H Pylori is no Fun – H Pylori Treatment, and H Pylori Success Story
A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with H Pylori bacteria in my stomach after I went to my doctor complaining of acid reflux. They did a blood test to confirm. I had noticed burning for several weeks before, but finally I had a night of chest pain and went to the E.R. for that because it was so bad. But it was acid reflux, not heart related.
My medicine was two antibiotics taken over 14 days, as well as a PPI (proton pump inhibitor), which decreases stomach acid.
The first week was not too bad. I had trouble sleeping and Lunesta helped with that. But as I got to day 6, things went really bad. I felt very nauseous, weak, anxiety and had blurred vision. This became so bad that I ended up in the E.R. because I could hardly stand without blacking out. In the E.R. I was given reglan to help clear out my stomach, as well as pepcid through an I.V. I felt a lot better after that. They also prescribed the reglan and another antacid coating substance to help my stomach / ulcers heal.
H Pylori often cause gastritis and ulcers, and that’s what happened to me. The burning in my stomach has been mild to extreme, like my whole gut is being dipped in acid.
Now that my treatment is almost up, I thought I would share some learnings and tips for anyone else who is going though this treatment.
– Drink lots of water every day, even if you don’t feel like it. I got dehydrated really bad and it caused extreme weakness (as I am sure the meds did as well). Get a half gallon jug with a spray top and drink it religiously slowly throughout the day.
– Take all the meds on a schedule and do not miss doses. I missed one day of my PPI and I paid dearly for it with horrible amounts of stomach acid ravaging my ulcers.
– Take the PPI on an empty stomach 15-30 minutes before a meal. This pill is meant to go into your stomach before food, and activates when digestion moves into the small intestine. Make sure to get the number of times per 24 hours right, as different antibiotic treatments specify to take it 1, 2 or 3 times in a day.
– Speaking of PPI, if you find your acid is worse at night, take the PPI an hour before bed and then eat a snack 15-30 minutes before bed, like a banana, apple or piece of bread. That will really help things calm down at night as you are laying flat. Acid reflux is worse when you are laying down.
– Don’t take any antacids (tums or liquid) within an hour of taking any medication – no exceptions! Antacids seemed to dilute and reduce the effect of my medication. If I took Lunesta (a sleeping pill) with antacid at night, I only got two hours of sleep. Taking it on a more empty stomach without antacid gives me 4-6 hours which given how I feel is superb. Taking antacids with my PPI limited it as well, and I’ll assume antacids would limit the antibiotics as well.
– You may lose your entire appetite, especially in the second week. Don’t force yourself to eat food or big meals. An apple here or a banana there with some whole grain bread will keep you alive enough until your appetite comes back.
– Be prepared to lose weight. So far I’ve lost 8 pounds (215 to 207) since treatment started 11 days ago. Understand that a lot of that is water and stool loss and try not to get worked up about it. I’ve had to work hard at not weighing myself all the time and getting anxiety from the weight loss.
– For me the antibiotics made me nauseous and ill feeling in general. I finally realized this and started taking them after meals and not before meals and that helped me eat a little more food.
– Gaviscon helped when my acid and burning was at extreme levels, but I learned to minimize use in order to maximize medication effectiveness.
– I started taking tums throughout the day even if I felt OK, because you never know when the acid will strike.
– You may have some nights with little to no sleep, especially in week 2 of treatment. When you’re already feeling ill this can be very taxing on the body and mind. If you are open to taking something like Lunesta, it can really help. Even when going to bed with anxiety and rapid heartbeat I could always eventually fall asleep if I took Lunesta. As you lose more and more sleep it adds up and compounds everything else you are dealing with. Try and take the Lunesta as the last thing in your day, 30-60 minutes after any other medicine or antacid.
– Stick to the BRAT diet (Bananas, rice, apples and toast/bread). In week 2 this seems even more important as your stomach gets pounded by the antibiotics.
