Gastritis
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I have been diagnosed with gastritis due to H.pylori. Blood test for H.pylori antibodies is positive with 3.09 U/ml. I've never had gastritis before. Is this number of antibodies too high? Because at 1.1 U/ml isI have been given as positive while mine is much higher. I've been prescribed clarithomycin (250 mg) amoxycillin (500 mg) esomeprazol (40 mg) metronidazole (400 mg). Amoxycillin is to be taken 3 times a day and the rest twice a day. I am 23 year old female with weight of 40 kg.
Since starting the medicine I've been getting very sick. Vomiting is the main issue. I can't lay down because I start coughing and then vomit. The vomit is very acidic. My mouth gets extremely sour after vomiting. There is no nausea and the only warning for vomiting is the cough. Since these vomitings I feel like my throat is scratched. My doctor said treatment for gastritis is very painful and this is normal.
1 like, 24 replies
paul77828 farheen_57628
Posted
Gastritis takes a while to heal. Stay on ppi and eat strict for a few weeks and you will feel better
jonmg87 farheen_57628
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I did the H Pylori treatment as well and also experienced some nausea on it. I may have had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics though, because I'm still dealing with the aftereffects of it 2 and a half months later.
farheen_57628
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anesa55559 farheen_57628
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farheen_57628 anesa55559
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farheen_57628
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anesa55559 farheen_57628
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farheen_57628 anesa55559
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Can I continue my anxiety medication with these ones? I've stopped them because of the sheer amount of drugs going inside my system
anesa55559 farheen_57628
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farheen_57628 anesa55559
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I've been avoiding my psychologist too saying that my anxiety has gotten worse because of this disease. I need to get my life together. Thanks
sanya11314 farheen_57628
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Oh, you go right into my field, I love it. Laboratory, testing.
The blood test for H.pylori is a IgG antibody (immune response) test only.
It has good sensitivity and specifity (depending where to set the cut-off for found values).
There is no upper limit at all (have a look, it says "> 1.1U/ml is positive"
It is your immune response, a protein/antibody production after being exposed to H.pylori antigen in form of quantitative measurable immuneglobulin G.
Honestly saying, your quantitative value is not very high.
If someone was not exposted to H.pylori (=not infected) or just very recently infected (diagnostic window) or passed infection, will stay negative or low in result, in this antibody antigen reaction test.
Since we have loads of antibodies from other infections in us, in our serum, there could be some cross reaction with that specific test resulting in false positive results or IgG for H.pylori post infection can linger around for years but in very low values,
hence the cut-off value for results, which is not neccessarily always set at 1.1u/ml
(I have seen 2.5U/ml as cut off as well and increases the specifity, but might have more false negative results. There is nothing absolut in this test.)
Someone with a bit of test reaction e.g. 0.7U/ml will not be called 'positive' even it could be a true h.pylori antibody reaction that is just starting to build or months after eradication. It has a place so in follow up for comparison.
But we don't know. It's not high enough. That's rather the problem.
High values are not the problem,
the ones around a statistically evaluated cut-off are.
when to say negative or positive.
Studies, comparisons, many statistics done, showed,
that people with more > 1.1U/ml IgG
were exposed to H.pylori with a true positive result in this test.
If you had a vaule 0.9-1.1 U/mL it would have been called indeterminate and asked for a repeat test or different testing.
Your H.pyl IgG value is clearly positive, even on the lower side actually,
that's all it says,
(it's not an enzyme level or cholesterine level, it's an antibody test due to infection, you don't need to worry about values, just about neg or positive and how close the result is to the statistic cut off value.)
It doesn't matter if the quantitative number was 2.5, 3, 4 or 10 or 30 U/ml at all.
The higher, the better....in regards to being true positive right now and not ambiguous.
Hence there is a problem with the blood IgG test though:
it does NOT say if it was a current or passed infection.
IgG is 'old' immune response, later immune response and takes weeks to build up and months/years to fall.
