Thursday, June 18, 2009
H. pylori
I talked to Dr. F on Tuesday evening and he believes the steroids activated some Heliobacter pylori that was living in my stomach. He said it would explain the pain and it makes sense that antacids provide temporary relief but the pain returns. They can do a blood test to check for it, so I'll do that and follow-up with my primary care doctor. If I do have H. pylori, then I'll do a course of antibiotics and be done with it. If it isn't, I don't know the next step. Hopefully, we get the results back quickly and my stomach heals. I'm not excited about dealing with my PCP, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get my stomach healthy again.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You may have gastritis from the solumedrol. Instead of an antiacid, an acid blocker like prilosec may be more effective. I swear I am going to stop playing doctor soon.
ReplyDeleteI have been taking the max dose of zantac along with the Rolaids since last week Monday. I just did a little research and it seems that zantac and prilosec OTC should do the same thing. Dr. F did mention gastritis when I talked to him last week, but with it not getting better and being intense enough to make me vomit, he's worried about ulcers (which are caused by H. pylori). I did notice Prilosec is often used in conjunction with the antibiotics to treat H. pylori, so I might get some of that for the interim.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry about playing doctor, with your experience, they might as well give you your own practice.
Also, I just looked up gastritis on WebMD (because I wanted to make sure I have it right and it seems like we're both right: http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/digestive-diseases-gastritis
ReplyDeleteH. pylori is a form of gastritis.
Yeah I was tested for h pylori but that was not ultimately the cause of my ulcers. It's good to be tested for that because the treatment is rather simple (antibiotics). I don't know anything about the relative effectiveness of prilosec vs zantec. I am on protonix at double the normal dose so that my stomach will heal. (twice a day instead of once/day). Supposedly protonix is slightly better than prilosec but it's also more $$$ and prescription only.
ReplyDeleteOh protonix, I've taken that before (while we tried to figure out what was ultimately coffee allergy - I'm bizarre). It helped me much better than prilosec, but it takes a while if you have a lot of damage. I hope it helps you.
ReplyDeleteI still have my fingers crossed that it's H. pylori. I would like to have something easy to fix, if only this one time. You know what I mean? Why can't I be one of those people who gets colds or food poisoning or heartburn? Nope, I get hard to treat stuff, the rare permanent versions of usually benign illnesses, or I get sick from common treatments. {insert scream here} Thanks for your help Susan and I hope the prilosec works for you.
Likely too much information, but my saga with H Pylori is a miserable one with a happy outcome after more than a year, and as research continues to show, the antibiotics are losing their effectiveness against the bacteria, so I'm offering this info just in case the meds don't work for you. Or to supplement the meds.
ReplyDeleteI used "alternative" meds, based on the crazy notion that food can heal.
The main three main "drugs" that finally eradicated the H Pylori for me were Monolaurin (derived from coconut milk), Manuka Honey (activated and only from New Zealand), and Mastic Gum (derived from the Greek Mastic tree). I did add in several other healing agents consistently like L Glutamine (a powder I put on my oatmeal, which helps heal gut tissue, thanks to the bacterial damage this potent bug can do), Aloe Juice (from the aloe plant), among other items I don't feel like typing in here. If you're interested in my saga with H Pylori that almost caused me to have a defibrillator in my chest (extreme, yes, but they decided the now-gone heart issues were not related to the infection) or if you want to read about this "crazy" alternatives that have restored my life and caused me to test negative for H Pylori, check out my blog entry here:
http://amyking.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/im-so-happy-i-have-h-pylori/
It took me a long time to research and restore my health. I hope this information helps.
One more thing: diet is key in helping your child to improve as his body fights the bacteria. You should absolutely eliminate white flour products like carbohydrates (white pastas, white rice, bread, etc). These are sugars! Sugars only feed bacteria and provide no nutritional value. Also, cut out sugars! You should even limit fruits for the time being. Your goal is two fold: don't feed the bacteria and give the gut easy-to-digest alkalizing foods. Avoid foods like tomatoes and dairy products too. You can catch up on calcium later. Milk is acidic in the gut.
My diet over the past two months was pretty much chicken soup (simple molecules), cooked veggies, brown rice, avocados (for good fat content), and olives and capers. It was very difficult as I love my coffee and my glasses of wine, chocolate, pasta, pizza, etc. But it worked. And I've actually come out eating better now, even though I've returned some of my cookies and other desserts.
Best,
Amy
I bought this medicine called Zantac, since I have this stomach ulcer, it relieves my stomach acidity. No adverse effects, I did follow the right directions and dose and what do you know it did a great job. Two thumbs up for this. I got the med online the site is www.medsheaven.com.
ReplyDeleteI also bought from www.medsheaven.com before and I highly recommend them, their medicines are authentic, medsheaven is the best online pharmacy
ReplyDelete