H. Pylori and MC

Post by **tex** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 1:30 pm

Jenna wrote:Tex,
what treatments have you tried? or do you just control your symptoms with your diet?

I have never used anything other than diet changes to treat my symptoms. Back when my symptoms began (over 16 years ago I was as ignorant about the disease as my GI doc. After running all the usual tests, he failed to take biopsies and told me that there was nothing wrong with me, and suggested that maybe I needed to see a good psychiatrist.

Because he insisted that diet had nothing to do with my symptoms, it took me over 2 years to realize that he didn't know what he was talking about,

and I began to keep a food and reaction journal and experiment with my diet. Back then, budesonide was not even available, anyway.

Despite my previous post, I do agree with Chemgirl that if you actually do have an H. pylori infection/overgrowth, it will almost surely have to be controlled before you will be able to effectively control your MC symptoms.

Tex

goody321 · Post by **goody321** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 1:40 pm

Tex,

I've seen a big difference in my symptoms since November/December when I was first diagnosed, just from changing my diet. I think I'm just afraid I'm gonna take the antibiotics and start all over, when I finally felt like I was getting better. But it does give me hope that I could feel even better after the H.pylori is gone.

Jenna

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 2:23 pm

Jenna
one the aspects of life with MC is that along the way there will be set-backs and hiccups.
we will have situations that will stir up the MC. they may be medical, (dental work or hormones etc) or physical/emotional stress.

that is why having our 'safe management plan' is key, there will be many times we will have to revert back to bland safe eating and increase key supplements like Vit D and magnesium to help the body 're-heal'

Agree with Chemgirl, the priority at the moment is to clear the H-Pylori. I see that Lesley (PP forum member) replied to your Facebook post on Gut Health protocol about her approach.

good luck

Post by **tex** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:14 pm

Jenna wrote:I've seen a big difference in my symptoms since November/December when I was first diagnosed, just from changing my diet. I think I'm just afraid I'm gonna take the antibiotics and start all over, when I finally felt like I was getting better. But it does give me hope that I could feel even better after the H.pylori is gone.

Hmmmm. That makes me suspect that I might have been right the first time that the H. pylori issue may not be dominating your digestive system health.

Did they definitely confirm a high population of H. pylori, or was their diagnosis simply based on the presence of gastritis (inflammation of the mucosal lining of the stomach)? Was the diagnosis based on biopsy samples taking from the mucosa of the stomach? The reason I ask is because, yes, the antibiotics will probably adversely affect your recovery from MC. So if there's no question that you definitely have an H. pylori infection, then yes, it needs to be treated.

But unfortunately many GI docs have a bad habit of making the assumption that when in doubt, it's best to experiment with antibiotics to see if that will resolve the problem. That's a very gut-unfriendly assumption, and they should know better, but they do it anyway. Early on, my own GI doc prescribed a 2-week antibiotic treatment "in case an infection was causing the inflammation in my gut". And when the symptoms relapsed a few days after the treatment ended, he prescribed another 2-week treatment.

It too helped for a few days and then the symptoms relapsed. Luckily he chose Cipro, and Cipro is the most MC-friendly antibiotic ever made, so at least I was able to enjoy a couple of weeks of remission, twice. But it didn't resolve any problems in the long run.

Do you happen to have a copy of the actual pathology report associated with the H. phlori diagnosis (not the gastroenterologist's interpretation of the pathology report that they often give to patients, but the actual pathology report, signed by the pathologist who diagnosed the H. pylori infection)? Or can you access it online? Did they do culture tests to see which type of antibiotic is the most effective for the particular strain of H. pylori causing your infection?

Tex

goody321 · Post by **goody321** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 11:31 am

Tex,

I had a colonoscopy and my Dr took cultures and when he called with my results all he said was that I had h.pylori in my stomach and lymphocytic colitis. I don't have the copy of the report, should I call and ask for one?

I just started my budesonide about 6 days ago and my symptoms seem to be worse..not sure if it's just the timing of it or if it's the meds making me feel like this.

Jenna

Post by **tex** » Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:22 pm

Hi Jenna,

An upper endoscopy would be necessary in order to take biopsy samples from the stomach, so if he didn't do an "upper" then apparently he is relying on culture tests for the H. pylori diagnosis. If they showed up as a positive result on the first round of cultures, in numbers sufficient to qualify for a diagnosis, then you probably do have an H. pylori infection that should be treated.

Budesonide won't help with the H. pylori, but if you feel worse after taking it for 6 days then you may be sensitive to one of the ingredients in it. It doesn't work for everyone, unfortunately.

Tex