How I Treated My H. Pylori Infection Naturally without Using Antibiotics

Treating H. Pylori naturally is possible, but it may take more than one or two things. Here is my personal experience treating my H. Pylori infection without using pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, including what I used, what worked, and what didn’t.

In my post about H. Pylori symptoms, I mentioned the H. Pylori treatment that worked for my daughter was the following:

• Black cumin seed oil: 1 gram in the morning and 1 gram at night
• S. Boulardii: 1 small scoop (600mg) in the morning and 1 small scoop at night
• Sulforaphane (we use the BrocElite brand): 1 capsule at night

It worked within one week. She’s been symptom-free ever since.

(She is also on a low sugar, gluten-free, whole foods diet, and also takes supplements prescribed by her doctor that are unique to her genetics. I just want to make sure I add that in because I think it contributed to her quick turn-around.)

I, on the other hand, did not have such luck. So, in this post, I am going to outline all the things I did to finally feel better and eliminate my H. Pylori symptoms.

Keep in mind, as always, that this is my own personal experience. I am not a doctor or medical professional and this is not medical advice. Also, we are all different and what works for me may not work for someone else.

So first, let’s get to what combinations of supplements worked, and how I arrived at that combination.

What Worked for Me to Treat H. Pylori Naturally (without Antibiotics)

Conventional treatment for H. Pylori usually includes the following:

• Two different antibiotics
• Proton pump inhibitor (like Prilosec)
• Bismuth subsalicylate (like Pepto-Bismol)

I did not want to go down this route for many reasons, especially because of how disruptive antibiotics can be on the gut, so I chose to try a more natural approach instead.

How I Determined My H. Pylori Treatment Protocol

What I like to do when researching interventions for a specific medical problem is to gather as much data as I can and look for the similarities between them all.

So, for H. Pylori treatment, I looked at various doctor and practitioner recommendations, personal experiences treating it, some medical studies, and also asked my functional medicine doctor for his recommendations.

Some of the more useful resources, articles, and books I used are:

• Hashimoto’s and Grave’s Remission after Helicobacter Pylori Eradication
• Successful Eradication of Helicobacter Pylori with Over-the-Counter Products
• The Most Effective Natural H. Pylori Treatment Protocol
• Dr. Ettinger’s Biofilm Protocol for Lyme and Gut Pathogens
• Deciphering Low-Level Helicobacter Pylori Case Study
• H. Pylori Natural Treatments – Dr. Andrew Hubbard
• 17+ Ways to Naturally Support H. Pylori Treatment
• Prescription for Natural Cures (Third Edition): A Self-Care Guide for Treating Health Problems with Natural Remedies Including Diet, Nutrition, Supplements, and Other Holistic Methods
• The H. Pylori Protocol that Worked
• H. Pylori: An Alternative Cure (How I Beat It)
• Homeopathic Medicines for H. Pylori Infection
• Healing Autoimmunity Naturally with Functional Medicine Workshop – Chris Kresser

There are way more resources out there, but these were the ones most helpful for me.

Using these resources, I developed a protocol on my own and ran it by my functional medicine doctor. He then added a few things in addition to what I had.

I’ll break the protocol down into Targeted Supplementation, Supportive Supplementation, and Diet.

The supplements in the Targeted category are the ones I chose to address the H. Pylori bacteria itself. The supplements in the Supportive category are the ones I chose to address the symptoms of the H. Pylori and provide relief while I was treating the infection.

And P.S… I realize this seems like a lot of things for just one infection, and it is. Perhaps it seems really over the top, complicated, and expensive (it was).

But, just like the conventional route using 4 different medications, I knew it wasn’t necessarily going to be just one thing that worked.

I wanted to make sure that whatever I tried, I tried well so I could take care of the H. Pylori overgrowth in one shot, rather than continuously dragging it on for months because I chose a less aggressive route.

This, of course, is my personal preference, and there are plenty of other cheaper and less complicated H. Pylori “protocols” or treatment options that worked for other people.

