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From: Ron ronh8semail@netscape.net
Date: 09/08/01
Time: 12:12 PM
Dr Barry Marshall does not have a magic bag of tricks. He uses readily available meds to treat Helicobacter. and makes no money when your doctor prescribes them to you. Why would you doubt this treatment since it is a proven, safe and simple alternative for many sufferers.
Here is that story that I cut from that site.
Ron...... attempting to give you hope. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- (success story)
During the spring of 1996, I began having severe pain in the upper abdomen (exactly where the rib cage meets) late one night. The pain went on for 1-1/2 hours before I got my doctor out of bed. He immediately called in a prescription for hyoscyophen which relieved the pain within 45 minutes. I then had (per doctor's orders) an upper g.i. with gallbladder test which showed a duodenal ulcer. I was put on Tagamet 800 mg. at bedtime and all was fairly good for several months. Then in late summer 1996, the same thing happened again late one night. I took one of the hyoscyophen pills like he instructed me to do after the first attack, but it did no good. I called the doctor and was sent to the E.R. where they gave me what was called a "g.i. cocktail." Relief came within 40 minutes or so. After each of these attacks, I would have terrible diarhhea the rest of the night and still some the next morning, and feel absolutly exhausted. In the interim between these two episodes, every once in a while, I would eat a great meal and within a few hours, get very suddenly (and without any warning) nauseated and throw up my gerat dinner, feeling exhausted afterward, but at least my stomach was better. Almost a year went by, during all of which time I also had terrible belching, gas, etc.), and one night (late) I started vomiting (projectile) and just could not stop. I would stop for a couple (five at most) minutes, and start again. After 30 to 40 minutes of this, I had my husband call an ambulance and went to the hospital (doctor told me if I had any further attacks after the second one, to just go to the E.R.). The E.R. doctor gave me another G.I. cocktail and put me on prilosec, stating my problem was just too much stomach acid.
As a result of these E.R. visits, and all these symptoms, etc., over the course of this 1-1/2 to 2 years, I not only had the upper g.i. with gallbladder test, I also had two complete series of abdominal x-rays looking for blockages (on which the ulcer appeared completely healed); an ultrasound of the gallbladder, liver and pancreas; and a hydascan (nuclear test) of the gallbladder. All checked out normal!!
Finally, in November, 1998, I went to a gastroenterologist at my doctor's suggestion. Because my father (whom I did not meet until 1995) had a peptic ulcer, the gastroenterologist had me tested for H. Pylori (by this time I had read a lot about it on the Internet). Guess what - POSITIVE!! He prescribed the Biaxin/Amoxicillin/Prilosec treatment for 10 days. Felt 200% better after the first 5 days than I had felt in years!
AND, THIS IS THE BIGGEST SURPRISE OF ALL: I suffered from migraines since I was in my early 20s, and I am now 50 - I would ALWAYS WAKE UP IN THE MORNING WITH A MIGRAINE, take an Imitrex pill, and it would go away within a few hours at most. But so much of the time, I would wake up the next day with it again, and this would go on for anywhere from 2 to 8 days - everyday for that period of time. Also, I would have great swelling/inflammation in the muscles of my uppermost back - between the shoulderblades, and into my neck. After completing the Biaxin/Amoxicillin/Prilosec treatment, not only did I feel better and could eat anything I wanted, but these headaches were COMPLETELY GONE! I JUST COULDN'T BELIEVE THEY WERE GONE AFTER TWENTY-SOMETHING YEARS OF HAVING THEM!
However, in February, 1999, I began having the hungry/hurting symptom in the upper abdomen, and soon after that started, the headaches and inflammation came back, terrible belching and lots of gas - all the same symptoms as before the H. Pylori treatment. I called my regular doctor and we discussed all the symptoms, etc. He wanted me to try the sumycin/metronidazole/pepto bismal treatment this time. He believes it has a higher success rate than the biaxin-type treatment. So, for two weeks I took the three medications four timesa a day, and guess what! All has been wonderful again since that time - including the fact that these headaches have stopped again - I have had only 3 or 4 headaches since February for which I had to take an Imitrex - and they were gone permanently after one Imitrex tablet. At the time the headaches were the worst and occurred most often/frequently, I was taking, on average, a box (9 tablets) of Imitrex per month - that's how many headaches I had - I woke up as many days or more per month with a migraine than I did without a migraine!! I haven't had but one in the last two months now!
All I can say is life couldn't possibly be better - I eat what I want. I don't even take the prilosec now - I did for a while only because I was afraid to stop taking it! I do have it on hand, as once in while, something will just make my stomach very acid and I will take one then. But it only takes that one and no more.
A lot of people may have their doubts about these god-awful headaches, and I can't possibly tell you how many days I missed from work over the years because of it - and when I did go to work, wasn't very productive to say the least. Try to function with your head feeling like it wants to just explode!
Thanks for listening - I hope something in this will help someone else out there. I really had to stay on the doctors, just because they seemed to be skeptical that I would have H. Pylori - I just insisted on that blood test and wouldn't take no for an answer! Hell, I'd already had every other test, except the scope, that there was, and I figured I may as well have the cheapest one too!!
Good Luck to all with H. Pylori.