@Raahema – great questions.

The most common conventional treatment for H Pylori involves a triple therapy taken for 10 days to 2 weeks. This usually involves 2 forms of antibiotics and a PPI to reduce the acid and make the antibiotics work better. This is an aggressive treatment to eradicate the infection quickly. That’s the main benefit compared to natural alternatives, and can be beneficial in situations where “speed” is needed such as in cases of cancer for example.

The downside however, is that recurrence after antibiotics is common, likely due to proliferation of antibiotic resistant strains and upstream root causes not being addressed as you have mentioned.

Using antibiotics may also predispose a person to other GI microbial imbalances afterward, especially given the likelihood of a highly challenged immune system under these circumstances (antibiotics tend to allow yeast/fungal and antibiotic resistance bacterial species an opportunity to grow aggressively, given suppressed competition).

And antibiotics may also cause nausea, diarrhea, taste changes, and fatigue; these are common short-term complaints.

Certainly this comes down to personal choice, and if you choose to go this route, then the adjunctive therapies that you’ve mentioned to help heal the gut and support the microbiome AFTER therapy are certainly wise and beneficial.

In fact, this protocol here can help in times when antibiotics are needed.

I personally prefer a more natural alternative since mastic gum and sulforophane (e.g. from broccoli sprouts) have been shown to eradicate H Pylori infections, often with less to no side effects. But these are longer treatment durations (4-6 weeks) and can be more financially costly as well so that’s something to keep in mind as well.

Regardless if someone choose antibiotics or natural therapies, retesting should always be done after the treatment, and so should addressing the root cause. That’s where introducing HCL to increase stomach acid after treatment can give a person time to resolve the environment that led to an overgrowth in the first place.

Hope this provides some additional perspectives to consider.