Targeted H. Pylori Supplementation

I did the following protocol for 3-4 months (some bottles of supplements ran out faster than others so I didn’t stop everything at the same time):

• Black cumin seed oil – 1 gram in the morning and 1 gram at night
• Brocelite – 1 capsule at night (I would’ve done two but chose to do one due to financial restrictions)
• Monolaurin – ¼ tsp twice a day (usually at breakfast and dinner, as I found it upset my stomach if I didn’t take it with food)
• Oil of Oregano – 2 caps 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
• Mastic Gum – 2 capsules, 3 times a day in between meals
• Homeopathy – as needed based on symptoms. The remedies I used the most were Lachesis, Nux Vomica, and Carbo Veg all in 30c potency. (If you do not know about homeopathy or what it is, read: Homeopathy for Beginners: What is Homeopathy?)
  • Lachesis – for the feeling of food stuck in my throat
  • Nux Vomica – for pain in stomach that was relieved after I ate
  • Carbo Veg – for slow digestion and gas

Supportive Symptom & Gut Health Supplementation

• Triple Therapy Probiotics
  1. Seed Daily Synbiotic (scroll down for more info) – 1 capsule daily in the morning on an empty stomach
  2. S. Boulardii – 1 small scoop 3 times a day in between meals
  3. Soil Based Probiotics – 1 capsule twice a day
• Leaky Gut Revive – 1 scoop daily in my morning smoothie
• Zinc Carnisone – 1 capsule in the morning and 1 at night
• Digestive Enzymes – taken with every meal, even small snacks
• Betaine HCl with Pepsin – 1 capsule with every big meal

I can honestly say that every single one of these provided me benefit, so I will go into brief detail about them below.

My Experience Using These Supplements

Black Cumin Seed Oil

I couldn’t stand the taste so I poured it into empty capsules. Initially, this made my burping worse, which I believe was die-off. After using it for a few weeks, the burping subsided and my hair and skin never looked better!

The major benefit was that it helped soothe my stomach pain from the H. Pylori I woke up with every morning.

(In addition, my thyroid bloodwork (hormones levels and TSH) improved significantly while taking this. To learn more about black cumin seed oil benefits for the thyroid, click here.)

Monolaurin & Oil of Oregano

I’ll lump these two together because I took them at the same time after each meal and they seemed to help significantly with reducing burping and stomach pain. There were a few weeks where I wasn’t using these two things and I felt the difference.

I added in the Monolaurin after learning about H. Pylori and biofilms, and think it played a major role in my treatment, especially paired with Theracurmin which is a regular supplement I take for my autoimmune inflammation management.

Mastic Gum

Along with the black cumin seed oil, the mastic gum also helped soothe my stomach pain. This also “felt” like it was working… it’s hard to explain, but it always felt like it was cleaning my gut. My uncontrollable anxiety also decreased noticeably once I started using this.

Brocelite

I had a noticeable increase in energy and mental clarity after taking Brocelite. I have now incorporated it into my daily supplement regime for general autoimmune wellness.

Triple Therapy Probiotics

I learned about the Triple Therapy Probiotics approach from Dr. Ruscio and his book “Healthy Gut, Healthy You” and found it to be a very supportive treatment. My gut felt more stable while taking all 3.

Seed Daily Synbiotic

This is the most effective probiotic I’ve ever tried and I’ve tried many. I tried it before I knew I even had H. Pylori, and it worked to soothe gut pain and normalize my stools. After I started taking this, my chronic diarrhea stopped and transitioned into a looser stool, which I was able to normalize once I treated the H. Pylori infection properly.

(We are affiliated with Seed because we are so impressed with how effective it is. If you would like to give it a try, too, click here & use the coupon code: HHR15 to get 15% off your first order. I should mention, too, that this effectiveness was with only taking HALF the daily dose, which is 1 capsule instead of 2.)

S. Boulardii

Another huge success, particularly with my daughter. It complimented the Seed Daily Synbiotic very well. This probiotic has an impressive track record of being helpful with a wide range of conditions.

Soil Based Probiotics

There was a moment where I felt worse after starting the soil-based probiotic, but then things normalized. Still, I didn’t feel that much different after taking these and only used them for a short time because I wanted to try the Triple Therapy Probiotic approach.

Leaky Gut Revive

Sooooo soothing for the gut pain. I mentioned in my H. Pylori symptoms post that it felt like I had tiny saws in my gut, and this powder took that pain away almost instantly. I usually mixed it into a smoothie every morning.

Another common alternative to this powder for H. Pylori specifically are DGL Plus capsules, which I did try, but it was not nearly as effective as the Leaky Gut Revive.

