoping that you have some answers, suggestions.

Thank you!

[RasJi7]

Ok I am replying to my own thread.
After reading this link

I am ready to go buy a juicer, a bunch of cabbage and a licorice extract.

Does this sound reasonable? I mean 7 days of cabbage juice ( I don't have any clue how much or if he can eat along with the juice) seems better than the doctors treatment...

[SquishyKitty]

What does your DH want to do? If you gave me the option of antibiotics or 7 days of cabbage juice, I personally wouldn't go for the cabbage juice, sorry. And Licorice extract smells heinous.

I would just look into getting him a good probiotic and work on building his immune system back up. Ulcers are really painful and the antibiotics will help them heal quickly. I know there are tons of good probiotic recommendations floating around on here.

[SquishyKitty]

After looking at the link, it doesn't state anything about ulcers caused through bacterial infections. Cabbage juice won't do anything to get rid of the bacteria, and he could have a recurrence without getting the bacteria out of his body.

Not that you could convince me to drink cabbage juice lol, but if he could be convinced to drink it in addition to taking the antibiotics, it might help.

[RasJi7]

Thanks for input SquishyKitty. We live in the Virgin Islands and my husband grew up here drinking bush tea (all kinds of herbal remedies) some of which I've tried and blech! they've tasted horrible but they sure did the trick!

In general he prefers any natural remedy over something from western medicine, which of course has its benefits. But as a general rule in our family we do natural first.

I am vegan and feed my husband and son that way however my husband also eats fish that he catches fresh from the Caribbean Sea. You mentioning the bacteria makes me wonder where the bacteria comes from to begin with, often even pesky bacterias, in the balanced amounts are useful for the body so I'm not keen on just killing on the bacteria in him. Even H.pylori has been shown to possibly prevent asthma and excema.

I think the licorice comes in tablet form, just in case you should ever need it

[SquishyKitty]

I don't disagree that sometimes, bacteria might be beneficial, but elevated levels of h.pylori (which also caused the ulcer) have been linked to gastric cancer, and if you've ever suffered with an ulcer, you can barely eat, you can't really go to the bathroom comfortably, and the pain is awful, so it would be better to get rid of that particular bacteria if at all possible.

[chezlyryan]

I also heard that H. Pylori increases the risk of gastric cancer, and it will continuously cause ulcers. It's not one of the good bacteria. Personally, I think he should take the antibiotics, and have plenty of probiotics after. I may be paraniod, but since you and he swat spit ( I assume) do you think you should be tested too?

[RasJi7]

I guess I was hoping to come here and a lot of people would tell me that it was nothing and for him to try the licorice extract and cabbage before taking antibiotics.

I didn't have much info for him except that the bacteria possibly causes cancer so he already started the antibiotics. We are going to St. Thomas next week and they have a big health food store so I'm going to get him a probiotic and the licorice extract.

Any other info still welcome!

Thanks SquishyKitty and chezlyryan for answering.

[sbgrace]

I'm sorry I missed this.
My husband and I both had h. pylori. My doctor told us CeaseFire (I think that's a mastic gum and DGL ) by Complimentary Prescriptions would work just as well. http://www.aviva.ca/shop/products.as...3474&catid=261 However, we ended up taking Alinia for a parasite. And I was reading in the literature that it has been shown to kill h. pylori as well. We've not been re-tested since finishing Alinia in December but I no longer have the symptoms I had (raw/burning pain after meals).

[RasJi7]

Rachelle- thanks so much for sharing your experience! I am going to ask the clinic to test me as well and if I have it I'll try the CeaseFire.

[jassyp101]

There is a lot of research now that shows using 1200 mg of NAC works just as well as antibiotics and acid reducers. It also works well used in conjunction with these treatments and when used during or after allopathic treatments, prevents the H. pylori from coming back.

[zinemama]

I would not mess around with h. pylori. It isn't nothing. I'd take the antibiotics, and then follow that up with some probiotics.

[3 little birds]

This a link to the beginning of an article in Scientific American that proposes that a decrease of h. pylori in developed countries has led to more esophogeal disease.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...red-species-in