Helicobacter Forums

My son is 17, and after eight months, we believe he may have h pylori. The anti-biotics amoxicillian and clarithomyacin helped a lot with his pain, and helped his stools to return to normal, and he has gained two pounds. They have done two endoscopies, and both showed extreme gastritis, and a small ulcer, but no bacteria tested positive. A camera that took pictures in his duodenum showed red lesions in the first half hour, but he rest was clean. Can h pylori only be in the small intestine and not found in the stomach?

Also, even after two week anti-biotic therapy, , he is still in some pain, and his appetite has not returned for the entire eight months. Will this return? Obviously he is very depressed he will not ever get better, and he is anxious about the stomach pain as it has lasted so long.

Does anyone have any ideas that may be helpful or similar?

Thank you!

The vomit and loose stools may not be because of H. pylori.
All H. pylori causes inflammation in the stomach and duodenum. The inflammation may further develop into ulcer.
The treatment to eradicate H. pylori usually involve a Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) + Amoxicillin + Clarithromycin.
After the treatment, make sure to organise a follow up breath/stool test to find out if the treatment work.
To do the follow test, your son must not take any PPI or antibiotics for a month.
If the follow up test is negative, then that’s the end of the treatment. H. pylori don’t normally comes back. However, to prevent re-infection, it is better that everyone in the family to get tested.

If the follow up test is positive, then he’ll need another round of antibiotics, usually PPI + Amoxicillin + metronidazole. We can discuss further again when the time comes.