Once H.pylori is eradicated, also the blood IgG will fall, but it will take time.
Never to be checked prior 3 or 6 months if eradication should be proven with a blood test.
So the quantitative value has a say for your individual immune response in series, but you cannot compare your positive value with someone else's value.
Actually highly positive people have 30U/ml,
this to relativate your 3 U/ml value as being 'high', it is not high at all, but considered positive rightfully so.
Hence when you get retested after treatment,
if it was a breath test, you have to be off PPI for 2 weeks, off antibiotics for 4 weeks.
A breath test shows a current infection, not if it was an infection months or years ago.
if it was another blood test, make sure it is minimum 3- 6 months after treatment to give your personal IgG level a possibility to fall or rise depending on success to be able to compare values. That's when the value starts to play a role.
Best of luck and yes, metronidazole made me very sick once too for giardia treatment, but it did rid of it and was under the line better for me personally.
anesa55559 sanya11314
Posted
Hello sanya , I didnt get this maybe coz this is your field. I did blood test on H pylori bacteria and it came back positive( high)3.3 and the doctor made in conclusion: your results are out of normal range. Please seek doctors help immed. Well, when my doctor looked this results she didnt worry at all. She said breath test is what is important. Because I was on omeprazole for 4 weeks she told me to wait 2 weeks and do breath test. My question is : if I was blood positive on this bacteria, does that mean that I have bacteria in my blood? My doctor said that some ppl live their lie with this bacteria without having any symptoms so its not a big deal. I was really healthy person . Loved eating healthy, used home remedies( teas, real pure honey), had lemon water once awhile, loved fruit and veggies and didnt love too much to eat meat. Although I get stressed out quickly, and I would drink coffee and ear sweets even though my weight was always perfect (5'8-150). I would eat something sweet but small every day or every other day and one cup of coffee. I never smoked or drink in my life. I exercised every day but in feb.i got really sick with lung inflamation and my doctor put me 5 days on prednisone. Since then I was never fully recovered and two months ago I started having stomach issues. My doctor told me that 0 blood group are prone to stomach problems( my mom had all her life stomach issue, ulcer, bacteria, my brother and sister too). I am afraid of this because of pain that comes and goes. Im using zantac now which helps but I dont eat much. I am afraid of cancer and my doctor told me that 1% of ppl get stomach cancer later in age mostly those who had lots of alcohol and smoke and obese ppl. So once again , if I am blood positive on H pylori bacteria does that mean that I have bacteria when I do breath test next week? What do you have to drink before you do test, is it a cup or much more and how does taste? Thank you
sanya11314 anesa55559
Posted
Yes, your 3.3U/ml are considered as a H.pylori IgG positive result.
Is it high? No it is not.
But as said, it doesn't matter if high or not,
positive is positive and the value itself has only relevance if retested.
Do we know if you have an infection right now? No, we don't.
The breath test (like biopsies and stool) is the test, to see, if the bacteria is there right now (and not a passed infection or cross reaction).
Breath test: nothing to eat and drink beforehand.
You swallow a capsule with very little amount of liquid.
One would wish to drink more, a cup, but no, you get two gulps of water, be a good capsule swallower please.
There is no taste.
The capsule contains food (urea) for the H.pylori and if they are there, their H.pylori enzyme (urease) will digest it, you breath out the radioactive broken up carbon dioxide (into a foil balloon, which gets tied and sent off to lab) ...which couldn't be in your breath otherwise, if the Hpylori did not do the work to split it off.
It's really a cool and easy test.
Our immune system (the mix of white blood cells) do everything for us to stay healthy.
Now, H.pylori bacteria is within your stomach lining,
sometimes burried in the mucosa, sometimes attached on top of lining, that's where it lives (that's where it can be visually seen after staining a biopsy slice),
it can't live anywhere else (e.g. guts, unless duodenum is acid damaged) and it is not in your blood!,
but your white blood cells can migrate out of a blood vessle through tiny pores into tissue (it's extremely fascinating) and detects the culprit, detects the foreign protein (antigen) and makes a fitting antibody against it in order to mark and destroy it (called humoral immune response in contrary to cellular response).