– Take a probiotic 5 or 6 hours after each course of antibiotic. This will help reduce the damage done to your digestive system and give you a chance to not feel miserable. I only started taking these on day 9 which was a mistake. Should have done it far sooner, even before treatment started.
– My best schedule for the antibiotics was 5am and 5pm. Find times that work for you and stick with them every day so you get used to the schedule. I realized taking the first dose early helped me get passed the few hours of nausea and side effects earlier in the day, giving me a chance to have a better morning and afternoon.
– Evenings can become your worst time, especially in the second week. Keep drinking water and eating the BRAT diet and take it easy. Hopefully you have a support system around you, that helps a lot.
– You may have odd spasms, sensations, blurred vision and a whole host of weird feelings in general. I also had some mild hallucinations as well. Drinking water and staying hydrated seems to help lessen these oddities.
– Oh yes, speaking of weird, your stool is going to be different for a while. It will look like worms, parasites, white, yellow, green and everything in between. I even had some in the shape of my initials which was gnarly. The mucus and strange poo did not concern my doctor, so I learned to deal with it. The really funny looking poo happened between days 6 and 9 and eventually went away. There was one time I had diarrhea as well on day 7 or 8 I believe.
– Try and keep your brain occupied during the day. Watch T.V., walk around or talk to someone. It really helps. Take naps if you can. I never was able to because of Insomnia.
– If you ever feel like death as I did when I went to the E.R., don’t be afraid to go to the E.R. If you are having stabbing abdominal pains, a fever or vomiting I wouldn’t wait to see your doctor. Just go to the E.R. When I went to the E.R., they checked for a perforated ulcer (hole in stomach) which thankfully I didn’t have, but if I had had one and hadn’t gone to the E.R., that would have been life threatening.
– Hopefully you have decent health insurance. As an indie software developer, I pay about 900 USD a month just for the premium, but it’s turning out to be good that I had it with my E.R. visits, spinal surgery and birth of a daughter all this year.
– I am OCD about researching things online. From parasites to stomach cancer, I thought I had it all. Statistically, especially in developed countries, these ailments are rare. Having said that, if you have black or tarry / bloody stool or horrific diarrhea, go get to the E.R.
– There may be times during your treatment when every minute seems like an eternity and you just want to go crazy. Hang in there and work on your mental focus and determination and you’ll hopefully come out of the experience a stronger and more stable person. Getting over this is a marathon, not a sprint.
– Take this time of suffering to re-examine your life and priorities and make yourself and your life all the better.
My treatment is almost up, and I plan on amending this article with my results. I’m also having spinal fusion surgery in a week and will likely write about that as well.
Good luck with your H Pylori treatment!
*UPDATE*
I had my spinal fusion surgery. I’ve had numerous tests, including stool sample and the bacteria have been exterminated. Recovering from my spine surgery and this bacteria has been a challenge as I am also battling extreme insomnia. Hopefully once my body starts healing up the insomnia will start going away.
**WARNING- LONG POST ABOUT MY 3 WEEKS OF H-PYLORI TREATMENT *** Ah i remember reading this post prior to my antibiotic treatment two years ago. I was terrified but luckily i didn’t have such a bad experience since it was my second, yes SECOND time taking the treatment. I was just 19 years old and finished my big internship and headed off to another when i had the worst meltdown of my life. I felt a huge rush in my chest, i felt like i was drowning in my own body. I still don’t know what caused that. Just like… Read more »
So glad you made it through and well done on the goood diet!
I am grateful for this website and all the post. This really helps me to understand why I’m feeling this way.
I’m on day 13 of two week antibiotics for h pylori. Insomnia for past 5 days, severe depression, bad thoughts, extreme fatigue, bad dreams and crazy dyheria: started black now dark green. Anything I eat comes out. The first couple days I could only sleep now I’m just up all day and night with maybe 3 hours of sleep.
I also take other medications for Lupus SLE.
