H. Pylori Infection: Some Critical Aspects You Need to Know

H. Pylori is a certain kind of bacteria that can lead to gastritis and peptic ulcer. The germs enter your body and reside in the digestive tract. If left untreated, they can cause sores in the stomach lining or small intestine. But fortunately, H. Pylori treatment is widely available nowadays. H. Pylori infection is a common phenomenon across the globe. According to research, around two-thirds of the entire world population has H. Pylori bacteria in their bodies. For most, it doesn’t lead to ulcers and other severe symptoms. If you take proper medicines and control your diet chart, you can manage H. Pylori infection in your body.

Symptoms of H. Pylori infection

When you have an H. Pylori infection in the body, the symptoms may range from mild to worse. Given below are some of the common symptoms associated with H. Pylori infection:

1. Burning pain in your stomach
2. Loss of appetite
3. Nausea
4. Frequent burping
5. Bloating
6. Unintentional weight loss

How can H. Pylori infection be detected?

In case you don’t have symptoms of an ulcer, your doctor may not recommend any tests. The doctor may prescribe certain nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for a specific period to make things better. However, consuming too many of these drugs can damage your stomach lining. So, it’s necessary to find out the root cause of the symptoms. To detect the presence of H. Pylori in your intestine, your doctor may request you to undertake a blood/stool test or urea breath test. Your doctor may also recommend an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, upper GI tests, and a Computed Tomography (CT) scan to look more closely at your ulcers. The treatment of H. Pylori will depend upon the outcomes of these tests.

Treatment of H. Pylori

When you have ulcers due to H. Pylori, you have to undergo H. Pylori treatment that will kill the germs and heal your stomach lining. Generally, it takes 1 to 2 weeks of treatment to experience the difference. Your doctor will advise you to try different types of drugs. These options include:

• Antibiotics like amoxicillin and tetracycline can kill the bacteria in your body.
• Drugs like esomeprazole, omeprazole, and rabeprazole reduce the amount of acid produced by your body.
• Bismuth subsalicylate plays a great hand in eradicating H. Pylori
• Drugs that block the chemical histamine and thereby, instigating your stomach to make more acid. Some of these medicines are famotidine, Pepcid, and cimetidine. The treatment of H. Pylori depends a lot on these medicines.

Prevention techniques

Protecting yourself from H. Pylori infection isn’t a big deal. You can do so with a few simple techniques:

• Clean your hands before eating. Remember to do the same after using the washroom.
• Avoid contaminated food and water.
• Don’t eat anything that isn’t cooked well.
• Don’t allow people to serve foods who haven’t washed their hands.

You need to know that anxiety and spicy foods don’t lead to ulcers, but they can prevent the ulcer from quick healing and make the pain worse. So, you should talk to your doctor about techniques to manage stress and improve your diet. This way, you can ensure that your H. Pylori treatment is going in the right direction.

As stated above, H. Pylori infection is present in 50-75% of the world’s population. It doesn’t cause serious illness, but if left untreated, it may result in persistent gastrointestinal issues. H. Pylori infection is more common in developing countries and is prevalent among children. Yes, medicines are there to cure H. Pylori infection, but the key to good health lies in your diet and daily hygiene practices.