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Home / Why Do I Keep Getting H Pylori Back Again

Why Do I Keep Getting H Pylori Back Again

What Is H. pylori?

Medically Reviewed by Minesh Khatri, MD on December 07, 2020

Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) is a blazon of bacteria. These germs tin enter your trunk and live in your digestive tract. Later on many years, they can cause sores, called ulcers, in the lining of your tummy or the upper part of your pocket-sized intestine. For some people, an infection can atomic number 82 to stomach cancer.

Infection with H. pylori is common. About two-thirds of the world'south population has it in their bodies. For most people, information technology doesn't cause ulcers or any other symptoms. If you lot exercise have problems, in that location are medicines that tin impale the germs and assistance sores heal.

As more of the earth gets access to clean water and sanitation, fewer people than before are getting the bacteria. With good health habits, you tin can protect yourself and your children from H. pylori.

How H. pylori Makes You Sick

For decades, doctors thought people got ulcers from stress, spicy foods, smoking, or other lifestyle habits. But when scientists discovered H. pylori in 1982, they found that the germs were the cause of about stomach ulcers.

After H. pylori enters your body, it attacks the lining of your stomach, which usually protects you from the acid your body uses to digest food. One time the bacteria have done enough harm, acrid can become through the lining, which leads to ulcers. These may bleed, cause infections, or continue food from moving through your digestive tract.

You lot can go H. pylori from nutrient, water, or utensils. Information technology's more common in countries or communities that lack make clean h2o or skilful sewage systems. You can too choice up the leaner through contact with the saliva or other trunk fluids of infected people.

Many people get H. pylori during childhood, but adults can get information technology, too. The germs alive in the body for years before symptoms offset, only nearly people who have information technology will never get ulcers. Doctors aren't sure why but some people get ulcers later an infection.

Symptoms

If you have an ulcer, you may experience a dull or called-for hurting in your belly. It may come up and get, but you'll probably experience it well-nigh when your stomach is empty, such as betwixt meals or in the heart of the night. It can last for a few minutes or for hours. You may feel better later you eat, drink milk, or take an antacid.

Other signs of an ulcer include:

  • Bloating
  • Burping
  • Non feeling hungry
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Weight loss for no articulate reason

Ulcers can bleed into your tummy or intestines, which can be dangerous to your health. Go medical assist correct away if you have any of these symptoms:

  • Stool that is bloody, dark red, or black
  • Trouble breathing
  • Dizziness or fainting
  • Feeling very tired for no reason
  • Pale peel color
  • Vomit that has blood or looks similar coffee grounds
  • Severe, sharp tum pain

It's not mutual, but H. pylori infection can crusade stomach cancer. The disease has few symptoms at start, such as heartburn. Over time, you lot may find:

  • Belly pain or swelling
  • Nausea
  • Not feeling hungry
  • Feeling full after y'all consume just a modest amount
  • Vomiting
  • Weight loss for no reason

Getting a Diagnosis

If yous don't have symptoms of an ulcer, your doctor probably won't test you for H. pylori. But if you have them now or have in the by, information technology'southward all-time to get tested. Medicines like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can also damage your stomach lining, so it's of import to find out what'due south causing your symptoms then you tin go the right treatment.

To start, your doctor will ask you about your medical history, your symptoms, and any medicines you accept. Then they'll give you a physical exam, including pressing on your abdomen to check for swelling, tenderness, or pain. You may also take:

  • Tests of your claret and stool, which can help find an infection
  • Urea breath test. You'll potable a special liquid that has a substance called urea. Then you'll breathe into a pocketbook, which your doctor will send to a lab for testing. If you lot have H. pylori, the bacteria volition change the urea in your body into carbon dioxide, and lab tests volition prove that your breath has higher than normal levels of the gas.

To look more closely at your ulcers, your dr. may employ:

  • Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. In a infirmary, a doc will use a tube with a small camera, called an endoscope, to await downward your throat and into your tum and the upper part of your modest intestine. The procedure may too be used to collect a sample that volition exist examined for the presence of the bacteria. You may be comatose or awake during the procedure, but you'll become medicine to brand you more comfortable.
  • Upper GI tests. In a infirmary, you'll drink a liquid that has a substance called barium, and your physician will give you an X-ray. The fluid coats your throat and tummy and makes them stand out clearly on the paradigm.
  • Computed tomography (CT) scan. It'due south a powerful X-ray that makes detailed pictures of the inside of your body.

If you have H. pylori, your md may also examination you for stomach cancer. This includes:

  • Concrete examination
  • Blood tests to check for anemia, when your torso doesn't have enough red claret cells. It could happen if you have a tumor that bleeds.
  • Fecal occult blood test, which checks your stool for claret that's not visible to the naked eye
  • Endoscopy
  • Biopsy, when a doctor takes a small piece of tissue from your stomach to look for signs of cancer. Your doctor may do this during an endoscopy.
  • Tests that make detailed pictures of the insides of your body, such equally a CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Treatment for H. pylori

If you have ulcers caused by H. pylori, you'll need handling to kill the germs, heal your tummy lining, and keep the sores from coming back. Information technology usually takes ane to 2 weeks of treatment to become better.

Your doctor will probably tell you to accept a few dissimilar types of drugs. The options include:

  • Antibiotics to kill the bacteria in your torso, such as amoxicillin, clarithromycin (Biaxin), metronidazole (Flagyl), tetracycline (Sumycin), or tinidazole (Tindamax). You'll most likely have at least two from this group.
  • Drugs that reduce the amount of acid in your tum by blocking the tiny pumps that produce it. They include dexlansoprazole (Dexilant), esomeprazole (Nexium), lansoprazole (Prevacid), omeprazole (Prilosec), pantoprazole (Protonix), or rabeprazole (Aciphex).
  • Bismuth subsalicylate, which may also help kill H. pylori along with your antibiotics
  • Medicines that block the chemical histamine, which prompts your stomach to make more acid. These are cimetidine (Tagamet), famotidine  Pepcid, Zantac 360), and nizatidine (Axid).

Your handling could hateful y'all'll take fourteen or more than pills per 24-hour interval for a few weeks, which seems like a lot of medicine. Only it'due south really important to have everything that your md prescribes and to follow their instructions. If yous don't take antibiotics the right way, bacteria in your trunk tin become resistant to them, which makes infections harder to treat. If your medications carp you, talk to your doc about your treatment options and how y'all can handle side effects.

About 1-two weeks after you cease your handling, your doctor may test your breath or stool again to make sure the infection is gone.

Prevention

You can protect yourself from getting an H. pylori infection with the same steps you lot accept to keep other germs at bay:

  • Wash your hands after you lot employ the bathroom and before you lot prepare or eat nutrient. Teach your children to exercise the aforementioned.
  • Avert nutrient or water that's not clean.
  • Don't eat annihilation that isn't cooked thoroughly.
  • Avoid food served past people who oasis't washed their hands.

Though stress and spicy foods don't crusade ulcers, they tin can go along them from healing quickly or make your pain worse. Talk to your md about ways to manage your stress, improve your diet, and, if you lot smoke, how you can go aid to quit.

What can I wait after H. pylori infection?

Most ulcers caused past H. pylori will heal after a few weeks of treatment. If y'all've had one, you should avoid taking NSAIDs for pain, since these drugs tin damage your stomach lining. If you lot need pain medicine, ask your doc to recommend some.

Where can I find data or support?

You tin can find information about H. pylori infection and ulcers from the American College of Gastroenterology. For information on stomach cancer, too as online and local back up groups, visit the American Cancer Society.

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Source: https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/h-pylori-helicobacter-pylori