This IgG antibody (Ig= immunoglobulin) is, what is measured in your blood since those cells return to the blood stream and excrete the IgG there, too.
What I never quite understood, when we form an immune response, why can't it be killed? :
I had a read through and it is highly complex, the H.pylori is quite good in escaping not only within mucosa, but attach onto the lining, where white blood cells can't get to eat it after marking and kind of protects itself against humoral antibodies, on the other hand, without any immune response, the growth would be much more, it is said.
That, what we call 'gastritis' is nothing else, than the white blood cells infiltrating = inflamming your wall in order to fight or heal.
But to no avail it seems.
Having said so,
many people have H.pylori and no problem, no gastritis.
Some say, it is so old and has been living with humans for so long, that it might have its benefit for other conditions.
There are many different strains of H.pylori with a bit of different biochemistry in them and that seems to be the difference.
Also not all H.pylori lead to cancer, very small proportion, but when stomach cancer is found, a H.pylori is almost always present.
So the conclusion is the other way round.
(like with HPV for cervical cancer)
But if you have gastritis and suffer H.pylori,
you want to get this under control, not because of cancer risk, because of life comfort now....and down the track cancer possibility.
If one has H.pylori and no symptoms, there is no need to do anything it seems, the balance seems to be good without gastritis or ulcers or cancer.
No one gets tested therefore without symptoms.
You have a good doc.
Some swear by Matula tea for eradication btw. I have no experience with it.
There is a really cool page, but really hard to read through, but shows the complexity. It's not quite easy to bring it down to a simple denominator.
I try to post it, but might get deleted.
As to blood groups....the red blood cell membrane is not smooth, it has many also very old and rudementary 'twigs' and 'bumps', the strongest antigen A and B form antibodies to AB system, form from food only (since A B are made up from food like antigens), all other antibodies form only after contact. It's another huge field.
H.pylori has two bumps on its surface, that look like our red blood cell Lewis-a/x antigens, that some of us have on their red blood cells.
Usually what we carry ourselfs on cell surfaces, is not recognised by immune system as foreign hence the tendency maybe.
My father has O and no stomach issues, my mum B and a lot of stomach issues, but my aunt with B does not.. I don't quite swallow the whole simplified ABO blood type tendency for sickness. There is much more to it than a bump (antigen) called A, a bump called B and someone having no A or B bumps being called O or someone having both on cell surface being AB. It is so the most important blood group for transfusions because antibodies are already in serum and destroy explosively foreign A B blood due to pre-existing antibodies without prior blood contact.
But that's a different story.
Humans always tried to explain everything and did observations,
some experiences and observations proved to have some grounds, others were pure desperate trials for easy explanations.
I have no idea if bloodgroup O stomach issue tendency was proven or not and if yes, as to why.
If someone knows, enlighten us.
sanya11314 anesa55559
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Here a link I read through, but was exhausting even for me I have to admit. But makes quite clear, it's not that simple http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3925854/
farheen_57628 sanya11314
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looloo43 farheen_57628
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Sanya is formidable with her answers isn't she? Don't know what we'd do without her fantastic knowledge on this forum.
sanya11314 looloo43
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My knowledge is little and answering one thing, opens 1000s of other questions (also for me of course).
It's amazing how much is not known or how complex simple questions can become.
I love this forum since it covers exactly those differencies in induvidual cases mainly via experiences.
What works for one, might not for the other due to different strains, situations, individual genetics/immune system in these abdominal cases. (if it was a broken bone, it was pretty straight forward),
but at least one gets ideas for trial and error different approaches since you might be treated for one, but might not work like for the other.
Keeping an open mind is the best way and I love to hear other stories and explanations as I do no hardly anything, just my lab stuff.
sanya11314
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looloo43 sanya11314
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sanya11314 looloo43
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take care! x