Type of ulcer?

[Loper]

I have been diagnosed with an ulcer of the duodenum. They said that no bacteria was present. Prior to my EGD I was taking Cipro for a kidney infection. Could this have made the bacteria non present? If not bacterial than what ar the non bacterial types?

[CalGal]

You said you were diagnosed with an ulcer of the duodenum. I would assume that diagnosis came from visualization of the ulceration at that site, which would suggest an EGD was done. At that time, your doc would also have taken a look in the stomach and would also probably have taken a biopsy of any area in the stomach that looked 'suspicious.' If that was done and the biopsy came back negative, no Cipro would not have altered the test result. It takes quite a bit of treatment to get rid of that tenacious bacterium and hundreds of thousands of individuals have unfortunately found out. In some cases it can take 2-3 rounds of 'triple-therapy' to knock it back, and some people may not be able to clear it even then.

[Loper]

So, you're saying that Cipro would NOT alter an H. Plyori test result?

[CalGal]

Loper, I believe the bacteria the doc was speaking of was probably H. pylori. The presence of H. pylori in the stomach is correlated with the development of gastritis, gastric ulcers and the production of too much acid and acid reflux. H. pylori is something you do not want to show up in tests. (Cipro didn't enter into it.)

The ulcer in the duodenum will probably be attributed to excess acid in the stomach - although the excess of acid now can't be tied back to H. pylori.