Can You Still Have H Pylori if the Blood Test is Negative

by Colleen
(Kansas)

I traveled to Uganda in October (2010) to adopt our two sons. I was there for one month. After returning, I started experiencing painful burning in my stomach with occasional nausea...especially at night. My oldest daughter (7) started having the same symptoms, as well as our neighbor (who is in close contact with our family). My other daughter complains of occasional burning, too.

I took our entire family to be tested for h. pylori. Our Ugandan boys both tested positive and are currently being treated with Flagyl and antibiotics (I need to read your book!). However, the rest of my family, as well as our neighbor, came back negative!

I'm convinced that it's not just a sudden onset of familial acid reflux. We all have the same symptoms that came on about the same time.

I am scheduled to go see a GI tomorrow, and he will schedule an endoscopy to take a biopsy of my stomach and see if he can see any h. pylori.

So I guess my question is...could I possibly have h. pylori that didn't show up in my blood test? I'm clueless as to what else it could be and why it didn't show up in the "Americans'" blood. Is their some other third-world bacteria that could be causing this? My poor daughter just vomited all over the place tonight from all the acid in her stomach. I'd really like to get to the bottom of this soon!

Thanks for all your help and advice,

Colleen

Comments for Can You Still Have H Pylori if the Blood Test is Negative

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Good Question
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

Hi Colleen,

That's a really good question. I would think that it's certainly possible that you guys got infected with H pylori, but that enough time didn't pass for you to build up enough antibodies in the blood in order to be detected on a blood test.

You'll know more after your 'biopsy' (and DO make sure that you request to be tested for H pylori again as that is not always done on a biopsy, so remind them). But if you are still negative, you have a couple of options that I would recommend.

There are LOTS of intestinal parasites in Uganda that can affect our super sterile American guts. While most of them don't cause upper stomach upset, you just never know. So, it would be good for you to get a full parasite test, but NOT through your doctor.

Hospital blood tests for H pylori are quite accurate, but the parasite stool tests are NOT and it's MUCH more accurate to be done by an 'alternative' lab that specializes in checking for parasites. Some of the hospital labs don't even check for many of the parasites and as a result you get a situation like one of the families that I tested for a situation similar to yours.

The mother and two kids had symtptoms that seemed like parasites. The mother got tested through me while the kids got tested through their doctor. I found a bug on the mom and she took it to show her doctor and the doctor said, "Oh, we didn't even test for that one!" Yipes.

Having seen so many missed 'bugs' in the hospital for so many years and my experiences with the alternative labs, I just simply don't trust hospital labs with stool tests for parasites any more.

So, you can get the In Home Comprehensive Pathogen Test and either get it without the H pylori if you are still not convinced that you don't have H pylori. OR you can choose to get it without the H pylori and see if there is anything else there that might be 'bugging' you.

Parasites can be nasty critters and make you feel VERY bad, so who knows what you might have got. It's certainly worth checking out at least one of you and seeing what is found. If we find something, then you can go from there...

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System
Side Effects

PS: Don't forget that I wrote the book on H pylori. Get The H Pylori Solution today and end your struggle with this infection.

Follow-up
by: Anonymous

I went to Uganda and had the same symptoms. What type of parasite was found?

Me too!
by: Anonymous

I also tested negative for H pylori but have similar symptoms.

I am a frequent traveler and live several months annually in West Africa. Last time I was there was February of 2014; it's now November.

I also was in Mexico and Cuba in August. In September I was frequenting the Whole Foods salad bar as we were renovating our house and thus being kitchenless, had to eat out frequently. I often wonder how long this food has been sitting out. I also had enormous work and family related stresses for several months that probably exacerbated any underlying condition.

By October, I started having upper tract issues... Ulcer like symptoms with stomach pain, nausea, acid reflux, burping, occasional bouts of non-stop gas. I thought at first it would clear on its own but then went to the doctors.

I asked for an h pylori blood test- which came back negative. I went to a GI specialist and was tested for Celiac and Anemia. Everything looked fine apart from an elevated white blood cell count-( clearly some infection going on). I have mentioned to both doctors that I travel regularly and in fact was in 10 different foreign countries within the past 12 months.

I am trying to figure out if I have a bacteria, parasite or what is going on. Presently I am exhausted and haven't had the energy to exercise... and the only thing that has helped has been a water fast which I did for a few days in desperation.

What's the recommended next step ? It sounds like a stool sample/kit with a reliable lab. However, until those results are in is there anything I can do to ease the pain and symptoms I am having? Could I be missing anything? Should I test for anything else?

next step
by: Kerri Knox, RN

Your next step is to get a In Home Comprehensive Pathogen Test, as I mentioned earlier in the thread. If your problems are from parasites, the solution is to find and eliminate the pathogens. However, be sure to understand that the 'hospital' parasite tests are usually quite inaccurate and don't often test for all of the pathogens. Their staff is not trained to look for parasites, and they miss them regularly. I ONLY use BioHealth and 'stand-alone alternative' labs in order to test for pathogens because they specialize in finding them. If they don't specialize in finding them, they miss them regularly and you can still have them and go undiagnosed.

I even had a client who decided to use the test on my site to test her children, but used her own doctor to check her self. Well, the test came back positive for a pathogen for her children that her doctor didn't even TEST for! So, if she had only tested herself through her doctor, she'd still be wondering why she's sick!

If you could just do something to stop the discomfort from having parasites, without having to get rid of them, then no one would even bother testing for and eliminating them! So, no, there's nothing to 'do' to eliminate the discomfort of parasites except to get rid of the parasites. If that is, indeed, the problem.

Sorry that is a 'lame' answer, but it's the only answer that I know how to give!

Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Negative h pylori
by: Anonymous

Hi negative stool test for h pylori but i have all the symptoms any suggestions ive been poorly for months

Read the thread
by: Kerri Knox

Read the thread and get a Comprehensive Stool Pathogen test. Feeling poorly can be from thousands of issues. Some other pathogen could be one of them.

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