All pretty normal and stuff I dealt with for months and still do sometimes to this day. Hang in there and focus on mental health and thought pattern and you’ll be ok eventually 😉
I’m here to ask questions in regards to hpylori,took a stool test then I was diagnosed with H pylori now going on about 5 months,I took antibiotics for 2 wks that didn’t help the doctors put me on quadruple therapy which caused extreme pain in my stomach and didn’t do anything. Now I just got an endoscopy and they dilated my esophagus because the acid is doing harm to my throat at times when I eat I choke on foods when swallowing even water at times. I’m scared to take more antibiotics my primary doctor said that I can become… Read more »
Oh my God this post is a blessing. I started with Gerd symptoms a month and a half ago (globus sensation, heartburn, reflux),so my doctor gave me PPIs for two weeks. I got better for two weeks and then started getting worse. I started getting bloated and pressure right under my sternum. Then one day I got really dizzy, had heart palpitations, and my palms got super sweaty. These little episodes happened back to back four times, each lasting a few minutes. I thought I was having some kind of heart attack so I went to the ER. Thankfully the… Read more »
Hi, i know this post is old but i just want to ask a question, my schedule of taking those antibiotics and ppi is at 6am and 5pm, is it okay?
How did you deal with insomnia? I’m on my 6th day of meds today, been sleepless for 3 days, 1st day was 6hrs, 2nd day no sleep at all, 3rd day got 2-3hrs, this causes my headache due to lack of sleep.
How did you manage fast heartbeat? Specially when going to bed?
Thanks!!
I would ask your dr. I took them 3x a day, but your case may be different.
Anxiety and worrying too much will increase the heart rate.
How are you feeling now?
Is it still eradicated?
Ive been off medication for a week now, and i still have pains. I have a appt with my gastric tomorrow, but when did the pains and everything go away for you?
My gut still acts up, especially if I eat too much sugary or fatty things. It can get pretty bad and really messes up my sleep. When I exercise and eat right and mostly manage stress, etc. I do pretty good.
When did your insomnia go away?
Jen
Once I stopped caring about sleep it got a lot better. Some nights I just don’t sleep well and get 3-5 hours, I have learned to live with it. But I would say 80% of the time I get 6-7 hours which is enough.
From the worst of it until I stopped worrying about it was about 6 months.
hello
recently diagnosed with hprylo. On antibiotics for 2nd day. Can you please share the name of the probiotics you used? Thank you
I didn’t take one which was a mistake. But you can probably go to a local health food store and ask their opinion.
thank you for your reply. Sitting here on my 6th day of treatment it helps to read your story and see that this is something that will be over eventually. I also suffer from anxiety and many horrible things run through my head. I have lost about 9 lbs in less than 2 weeks which really gets me anxious thay and the growling noises that come from my stomach at times. It is very difficult to sleep like you said and my apetite is non existent. Hope you are feeling well and please update us on your progress when you… Read more »
My stomach did eventually get mostly better. I recently had my gall bladder out which was also giving me grief. Biggest thing that helped was mentally changing myself to learn to accept the chronic nature of my stomach problem, to accept that I had chronic anxiety, and to learn to not feed the anxiety. I also did my best to improve my diet. But for two weeks during the antibiotics, as you say, I had no appetite and I lost 20 pounds. In hindsight, losing that weight was great, I need to lose about 25 pounds currently, so the weight… Read more »
thats definitely me. Im a small guy was 150lbs now 139. so sad that im losing this weight. I noticed that lately i been getting an appetite and crave regular food but to afraid to eat it. I had salmon with brocolli the other day and my stomach was fine. Was thinking about grilled chicken and veggies but I dont know….
jj… sorry to keep bugging you but hearing from your experience really gives me hope. I just wanted to ask you a couple more questions… After treatment for that month before you went to get retested did you just eat the brat diet or did you gradually start eating regular foods? Now that its been years after you eradicated are you able to eat a steak or a burger at times without discomfort? Finally. how is your quality of life now as opossed to before you went through this?. I feel as if my life wont be back to normal… Read more »
My story is same. After h pilore treatment I am now a little bit ok. How r u now?