Digestive Enzymes with Every Meal, even Snacks

Paired with the Zinc Carnisone and Betaine HCl with Pepsin below, these three things normalized my digestion again and got things moving. It was like I didn’t even have H. Pylori. If I skipped a dose, my digestion slowed down and my insides went back to feeling like they were filled with sludge.

Zinc Carnisone & Betaine HCl Pepsin

Helped significantly with the burning sensation in my stomach and esophagus. In fact, the burning sensation went away completely after taking this.

I should note that taking Betaine HCl Pepsin is a controversial thing during H. Pylori treatment because it increases stomach acid, and that could irritate the stomach lining and increase risk of developing stomach ulcers.

I chose to use a small dose (only 1 capsule per meal) because I felt my food wasn’t digesting at all and the sludge feeling I had for 24 hours a day was really horrible. I am so happy I decided to give it a try because it eliminated that sludge feeling, normalized my stools, and helped me digest my food.

Homeopathy

If it wasn’t for homeopathy, I am not sure I would have completely eradicated my symptoms. While everything above certainly worked, my gut still felt really unstable, like I could go into a flare of symptoms at any moment if I ate the wrong food or skipped a dose of my protocol.

Homeopathy took away this instability and seemed to “close out” the case. I worked with a professional homeopath at the beginning, and then self-prescribed towards the end because I had a pretty good idea of what remedies I needed based on my symptoms.

My H. Pylori Diet

My diet changed as my symptoms changed.

Over the past few years, due to inspiration from Dr. Brooke Goldner’s raw whole-food, plant-based diet for autoimmune disease, I’ve noticed I feel so much better when eating raw foods.

However, my gut was in so much pain, and my entire digestive system was compromised due to my suppressed stomach acid as a result of the H. Pylori, that eating raw foods was difficult and caused pain and gas.

I also noticed that coconut milk, nuts, and seeds like flax and chia were hard on my stomach (even when blended up in a smoothie). The coconut milk, especially, immediately gave me that sludge feeling. The nuts and seeds caused stomach pain.

So, I transitioned to a more raw vegetable/fruit smoothie, lightly steamed broccoli, and bone broth with cassava noodles diet.

The bone broth and noodles, especially, were very soothing for my gut pain.

My diet, for about a month, was:

• Fruit and veggie smoothies made up of 25% fruit and 75% greens/veggies with no added sugar
• Lightly steamed broccoli with nutritional yeast (I use the non-fortified kind since I am sensitive to the non-methylated forms of B vitamins)
• No nightshades
• Homemade bone broth and cassava noodles with salt
• Raw fruits and vegetables for snacking, along with avocados and olives if I wanted

That’s it. Nothing else.

For breakfast and dinner, I had a cup of bone broth and noodles or steamed broccoli with nutritional yeast and avocado with a smoothie, and my snacks in between were just smoothies and fruits/veggies/avocado/olives.

It may seem boring and bland, but I actually really enjoyed this diet and felt nourished and satisfied every day.

Eventually, as my symptoms improved and my gut pain went away, I dropped the bone broth and moved to a 90% raw, plant-based diet, with the only cooked foods being cassava noodles (I like to make pasta salads with them), and steamed broccoli because raw still doesn’t agree with my stomach.

Related: How to Start and Actually Stick to an Autoimmune Healing Diet

Other Things That Helped Ease My H. Pylori Symptoms

Not drinking warm, hot, or carbonated beverages.

Aside from the bone broth, which seemed to be the only warm liquid I could tolerate and I think it’s because the noodles helped give it some substance, I could not do hot teas or any other hot liquid, which was a real bummer because it was winter time.

Every time I drank a cup of hot tea, for example, I would immediately burp it up along with undigested food, and it seemed to slow my digestion.

Carbonated beverages also made all the burning and burping worse.

Drinking less water.

My stomach didn’t feel as full and I didn’t burp up as much when I drank less water. This was really difficult for me because I was breastfeeding and always felt dehydrated.

I think the water diluted my stomach acid (which was already suppressed) which is why I didn’t feel as great when I drank a ton.

This is where the broth and smoothies helped because I was still able to get some hydration from those two things.

Wearing loose fitting pants/shorts.

As much as I liked wearing leggings to hold everything in post-partum (if you know what I mean), I found the compression from the wide waist band to be restrictive and felt like everything (intestines, stomach, etc.) was pushed upward and it made the heartburn and burping worse.

