Dr. Mercola here, welcoming you to another Question & Answer Video Update. Today's question comes to us from Sandy of Leander, Texas. Sandy's son was diagnosed with H. pylori and was treated with antibiotics for an ulcer. He's now serving in Iraq and having stomach pain once again. Sandy wonders if there are any alternatives for the Army doctors there, in treating her son.

Well, Sandy, yes there are. I want to use this opportunity to describe the whole process around ulcers and their treatment, so you have a proper perspective.

Interestingly, up until the early 1980's, almost all physicians believed that ulcers were caused by stress and too much acid. But there was a family physician in Australia named Barry Marshall, who believed otherwise. He thought ulcers were due to an infection, which was a very novel idea at the time. No one believed him.

To prove his theory, he ingested the infectious agent, the bacteria, actually causing himself to have stomach ulcers; a very interesting way to prove his point. Though not typically recommended, it succeeded in generating a lot of research which continued to provide additional support for his theory.

Dr. Marshall's first publication on this subject was in The Lancet around 1981. At the time, I was still a medical resident. I thought this was a novel idea and started using it in my clinical practice, with good results. They had been taking anti-ulcer drugs, without good results, and once put on the antibiotic regimen, found that it worked. Clearly, antibiotics worked because there appears to be an infection, H. pylori, or something like it, that contributes to these ulcers.

But is that the final answer? No! Certainly, it's better than the options that are traditionally used for ulcers, typically H2 blockers, histamine blockers, or proton-pump inhibitors. Clearly, these drugs work, insofar as they treat symptoms very effectively, but they do absolutely nothing to treat the underlying cause. So if you're taking these drugs, you'll want to get on a judicious course to get yourself off of them.

I have had a number of people come into my clinic, who had been placed on a proton-pump inhibitors, and if you happen to be on one of these nasty drugs, like, Nexium or Prilosec or Prevacid, you clearly want to get yourself off of them. If you do this, keep in mind that you can't simply stop these medications because you'll run into a very serious problem, because they actually create more problems than they solve. While they're effective for treatment of symptoms, they also suppress the acid so effectively that they actually cause a rebound effect that's far worse than the symptoms were prior to starting the medications. So, they can't simply be stopped abruptly.

What I typically recommend is for people to go on over-the-counter histamine blockers, like Zantac or Tagamet, first taking the maximum dose, then gradually weaning off until there's no symptoms present, while at the same time, practicing the lifestyle changes I'll outline, to actually treat the cause.

Alternatively, you can use antibiotics, which is another rapid way to treat it. It gets a little closer to treating the cause because it treats the infection. But you have to wonder why you have the infection in the first place. If you take antibiotics, you run the risk of developing side effects, not only allergic reactions to the drug, but complications from killing the good bacteria along with the bad, resulting in an overgrowth of yeast and other anaerobic bacteria which just should not be in your system. This can cause a whole host of complications.

So, ideally, you'll want to treat the cause. I'll tell you about a few simple measures you can take to do just that. First is to get off of processed foods. Remember that 90% of foods Americans eat are processed foods, and that is a prescription for disaster because it's going to create an environment in your body which will cause these bad bacteria to grow. So, get off of the processed foods, especially sugars, anything sweet. Alcohol should also be avoided.

Additionally, you'll also want to drink a lot of water. Yes, water! Clean water from a good source because water will help dilute the acid in your system. You'll want to drink up to a gallon a day, divided equally around the clock, so that your acids will always be diluted and won't cause the burning sensation.

Take a high-quality source of omega-3 fats. My particular preference is Krill Oil, but certainly, there are others that work. What will they do? They tend to improve your body's immune system and give your body the raw materials it needs to build up a good immune defense to defeat this infection.

Perhaps one of the most important things you can do it to take a good, high-quality source of probiotics, or good bacteria. There are many probiotics out there, but you want to make sure it's high quality, because the good bacteria will fight the bad bacteria, such as H. pylori. So if you've got the infection, you clearly had a pre-existing internal scenario, which strongly suggests you'd benefit from an aggressive intervention with good bacteria. A high dose of good quality probiotics will help balance your intestinal flora; this is a key issue.

Another important intervention we commonly use is eating right for your nutritional type. Notice, I didn't say, "metabolic"; I said, "nutritional" because we actually changed the term to "nutritional." Basically, it's a whole theory, a concept, that each of us was designed with specific genetically-based nutritional needs. So, we're eating foods that may be good for us but terrible for someone else or vice versa. You really need to understand what's good for you. Here's a link for you to learn about more details of Nutritional Typing.

Let's review the key principles for healing/preventing ulcers:

• Eat right for your nutritional type.
• Make sure to drink plenty of water.
• Stay away from processed foods, especially sugars and grains, both of which break down into sugar in the body, causing a negative effect on intestinal flora.
• Take a high-quality source of omega-3 fats. (My favorite is Krill Oil because of the benefits previously described)
• Include a high-quality probiotic (good bacteria). The right product can make a huge difference. Don't go with just any probiotic.

If you apply these basic principles, you should be able to successfully wean yourself off of stomach acid medications and be pain free. If a friend or relative has an ulcer, please share this video, so they may get the help they need to be free of both pain and harmful medications.

These types of methods are classic examples of what we try to do at Mercola.com, providing simple, basic, inexpensive, practical tools, so that you don't have to take toxic medications, with so many side effects.

I hope this is helpful for you. We're all about giving you tools, so that you can take control of your health.