Bible Science Forum

Last year I posted my story about my fight to eliminate helicobacter pylori. As it turned out that was not the end of my battles.

In December 2017 after I obtained the results of the h. pylori antigen stool test that indicated that h. pylori was eliminated from my gut I developed terrible pain in a tooth. That turned out to be a tooth abscess and by Christmas time 2017 I had the tooth extracted. All was well after that and I felt quite good except for some lingering pain, due to healing of my jaw.

I had very little gastritis (pain due to inflammation or irritation of the stomach). I was not too worried when I did, because I knew it would take time for my stomach to heal. I largely stuck to my special low inflammatory diet. Except I started to drink black tea again, which did not seem to cause any trouble, like reflux, for all of January anyway. But that turned out to be a mistake. Caffeine relaxes the LES valve at the top of the stomach and can lead to reflux.

My gastritis was caused by h. pylori bacteria. This was determined by endoscopy and biopsy. The bugs caused several stomach erosions — damage to the stomach wall. For that reason I cannot supplement my diet with Betaine (hydrochloric acid) to boost my stomach acid and prevent reflux that way. High stomach acid is a trigger for the LES to close tight and prevent reflux.

I need to stay on a low acid diet until my stomach heals. It will take some time. I am going the natural route, and it may take longer. The doctors want you to take an antacid (a PPI – proton pump inhibitor) and reduce your stomach acid to relieve discomfort. But that is just treating the symptoms not the cause.

Gastric reflux or heartburn can be due to reduced stomach acid, which comes with increased age, but h. pylori can cause it also. Reflux can also be caused by other bacteria in your stomach, which ferment starches causing gas and that gas pushes open the LES valve allowing some acid to escape the wrong way, hence causing burning reflux.

Early in February 2018 I developed terrible gastritis and reflux again. This made me immediately think that the horrible bugs were back. So I got myself tested with the h. pylori breath test and the result was positive. In fact this time the number the doctor gave me was 1400 as compared to my worst test before of only 900. So they were back worse than ever.

I immediately went for another round of antibiotics and an antacid. This time it was stronger antibiotics (Flagyl (metronidazole) and Augmentin (amoxicillin and clavulanate potassium)). But after 10 days on them, besides the antibiotics making me feel even sicker, I knew they had failed again and I was not free of the horrible bugs. My symptoms had not changed.

While I was taking the course of antibiotics I ordered Matula Tea again from South Africa. The tea is expensive but I knew it worked last time, so I gladly took it again. By the second week of taking the tea my symptoms, particularly gastritis and reflux were greatly reduced.

The tea also promotes the healing of the stomach lining and can relieve GERD and reflux symptoms.

After 30 days after finishing the 30 day course of Matula Tea I retested with the h. pylori antigen stool test and it came back negative. The h. pylori were eradicated again. Thank the Lord!

But why did I get the infection back? It is not clear. The reason I mentioned the tooth abscess is that there is some limited research suggesting the h. pylori bacteria can harbour in dental cavities. Certainly I can believe they could hide in an abscess away from any blood flow. Subsequently I have had all my metal fillings removed and replaced with new composite material. Also the only root canal tooth I had I had removed. I did not want any chance they would come back after hiding in some other tooth cavity.

Even though the last test indicated the h. pylori were eliminated, I still had some gastritis and reflux. It was nowhere as bad as when I had the h. pylori bugs, but I suspected I had some other bacterial or fungal overgrowth. Apparently this is a common situation. Subsequently I had myself tested for a range of other bugs, fungal growths and parasites, but the test was negative.

Nevertheless, I read in Dave Hompes eBook on h. pylori that other bugs are very common and he recommended another stomach cleanse using the herbal medicine called GI Microb-X manufactured by Designs for Health. His protocol was to take 2 capsules twice daily (morning and night on an empty stomach) along with a good quality probiotic (with food) as well as oil of wild oregano. I found I could not take the wild oregano oil because my stomach was still not yet healed. I substituted olive leaf extract.  After two days on the 4 capsules per day of the GI Microb-X I found I could not continue as it made me so sick. I stopped for 5 days and then started again with one capsule per day, with food. After one week I increased that to one capsule twice per day.

After a week doing that I really started to feel my gut was working properly and I started to feel much stronger.  The reflux and gastritis has now nearly gone, as I continue to following this protocol. I did however make the mistake of increasing the GI Microb-X to 4 capsules and the next day I had diarrhoea again. So I am back to only 2 per day, at breakfast and dinner, and not on an empty stomach. (Sometimes we go backwards a little, but don’t give up. Keep trying and we’ll win the war.)

I do know that I need to stay on a strict bland diet. When doing this I do not need to take an PPI’s (antacids) to control the pain of gastritis. If I do not stray from my diet of no caffeine, no alcohol, no refined or manufactured food, no spices, no acidic foods, no gluten or dairy or soy, and only eat virgin coconut and olive oils, I am able to live pain-free from any gastritis. I take several supplements to assist the healing of my stomach lining. They are Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice (DGL), Aloe Vera, L-Glutamine, and N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC).

I mentioned I had all the metals removed from my teeth. There is some evidence that Mercury (even other heavy metals) in some way helps the h. pylori to flourish in your gut, and it can even cause reflux. Certainly chemical stress of various kinds, as well as emotional and mental stress are major factors. Also the use of antibiotics is another factor that can allow the horrible bugs to overgrow and dominate in your gut.

So that is where I am currently at. Still fighting the fight to get my health back. But each day I feel I am winning the war even though occasionally I lose a battle and have to reset, to make sure I eat a pure clean diet, with no processed or refined foods.

As part of my journey this past year I also was diagnosed with several skin cancers. I had one melanoma and one basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cut out successfully. The BCC was on my heel and required a skin graft which kept me off my feet for a month and has given me much pain and anxiety. I also had three squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) burnt off with liquid nitrogen.

I have since discovered a simple treatment for any pre-cancerous cells, even BCC’s and SCC’s, is milkweed. It is also known as petty spurge or cancer weed or radium weed. Its scientific name is Euphorbia peplus. It is easily found. It grows everywhere during the cooler months.

It has a white sap that is used on the skin. I applied the sap to raised lumps on my skin, to sore, pink and scaly spots and even a wart. After only 1 or 2 days of application (once per day) eventually the site scabbed up (at about the 5th or 6th day) and finally the scab fell off leaving clean skin. The wart completely fell off less than a week after application. I will say though it really hurts when you apply it to the offending site. But it is good pain as it is killing the bad stuff there. Apply only to the target site, and as little as possible.

The sap is toxic so keep it away from your eyes. It would be very painful to get it in your eyes. When I first tried it, I tested the sap on a few raised lumps on my hand, not on my face. That was to see if I could tolerate it. It worked very well, and then I tried it on my face with good results.

This information is useful to know. It helped me avoid having to cut my skin so much, in the cases of non-melanoma skin cancers. I have no knowledge of how it deals with melanomas. I have found nothing on that.

Now I am cancer free, h. pylori free and completely drug free. But it is an arduous journey — resisting the afflictions of the flesh. In that regard, I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul under inspiration wrote:

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18

Additional Information

H. pylori infection: My advice