Much better than I was. Still issues with digestive system, but manageable.
How are things going for you? I see your post is from 3 months ago, so wanted to see how you’ve been
Hey. Thanks for the insight, I’ve found it helpful. My dad was diagnosed with hpylori months ago. It got worse as he took the pills from the h pylori kit he was given. He decided to stop, but had some other medicines prescribed. Long story short, he has now been advised for an OGD+ biopsy. Kindly lemme know if you ever went through such, how it was treated and how you are fairing on now.
Thanks
Never had to do that, I hope he gets better soon!
NEVER STOP TAKING ANTIBIOTICS.
That is how bacteria becomes antibiotic resistant, and it will stop others from clearing this!!!!
NO!!! BAD!!! your dad is the REASON this bacteria is antibiotic resistant now!!!!!
First! Thanks so much for posting this. My heart rate has gone from a billion beats per minute to normal. I’m a 42 year old guy, try to stay fit by running marathons and eat decently healthy except for the odd brownie or gorging on chinese food here and there. I was always abusive on the hot sauces and was proud of it. Never had anything hurt my stomach and i was known to be a le to est rocks. I’m also a little bit of a workaholic which results in no real food while at work, and little sleep… Read more »
Glad you are pushing through. In my opinion doctors do a horrific job at dealing with h-pylori. They just throw antibiotics at you and that is the end of it. No mention of side affects, recovery process, etc. It is simply unacceptable. I switched doctors for this very reason.
I had basically all the same symptoms as you. Life does get better, antacids help, and of course meditation and changing your thought process to not care about the hard and negative things.
Good luck!
Hello juan thank you for posting. I go back to this thread daily to help.me cope through this tough time. It gives me hope knowing there are people out there that went through what im going through now and eventually got better. Like you said I too keep an upper lip around my kids but deep down Im in deep.pain physically and emotionally. Please share any updates you may have on your progress. Thank you very much and god bless.
How are you doing these days? Have your symptoms improved?
A very simple way to get rid of Pylori is to consume real Goat Milk Kefir. It contains 32 powerful probiotics that destroy bad bacteria and viruses that enter your digestive system. No drugs and full of goodness
Thanks everyone for sharing your story.I m on 6th day medication for H Pylori.I started insomnia..just getting 2-3 hrs sleep..otherwise pain is gone with the medication…I hope my sleep patern will come to normalcy once the 14 day course is completed.do yoga and pranayama it will help.drink lots of water.Keep eating something in intervals.
hello ashwin. thanks for sharing. would like to know how you are progressing?. how do you feel after treatment?. Are you better? Thanks
I am in the same boat, catastrophizing the worst!
Hang in there. Try not to think of the worst case scenario. I’ve learned to live with some of the symptoms that haven’t gone completely away, it is doable.
I was somewhat comforted to read your post and know I am not alone!!! I am currently on day 14 of bismuth, tetracycline, metronidazole, and Prilosec. I am someone who has extreme anxiety around taking medication so to learn I had h pylori and would have to take 13 pills a day was very anxiety producing. If I wasn’t nervous about allergic reactions I was feeling nauseous, tired, etc. I relate to so much of what you wrote! My first week I slept terribly and felt so sick at night, it was horrible. Thankfully I was able to start sleeping… Read more »
I’m deathly terrafied of being allergic to pills I was just diagnosed tonight I don’t know if I should take them or say goodbye tolife ugh
Take a pro-biotic 4 hours after the anti-biotic. I wish I had done that. It will be a hard few weeks or months but you will get through it. For me, mentally improving myself was far more important than any physical struggle.
Hi,
Thank you for sharing your experience. I finished my 14 days triple therapy 2 weeks back. I am presently have lack of sleep in the night. How long did u have Insomnia for after the treatment?
Regards
Hi,
Thank you for the information. I have finished my 14 days medication for H pylori 2 weeks back. First 7 day were fine felt to give up by 8 day but somehow finished my medicine course.
