Helicobacter Forums

Hi Everyone. I did a urea breath test (C14) for H. Pylori early last month and the result is very high. The result of <50 DPM is negative but I have a result of 2947 DPM which is 59 times the allowable limit. I'm on my 2nd eradication attempt at the moment. I was taking Nexium, Amoxil and Klacid in my first attempt and after more than two weeks, my GP told me to take the same medications. I did a bit of research and I found that I should't take the same medications in my second eradication attempt. My second eradication attempt will end tomorrow but I am still having pain in both left and right upper abdomen.

Could someone please let me know if my urea breath test result is very high or advise on the next steps. I'm planning to find a new GP/specialist could someone please recommend a GP/specialist here in Perth that has a good knowledge of H. Pylori Eradication. I think it would be great to see Dr. Marshall but I don't think he's running a clinic.

Also, I am taking Swisse probiotics with the following ingredients:

Bifidobacterium lactis (HOWARU(r) bifido HN019) 5 billion CFU
Bifidobacterium lactis (Bl-04) 10.5 billion CFU
Lactobacillus acidophilus (La-14) 10.5 billion CFU

Did someone tried these probiotics before in conjunction with Nexium, Amoxil and Klacid. I am taking Nexium, Amoxil and Klacid in the morning and evening while I'm taking the probiotic during lunchtime.

Hi,

High UBT means you have high load of H. pylori. Fortunately, there is no correlation between UBT and disease severity. We have patients that have UBT of 7000 and they are asymptomatic. We also have patients with borderline UBT with lots of symptoms. Therefore, all you need to know from UBT is if you are positive or negative.

In terms of treatment, you are right. Your first treatment failed because of antibiotic resistance. So there is no point of trying the same antibiotics again. Nevertheless, H. pylori cannot become resistant to Amoxicillin. So you can always use Amoxicillin + one other antibiotic (normally Metronidazole, if you have not try that).

in addition, you can add to bismuth to the above triple therapy to boost the cure rate higher. Bismuth is not readily available in pharmacy. If the specialist is good, he'll know where to get them. (eg. Trimed http://trimed.com.au/ )

Lastly, there is also report that showed that double dose PPI can also boost cure rate. So if you combine all of above, your chance of getting a successful treatment is very high.


PS: probiotics is more for side effect management. We dont have much evidence on which brand or which strains that work on certain ethnic population or certain symptoms. But since it is harmless, we dont mind you trying out. If you feel good, great. If you dont feel improvement, try other brands.

Thanks Helico_expert for your response.

Could you please recommend a specialist?

Do you think its better to wait for my next UBT result (4 weeks from yesterday) to see a specialist even if it is highly likely that my second eradication attempt was unsuccessful? I think my GP is not very knowledgeable about my sickness. He gave me the same medications two weeks after I finished my first attempt. Not even testing if I still have HP or not.

It depends what your GP gave you. It's not right to give antibiotics straight away without a proper diagnosis. Especially the same antibiotics that you failed. But it is ok to give PPI for additional 2 weeks to ease the symptoms.

Yes, you should wait 4 weeks, repeat your UBT, and then find a specialist. Who knows you may be lucky and your second treatment actually works.

In case your test in 4 weeks comes back positive you may discuss the possibility of using Pylera to your GP or GI.
I was in a similar case, triple therapy failed, sequential therapy failed...I didn't want to go for more rounds and i asked my doctor what was the strongest stuff to end it now.

He put me on pylera for 10 days.
Man i won't lie to you i got my ass handed to me by the medicine, last two days couldn't even walk straight due to headaches.
But it worked, my UTB test was negative for the first time in a year, then about 3 months later stomach was back to a normal state.

Do you think its better to wait for my next UBT result (4 weeks from yesterday) to see a specialist even if it is highly likely that my second eradication attempt was unsuccessful?

This you can't know for sure, i felt like shit for a month even after helicobacter was removed from my system.