H Pylori

[29lemodle]

About a month ago I was out with a friend having a few drinks, I started having hiccups at one stage of the night that i couldn't shake off until I got home and then I vomited up what seemed unusually dark coloured vomit. I went to the doctor the following week and he's referred me to see a gastroenterologist for an endoscopy which i'll be waiting a while yet for. I have been getting slight stomach pains, nothing crippling although varying in intensity and the odd occasion constipation.

Its been as I said a over a month since that vomiting episode, I haven't vomited since, my stools have not been black in colour(no blood), they have been at times loose and at other times perfectly normal, no discolouration whatsoever. i do have periods were i fell abit drowsy or fatigued, i tend belch quite often aswell, my stomach makes rumbling noises quite often.

Could it be the case that might just have some form of Irritable bowel syndrome rather than h pylori, its only that initial occassion when my vomit was darkish that suggests that its h pylori, and maybe it could have been something else other then blood in my vomit. Would i be seeing tarry stools or vomit more often in other words if it was h pyleri!!

[29lemodle]

I have had stools that some times float the submerged part seems brown as normal,  but the exposed part to the air part of the stool tends to be very darkish brown. Is this the same as having black stools, they seem very normal just the parts that get exposed to the air have a different tone, hoping it might be due to greater oxidization. I don't have any stomach pains or nausea. Should i be alarmed by this, as i said i'm waiting for my appointment with the gastroenterologist which could be a few weeks yet but i'm not in any pain

[29lemodle]

yeah, thats great, thanks for the information.

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

The occurrence of black/ brown stools is known as melaena and indicates the presence of blood (oxidized haemoglobin) from an upper GI bleed or the presence of a coloring agent like beet root or iron supplements in it. With associated dark coloured vomit, this is likely to be an upper GI bleed. The causes could be infections, parasitic infestations, GI inflammations, gastric/ GI ulcers, oesophageal varices, GI growths/ polyps, diverticulosis, fistulas, fissures, AV malformation, GI ischaemia and necrosis, initial symptom of necrotizing enterocolitis, colon cancer etc. If there are no other associated symptoms, all these reasons would have to be looked into, during an evaluation and ruled out. I would suggest visiting a gastroenterologist for the same. An evaluation may require a complete physical examination and tests such as routine blood tests, stool examination, haematocrit, imaging studies, UGI endoscopy, colonoscopy etc. After the cause of bleeding is diagnosed; a treatment plan can be chalked out accordingly.  
Hope this helps.  

Take care!