Mothering Forum banner

H-Pylori

2K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  CleoS 
#1 ·
Hi

I was just diagnosed with H-Pylori after having random symptoms in addition to upper abdominal discomfort that radiated to my shoulder blade, but no ulcers. My doctor prescribed triple therapy of amoxciilian, clarithyromicin and prevacid, but after one day on it got bad side effects so I stopped. My doctor was away for the week so I didn't know what else to do and felt too bad to continue.

My question is - are there other options that work to rid H-pylori and how important is it to eliminate it without other issues such as ulcers?

In addition, I do have health anxiety so think that some of my side effects from the meds could have been anxiety related. Side effects such as sores in my mouth and stomach pain though I felt were not anxiety related.

My doctor gets back in 2 days and is planning to prescribe something else - also antibiotics though and I am worried. I much prefer natural methods or not as an intensive therapy.

Thank you so much for any advice.
 
#3 ·
H. Pylori is a gastrointestinal bacteria, potentially transmitted between close contacts, so if one person in a household has it, I generally test the others as well. While H Pylori is found world-wide in many populations where it seems to cause no symptoms, in the US it is generally tested for when someone is having gastrointestinal symptoms and does cause a lot of harm in our population if not treated. Thus, it makes sense to treat it when found, because it is often at least part of the cause of pain, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, ulcers, and has been implicated in gastric cancer. While there are natural protocols out there, none have shown good results in scientific studies. However, natural therapies have been shown to improve the outcome of the conventional triple drug therapies and may decrease side effects from the drugs. I commonly use lactoferrin and probiotics in addition to the conventional triple drug therapy, and have seen good results.

The study I noted above was an October 2003 study by Di Mario et al, in Digestive and Liver Disease, 35 (10) pp 706-710. This study looked at lactoferrin in addition to the triple drug therapy, and used 200 mg twice a day of lactoferrin. There were no probiotics used in this study. Success in eradicating H Pylori with the triple drug therapy alone was 73%, and with the addition of lactoferrin it was 97% successful - quite an improvement.

Hope this info helps a bit. Of course, working with a naturopathic physician who specializes in this area is advised. My thanks go to my mentor Dr. Steven Sandberg-Lewis and his wonderful book Functional Gastroenterology for the above info.

Warmly,

Dr. Jennifer
 
#4 ·
Thank you for the response Dr. Jennifer. I am still nervous about the triple therapy, but better than ulcers and gastric cancer! I will look into lactoferrin. I have been taking probiotics already so hopefully this time I can make it the whole week through of treatment.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top