Can gastritis be cured??? I am sick of it.

Hi Peter 

I had gastritis as you know. Maybe I have a touch of it now. Sometimes certain foods bring it on or even things like cough sweets or cough medicine inbeloeve I recently had a cold that has bought this episode on . Try to stick to bland foods for a while and no alcohol teanor coffee and be strict on yourself for a while it's much better than suffering !! Lorraine 

Stick strictly to a bland diet avoiding rich, greasy and spicy foods and try a food diary to identify your food triggers. Try to manage your stress levels.  Sometimes you can heal gastritis but it can be chronic and flare up from time to time.

I’ve had chronic Gastritis for a long time and it drives you crazy cos’ everything you eat goes for you. There’s no half measures, you have to ditch the foods and drinks your used to, and go on an alkaline diet. If your picking veg, the general rule is if their green, their alkaline. Look up an alkaline chart of fruit and veg, keep notes of the most alkaline foods. I went vegan a few months back and for the first time in years I didn’t require pills to be able to eat and I didn’t suffer any problems with my Gastritis, will power got the better of me and I hit the junk again, back to pain and living on pills. 

There is a cure

Of course there's a cure. I'm curing mine right now by taking Nexium. It took 4 days before the Nexium really kicked in, though. So stick with it. Depending on how bad yours is, it can take up to 4 weeks or more to heal your insides while taking Nexium or one of the other ppis. (Nexium seems to give me the fewest side-effects, but everyone is different). I also took Pepto Bismol for immediate relief while waiting for the Nexium to kick in.

You also have to find out what triggers it. For me it's too much fruit, wine, and cheap coffee. Too much alcohol will do it, too.

If you're a coffee drinker, try to stick to organic dark roast coffees, because they are lowest in acid. You might want to do a mix of half decaf, half regular, because caffeine irritates the stomach. Eat bland and in a month you should be able to go back to your regular diet, as long as you don't overdue it on the trigger foods/drinks.

Oh, and green tea is a major trigger for me. We keep hearing how good it is, but it ends up making me miserable.