Helicobacter pylori From A Dancer
sinclair
Strip Club Nation
About a week and a half later, I start getting stabbing, unbearable pain in my upper abdomen after eating. This goes on for several days. I think I have ulcers in my stomach and decide to go to the doctor to get checked out. My symptoms match that of stomach ulcers. He does a blood test and tells me I have Helicobacter pylori, a bacteria that causes ulcers. It attacks the lining of your stomach, duodenum, and esophagus and if not treated, can put a hole in one of said organs. The doctor tells me that about 40% of the world's population have Helicobacter pylori. For some people, the bacteria never bothers them. For other people, the bacteria attacks the walls of their digestive organs. People with H. pylori are also more likely to get stomach cancer. The bacteria can get in you through coming in contact with an infected person's fecal matter or eating contaminated food, but most commonly it spreads through mouth to mouth contact with someone who carries the bacteria. The bacteria can live on plaque, tiny pieces of regurgitated food, or in the saliva. People from third world countries (bad hygiene, crowded living conditions) are more likely to have H. pylori, but it is getting more and more common in the United States.
I am almost 100% sure I got the bacteria from this dancer. My blood was tested the year before and I did not have the bacteria, plus I never had ulcers in my life up until a week and half after kissing this dancer. I have been accused of being a clean freak by others.
Now I am on antibiotics to eradicate the bacteria from my body. I can only eat fruits, veggies, whole grains, and small amounts of fish or chicken. Anything else causes horrible pain. I have to stay away from red meats, fatty foods, modified wheat products, cola, and alcohol while on the drugs and for a while later while the scarring heals. One side effect is that I am losing a lot of weight on this simplistic diet. I am already down to my fighting weight. I kind of feel like Billy Halleck in Stephan King's Thinner. If you guys are worried you might have this bacteria, eat a lot of sauerkraut or other fermented vegetables. They have been shown to naturally kill and prevent H. pylori. Another thing to take is mastic gum, a resin from the mastic tree. It kills the bacteria. You can find it at The Vitamin Shoppe.
Guys, be safe out there.
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Does it make any sense to talk to the dancer and see if she wants to be tested?
Man a diet like that would kill juice!
Thanks for the PSA & hope you get past this soon.
Did you talk to your doctor about the stripper encounter? It just seems that 1.5 weeks is a short time to develop ulcers unless that girl had a ton of the bacteria in her saliva. Of course, the doctor who identified H. pylori as causing ulcers developed symptoms in about 8 days, but he basically drank a culture of the bugs! He was obviously a crazy bastard but he won a Nobel prize so it all worked out brilliantly for him!
Seriously though, it just seems surprising for me that saliva transfer would yield such a rapid colonization of your stomach. My aunt had H. pylori gastritis and she was not the type to be exchanging saliva with random men (at least I don't think so!)
My impression is that 80% of so of individuals have the bug but are asymptomatic. The blood test is for antibodies, not the bacterium, so it probably only gives a signal after infection really kicks in. It would be worth asking the doctor if you could have been one of the 20-30% of folks in America that had the bug but it only took off and resulted in gastritis recently.
Transmission of H. pylori via saliva is possible but I'm sure fecal-oral transmission is also possible. I just had a flash of my aunt giving a random H. pylori-infected guy a rimjob! And not my uncle because he never had the bug. Not a brilliant vision! :(
OK, that probably didn't happen, but I still think you should clarify with your doctor the plausibility of your timeline.
Regardless, I hope you feel better soon! :)
SJG
Thanks to Sinclair for letting us know though.
SJG
I can't say about you, but the older I get the less I care about living. Don't get me wrong, I what to keep living, but I don't have any major goals or really anything to say "I have to do this".
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This is pretty much in line with the way I think about most STD risks. BBFS with random strippers on a weekly basis is a significant risk. However, a single partner that you know well in an arrangement where you're both tested is a risk I'm willing to take. Take a rational look at other risk factors that are actually more important -- things like stress, diet, and exercise.
Guys have to realize that BB or kissing, if a stripper does it with you she's probably doing it with everyone else. It's not because you're the only lucky special guy that she would consider doing it with.
:)
??
SJG