Hello,

I was diagnosed with H.pylori over 6 months ago after an endoscopy , they also found gastritis and a stomach ulcer. Upon reflection it was no surprise really considering my stomach is always burning terribly , I'm two stone underweight , I have numerous absorption problems and also have various other symptoms such as joint pain and heart palpitations.

All of these symptoms can be directly related to H.pylori from what I've been reading over the last few months.

Here's where the problem comes in. For many years my symptoms went undiagnosed. All of my health problems started after taking a months course of the Antibiotic " tetracycline " , several months before this I has also just finished a 2 year long course of Antibiotics for a prostate problem.

After taking the months course of tetracycline within another month I had lost 2 stone in weight , couldn't absorb anything and slowly started to feel worse day by day. Now after understanding that it was Antibiotics that caused my ill health and reading up on the internet I naturally assumed candida was my problem. I went through various doctors who as you might expect didn't think candida was even a possibility and all just told me to take ant acids and that it would pass. As you might have guessed nothing passed and things only got worse. I ended up going to see a brilliant gastroenterologist who was very open minded about everything and agreed to perform a gastroscopy and take biopsies from both my small bowel and stomach lining.

The results found that I had a stomach ulcer , erosion of the stomach lining and esophagus and I also tested positive for H.pylori. As soon as receiving my results I was worried instantly because I knew the treatment for H.pylori was going to be more Antibiotics . Almost like trying to put out a fire with even more fire. Surely the cause couldn't be the cure ?.

Over the last six months I have tried various supposedly natural cures for H.pylori in an attempt to eradicate the bacteria without using antibiotics. I have tried mastic gum , high doses of Allicin ( extracted from garlic ) , manuka honey, high dose probitoics , even the infamous matula herbal formula and several other supplements. None of them seemed to have worked or even helped with any of my symptoms.

My doctor who as mentioned is extremely open minded and helpful seems to think antibiotics suppressed my immune system and made me susceptible to pick up H.pylori and let it flourish. A further stool sample revealed that I have no growth of lactobacillus acidophilus. Although they may have caused my problem my doctor thinks the best thing to do would be to take the triple therapy treatment to clear out the H.pylori and then take extremely high doses of probitoics.

After trying all of the natural treatments to no avail I tend to agree with him but I'll be honest and say after all of this I've been through I've developed somewhat of a fear of antibiotics and then there is always the possibility that the triple therapy may not even work !. If any of you could provide any thoughts , advice , experience or anything at all it would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance and sorry for the long post.