GERD and H.Pylori - Share your experience

I have a pain between navel and sternum and my doctor suspects duodenal infection with h.pylori but im for now on esomeprazole (nexium) 40 mg once per day (at morning). I am at it because of major GERD symptoms not because of the pain.

I guess the next step is the dreaded (for me) upper endoscopy (for that I would like to ask if its always with sedation or can i have it awake? and if i can have it awake did anyone in this forum had it this way and can share their experience please?)

I do have access to a friend pharmacist and can obtain nexium and amoxicillin (antibiotic) and clarithromysin for the so called ''triple therapy'' against H.Pylori so to spare myself of the endoscopy test I am thinking of doing this therapy anyways for 10 days without doctor prescription. I have taken amoxicillin before in my life but never clarithromycin so im afraid of the possible side effects of the latter. I just found out tonight there was a research in italy that used only amoxycilin and nexium in high doses to eradicate effectively the h.pylori bacterium.

This research used 40mg esomeprazole 3 times per day, followed by 1000mg (1 g?) amoxycilin with food after the esomeprazole taken, also 3 times per day (so total 3000 mg amoxycilin in a day following 120 mg total nexium/esomeprazole).

Has anyone anything to comment on all this? Please dont comment on that i plan to do this regimen without a test confirming that i have a h.pylori caused ulcer in duodenal cause I read for days about symptoms and they all correlate: burning pain between navel and sternum coming and going, the pain gets worse when i eat food high in vitamin c or spices or milk or anything too acidic in general, about 2 months ago I spend about 24 hours throwing up and having diarrhoia simultaneously with throwing up (gastritis for almost 2 days that is), and after that it took like 2 months to feel better (!) with proton pumps and diet advice and now I start getting the pain in the area mentioned and it gets worse when i eat acidic food...

So i think I can try Nexium 40, 3 times a day and amoxycilin follow up, all this for 14 days as literature suggests. Since back when I had the gastritis incident I was also diagnosed with bad case of an UTI same day, I assume that getting this antibiotic that I feel confident with since I taken it before in my life without any side effects, but with nexium this time, might do the job and i wont need an expensive tiring and scary meeting for upper endoscopy unless someone can tell me if awaken endoscopy reaching the duodenum after the stomach has been not too painful for him or her.

Thank you for any comments and good health to ALL soon!!!

I had an endoscopy done and it didn't find H Pylori at all and said my stomach looked great. That shocked me because my symptoms were so severe. It started out with constant belching, stomach gas. Turned to gnawing feeling where my stomach just felt raw when I would lay down flat. Anxiety, heart palpitations, lost weight 15lbs. The gasis the worst symptom though! At it's worse when I could barely get out of bed, I started getting soft stools (had always been constipated).

Fast forward 3 months later and had a stool test and they found H Pylori!

My theory is the H Pylori has to be BAD before the endoscopy shows it. Felt like a waste of time to do the endoscopy, but glad it wasn't something more serious. Just ask for a stool test, you don't want to start these antibiotics if you don't have an active infection because you can make resistances. Also, the stool test is more accurate when not on PPI's.

I'm almost done with my prevpac but still having the stomach gas unfortunately. Hoping I don't still have it or a resistant strain. Good luck!!