Counseling Sheet

Agatha M. Thrash, M.D.
Preventive Medicine

Helicobacter Pylori

The "Helicobacter Pylori bacterium" has been found in over 60% of persons who have peptic ulcer, and is believed by some to be the cause of peptic ulcer. Several studies have shown that 70-90% of the ulcer patients treated with Zantac or Tagamet will have recurrences within one year. Those treated for Helicobacter have only 5 to 10% recurrence. Helicobacter has been found in virtually all cases of acute and chronic gastritis and peptic ulcers. Following are ways to treat Helicobacter (in addition to usual methods of treating peptic ulcers).

• Fast one day, using nothing except water by mouth.
• Begin a simple diet, consisting of not more than two food items, plus bread and spread. Take small bites and chew each bite to a cream before swallowing.
• Use a tincture of goldenseal and echinacea; one teaspoonful every hour for six hours; then one teaspoonful every four hours (you must wake up at night to take it) then six teaspoons a day until a bottle containing eight ounces has been taken.
• Beginning on the seventh day, take a heaping tablespoon of charcoal four times daily, early morning, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and bedtime, avoiding mealtimes by at least half an hour on either side.
• Until the echinacea has been completely taken, avoid all animal products, spices, vinegar products, baking powder and baking soda, and all beverages except water and herbal teas. Drink eight to ten, eight ounce glasses of water or herbal teas per day. Many people with peptic ulcer disease are chronically dehydrated.
• Use herbal teas for soothing, for pain, sedation, etc., as needed. These include white willow bark, wild lettuce, licorice, and slippery elm.
• Garlic, if tolerated, should be taken in the quantity of five cloves for breakfast, and five cloves for lunch. Meals on the first day after the fast should be approximately half the quantity one ordinarily eats. The garlic can be chopped and made into a garlic sandwich. If preferred, the sandwich can consist of three garlic cloves taken in a sandwich three times a day. If raw garlic is irritating to the stomach, it may be steamed.