H. pylori: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment
H. pylori: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment
Your Guide to
What Is H. pylori?
If you have H. pylori, your doctor may also test you for stomach cancer. This includes:
If you have ulcers caused by H. pylori, you’ll need treatment to kill the germs, heal your stomach lining, and keep the sores from coming back. It usually takes 1 to 2 weeks of treatment to get better.
Your doctor will probably tell you to take a few different types of drugs. The options include:
Your treatment could mean you’ll take 14 or more pills per day for a few weeks, which seems like a lot of medicine. But it’s really important to take everything that your doctor prescribes and to follow her instructions. If you don’t take antibiotics the right way, bacteria in your body can become resistant to them, which makes infections harder to treat. If your medications bother you, talk to your doctor about your treatment options and how you can handle side effects.
About a month after you finish your treatment, your doctor may test your breath or stool again to make sure the infection is gone.
What Is H. pylori?
Getting a Diagnosis continued...
Your Guide to
What Is H. pylori?
- How H. pylori Makes You Sick
- Symptoms
- Getting a Diagnosis
- Treatment for H. pylori
- Prevention
- What can I expect after H. pylori infection?
- Where can I find information or support?
If you have H. pylori, your doctor may also test you for stomach cancer. This includes:
- Physical exam
- Blood tests to check for anemia, when your body doesn’t have enough red blood cells. It could happen if you have a tumor that bleeds.
- Fecal occult blood test, which checks your stool for blood 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 as a CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Treatment for H. pylori
If you have ulcers caused by H. pylori, you’ll need treatment to kill the germs, heal your stomach lining, and keep the sores from coming back. It usually takes 1 to 2 weeks of treatment to get better.
Your doctor will probably tell you to take a few different types of drugs. The options include:
- Antibiotics to kill the bacteria in your body, such as amoxicillin, clarithromycin (Biaxin), metronidazole (Flagyl), tetracycline (Sumycin), or tinidazole (Tindamax). You’ll most likely take at least two from this group.
- Drugs that reduce the amount of acid in your stomach 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 (Fluxid, Pepcid), nizatidine (Axid), or ranitidine (Zantac).
Your treatment could mean you’ll take 14 or more pills per day for a few weeks, which seems like a lot of medicine. But it’s really important to take everything that your doctor prescribes and to follow her instructions. If you don’t take antibiotics the right way, bacteria in your body can become resistant to them, which makes infections harder to treat. If your medications bother you, talk to your doctor about your treatment options and how you can handle side effects.
About a month after you finish your treatment, your doctor may test your breath or stool again to make sure the infection is gone.
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