It was during the time of wearing leggings that I actually thought my issue was a hiatal hernia, and not something like H. Pylori because they pushed everything up SO much.

Once I discovered what the leggings were doing, I switched to a looser jogger type pant and it was a huge relief, surprisingly. Who knew pants could make such a big difference!

Not eating or taking supplements within 2 hours of bedtime.

By the time the end of the day rolled around, my digestion was so slow and backed up from the day that every time I took a pill or capsule, it felt like it got stuck right above my stomach and would sometimes stay there until I ate again the next morning.

Stopping iron supplementation.

I’ve struggled with anemia for as long as I can remember, but unfortunately iron supplements destroyed my insides when I was struggling with H. Pylori. I had so much pain and gas after taking them. This hit me hard because I very quickly went back to an anemic state.

Eventually, I got an Iron IV which helped, and to help sustain those increased iron levels, I started taking desiccated grass-fed beef liver capsules daily. I felt improvement in energy and mental clarity within a few days of taking 8 capsules per day.

What Didn’t Work for Me to Treat H. Pylori

• Ozone Water
• Biocidin (both the liquid and LSF) & GI Detox

I tried both the ozone water and Biocidin with GI detox along with black cumin seed oil for about 3 months before I knew I was dealing with H. Pylori.

At first, they seemed to be working, but their effectiveness dwindled as the months went on and all my symptoms came back. This was when I decided to get tested for H. Pylori so I could develop a more targeted treatment plan.

This doesn’t necessarily mean these products and interventions aren’t effective… I bet they would’ve worked if I added a few more things to my treatment regiment, but I was ready to move on.

Things I Did Not Try to Treat H. Pylori

• Matula Tea
• Manuka Honey
• Cabbage Juice

Some people have success using these products to treat H. Pylori, but I never tried them, especially the Matula tea because it is very expensive. I may have resorted to some of these, though, if I wasn’t having any luck with the protocol I chose.

How I Am Doing Now after Treating H. Pylori & Bloodwork Results

As of right now, I am choosing not to do a stool test to check for complete eradication because of the cost, but my H. Pylori symptoms are completely gone. No burning, anxiety, burping, unpredictable bowel movements, loose stools, etc.

I also found it interesting that the tiny patch of psoriasis on my big toe (yes, gross, I know), is about 90% gone.

In addition, my bloodwork has improved in many areas, with the most notable being my anti-chromatin antibodies which went completely negative (hooray!), and also my autoimmune ANA antibodies which decreased from 1:320 to 1:160 during my treatment.

I am tapering off all of my supplements, but still continue on a modified maintenance protocol to help keep things in check because I notice my gut gets a little finicky if I am lazy with my diet.

My H. Pylori Maintenance Protocol

• Seed Daily Synbiotic – 1 capsule daily (full dose is 2 but I take 1 to save money)
• S. Boulardii (I switched to this brand to save money) – 1 capsule twice a day between meals
• Digestive Enzymes – 2 with every big meal
• Leaky Gut Revive – 1 scoop daily
• Brocelite – 1 capsule daily. There was one week where we ran out, and both my daughter and I noticed a difference in how we felt. I plan on using this for a long time because it’s been so helpful.
• I still needed Betaine with Pepsin for a few weeks after my symptoms went away, but as of writing this, I haven’t taken them or felt like I needed them for well over a month, which indicates to me that my stomach acid production is back to normal.

A Note on Histamine Intolerance

In addition to the above improvements, I noticed a huge improvement in my histamine intolerance since treating my H. Pylori infection.

All high histamine foods, such as canned sardines, cured meats, bone broth, coconut aminos, dried fruits, etc. used to make my nose itch uncontrollably. This also happened with fried foods.

Since treating the H. Pylori, my histamine intolerance improved and it takes a larger quantity of high histamine foods to make my nose itch. However, I believe this improvement is also due to incorporating more raw foods into my diet.

4 Month Update

It’s been about 4 months since my H. Pylori symptoms went away and my gut feels about 95% back to normal. I still have some off days here and there, but I just take a homeopathic remedy and things go back to normal within 24 hours.

It was a long 6-9 months of gut issues and trying to figure this all out, but I am thankful to finally turn the corner and I am confident I will be able to keep it that way from now on. I learned a lot of lessons through this whole process, which is why I wanted to share them with you.

If you are battling H. Pylori, or have in the past, what worked for you?

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