My stomach still has slight pain. I presently having insomnia and developed ringing sound in my ear at about 10 days of medication. I am having small amount of nutmeg in night which helps me to sleep. I had a question till when does the sleep disorder phase out?
Thanks
Hi , I just finished treatment one day ago and I still have soft stool, stomach growing gas and bloating that cause my heart to skip beat and burning in my leg. My question is it normal to still have diarrhea and gas with bloating after treatment and how long will it take to see improvements.
Thank you for your post.
Hi, where is the leg burning occurring?
Thank you for this information. I am waiting for diagnosis of h pylori from upper GI. Will prob be prescribed antibiotic regimen. I plan to start probiotics whir awaiting the test resist. The only thing helping me now is sipping apple cider vinegar. Can I do this during the antibiotic treatment? Your notes are very helpful. Getting nervous about it but am miserable with acid reflux etc. now.
So, I’m scared after reading your post. I just had mild tummy pains that were very strange, no acid reflux and went to the Dr. for fear of stomach cancer or ovarian cysts. I got a random call this morning from my pharmacy saying my doc called in a prescription. I had NO idea what they were talking about. Called my doctor and she confirmed I had H Pylori… I was blindsided. So, now I’m researching everything, just took my first round of amoxicillin, omeprazole and clarythromic. I appreciate the tips and will definitely do the 12/12 schedule and probiotics. … Read more »
Hi, I have been dealing with h pilory for 3 weeks allready and for the first 2 weeks i was drinking 2 antibiotics and omeprazole twice daily. During those tow weeks i felt better but this past week i started to feel sick again burning in my stomach, chest pain like i was congested and my throat feels swolen and some times i feel like is hard to breath and the feeling of something stuck in my throat
Hi I too have been diagnosed with H Pylori. I basically paid for loads of private tests costing me a fortune due to ongoing insomnia since pregnant with first child which returned to normal after she was a year old in 2017 and then had a second pregnancy insomnia hit again and has now she is a year old not returned to normal I have now done 2 weeks antibiotic therapy and 4 m running up to they cut out all foods h pylori love so carbs white potato and acidic foods – I have lost 1.5 stone taking me… Read more »
I should also add context prior to treatment with citing our foods I got about 7.5 hours sleep broken usually at 3-4 in the morning
Insomnia will start to get better once you stop worrying about it. Trust me I know from experience. In the short term you just have to adjust your life expectations that your sleep will be less. But it will get better. I still have bouts and disrupted sleep but I’ve learned to live with it. Just like people with diabetes or other disorders.
Thanks for the above but I’m not worried or anxious I’m so used to it but it is exhausting no two way about that! I just know when I’m awake at 3 to read and if I feel tired nod off but more than often I don’t and just start doing work
Exactly how I am feeling, 1 week after antibiotics. When does it get better?
I’m answering to you cause you just commented on here. I was just dx in Friday and am in 3rd day of abx. This has halt me life and saddened me tremendously. I’m 3wks postpartum and has a hard time bonding with my newborn. This has caused such depression. I’m here thinking the worst; gastric cancer, I’m going to die and leave my two kids. I developed thrush already. It sucks. I just want to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I had exact same symptoms, thrush, everything. Hopefully you can get an anti-fungal and more pro-biotics. You will get through it, the worst for me was several months, but I am stronger having gone through it – mentally and physically.
Thanks! Trying to stay hopeful and positive.
I wasextremely poorly with h pylori I had it for 5mths last year and am afraid it’s comming back. The article and comments have been really helpful,because medical staff didn’t give me any information as to how to manage the horrible symptoms
Hi, I too started feeling chest congestion, with tightness in the throat like its hard to swallow. Do you have any phlegm production, I am producing clear phlegm.
Hi, this is exactly how I feel did you get better?
It took about 6 months to get sleeping better and feeling better. I had to adjust my diet and also simply accept that my body was changing. Once I did that, things were much less problematic.