Gastritis accompanied by Pricking pain in chest, Food triggered Upper Abdominal Pain & Brain Fog
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I am a hypertensive 51 yrs old man. 2 months back, I was diagnosed with Gastritis & tested positive for H pylori. I have a history of suffering from LPR/Globus sensation and GERD accompanied by a lot of burping for around 3 years and have been on PPI a number of times before.
Doc initially prescribed the standard triple therapy for 2 weeks (Amoxycillin, Esomeprazole, Clarithromycin) along with a supplement (combination of Lactoferrin and Bacillus Clausii 2 billion cfu). Then this was followed by 6 weeks of PPI (esomeprazole) along with 2 weeks of the same supplement. I am about to complete this treatment.
A new problem, I am facing this time around, is I keep experiencing this split second pricking pain (at times in the middle of the chest and at times below the ribcage on either side) that occurs randomly. I searched all over and found that Vitamin D deficiency could cause such pricking sensations around the chest region. i have started taking Cholecalciferol supplement once a week for the past 4 weeks but still this pricking feeling continues to haunt. The Doc put it down to nerves and said that it may happen when the stomach lining is irritated. I just want to check if there are folks in a similar situation and try & understand how to deal with this feeling in a sensitive region and whether it will ever subside. I did get my heart checked out with TMT/ECHO/ECG and all came out fine.
Given the diagnosis of gastritis, I have been very careful with my diet and avoided scrupulously spicy foods , fried foods, gassy foods, chocolate and coffee/tea/milk. Recently, I experienced sustained pain in the center of the upper abdomen after I imbibed some sugary yogurt based drink which i think is the likely cause. Each day i find myself forced to consider pruning this or that to escape imagined or real consequences. Having cut back on so many foods i used to eat without a thought, i wonder when life can return back to normal and when i can go back to atleast enjoying some of these foods i like in atleast in a moderate manner (Say, just want to have a cup of coffee daily and some chocolate on occasion). I want to learn from the experience of others. Are all these foods which could be potential triggers to be avoided at all times in the future as they would cause recurrent pain? This would be very depressing to accept but i want to know what others have tried with respect to returning to a somewhat normal & tasty diet like everybody else after a gastritis episode.
Complicating all of this is weirdness in my head with head tightness, head pressure and brain fog that appears at inopportune times. My guess is i am always inadvertently body scanning to see if something changed after a meal or if i had something new or different in the menu, then my mind subconsciously seems to kick into overdrive about the effects it could have on my system. I have often observed that when i suffer from stomach gas (leading to belching) or intestinal gas (leading to flatulence) my head experiences weird sensations and throws me off balance. i had been diagnosed with Generalized anxiety disorder and had been put on TCA & Anti psychotic before but i rejected these medicines due to severe constipation they seem to bring on as also fears of other long term issues i might face if i take them on prolonged basis. My go to method has been to practise mindfulness meditation and also try to ease myself with simple deep breathing techniques. So basically, i am facing a mix of these above mentioned problems in the last few months and am wondering if they will ever go away for good inspite of any treatment undertaken. Please chip in with your experiences & advice that may be helpful for people like me in similar situations
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MonkMaxims
Edited
Update: Met with the doc and explained the symptoms persisting despite the treatment. Got diagnosed with Functional Dyspepsia. He told me that gastritis treatment has concluded and the H Pylori infection has been addressed through medication during these past weeks.
The different symptoms i am still having on different occasions (fortunately not all together at the same time) are
Random pricking pain on either side of the rib cage
Mild Burning sensation around the middle of the chest (heartburn but seems like it happens with no food trigger as well)
Upper abdominal tightness & feeling of pressure
Upper abdominal pain (this one i suspect due to food trigger and its less frequent than the rest)
Belching (before eating, after eating and between! my biggest achilles heal of symptons)
Strange throat sensation leading to an urge to belch to try & relieve it (I have had globus & throat burn before but this feels like a milder mix of both). This also causes me to think i must have over eaten even though i didn't.
Feeling of Satiety (which happens along with the above mentioned throat sensation) masking hunger
Flatulence (more than normal)
Head pressure, tightness, feeling that head alone is swaying even though body is still (I was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and not on psychiatric meds )
Anyway, he has prescribed a combination medicine that is actually used for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) - Chlordiazepoxide + Clidium Bromide + Dicycloamine + Rabeprazole. He told me to take this for 10 days and then take it on an episodic basis (for just two days at a time) when i have the more frequent symptoms occuring. He asked me to keep a record of the occurrences and report back in 3 months. He told me to totally avoid coffee, high fat fried and spicy foods. Pointed to anxiety as a major cause for this problem. He assured me that i needn't worry about any complications arising from this condition but that i will need to cope with it using lifestyle changes.
MonkMaxims
Edited
Just sharing info. on my Food triggers. The following foods have triggered Stomach Acid Reflux and also lead to LPR (throat reflux) - coffee, tea, chocolate, milk, ghee, cheese, butter, onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, green/red chillies, mustard, black pepper, tamarind, lemon, lime, oranges, grapes, apples, pineapple, mangoes, jackfruit, all sweets/cakes/cookies/pastries/jams (due to sugar/milk/ghee/butter/whey), besan flour, corn, oil fried foods/snacks, spicy foods (includes all pickles & chutneys), chickpeas, honey, jaggery, maida (all purpose white flour), peanuts, peanut butter, groundnuts, vinegar, indian gooseberry, green tea and mint.
The ones that i have been comfortable eating are Rice, curd, yogurt, most vegetables like brinjal/eggplant, okra, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam, ash gourd, pumpkin, bitter gourd, snake gourd, carrots, celery, cucumber, zuchinni, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, radish, kohlrabi, chow chow, drumstick, moringa leaves, beetroot, beans, ridge gourd, bottle gourd, spinach etc. fruits like bananas, pears, watermelon, muskmelon & papayas, pumpkin seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, rotis, chappattis, white bread, poha (parched rice), oatmeal, ginger, aloe vera, legumes and lentils.
MonkMaxims
Edited
Update: Had recurrence of LPR again in august with loss of vocal strength and went on PPIs for two weeks. Then i underwent both endoscopy and manometry. Diagnosis was mild gastritis & supra gastric belching. i asked doc if this could be SIBO and he rejected it. I am trying to manage without meds now and focus purely and carefully on dietary choices. I still have the following symptoms
Thankfully i got a reasonable hold on my psychological symptoms of head pressure, tightness & brain fog purely through mindfulness meditation and hypnosis therapy on YT .
I want to avoid eating out since each time i had a flareup it was associated with eating at restaurants/hotels.
dean84913 MonkMaxims
Posted
im a 50 year old man that also got diagnosed with the exact same and same treatment also finding 3 stomach ulcers and with ongoing symptoms and ct scans got diagnosed with chronic pancreitis from starting on a couple of medicines now have to take 22 different tablets including zomorphe and morphine sulphate a mixture of laxatives since the been diagnosed with 3 bulging discs in my spine and arthritis in my spine chronic pancreaitis acute gastorentoritis an enlarged prostate a b12 deficiancy also the bulging discs are causing me water retention and im now with a suprapubic catheter
MonkMaxims dean84913
Posted
I wish you well, man. My suggestion was removed by moderator and i respect it. I hope that you will recover and return back to your normal life. Please give all your effort in achieving it. for mental peace, please give a thought to mindfulness by Sam Harris and hypnosis therapy by Martin Burridge on YT.