Gastritis and IC with Peri

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Has anyone had gastritis and bladder burning along with their perimenopause. The burning seem to radiate to different parts nut mainly bladder. I can't eat...i feel like I'm losing it!

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  • Posted

    I had an upper endoscopy last April which confirmed chronic gastritis. This was my first symptom of perimeno.
  • Posted

    Yes, I suffer from gastritis too. I have cramps, tightness of my abdomen usually on the right side. I feel back ache with it. It us awful
  • Posted

    Yes to the weird bladder burning .. feeling like you have a UTI but you dont.. comes and goes randomly but worst around avulation and period.. I take ametriptyline for it and it really helps.. It was one of my first symptoms some years ago.
  • Posted

    Yes, gastritis was my first sign of Peri also. However, I found the culprit that was giving me the issue. It was black pepper. I waited something like 2years before I could eat anything with black pepper. I was put on medication for a year or less to take only as needed.

    The UTI burning stopped when I was told to stop drinking any store bought orange juice or mixed type of juice and to drink more water. Ever since then I no longer drink any processed juices nor soda, but then I stopped drinking soda over 20 years ago. Doctor said the acid in those juices have a much lower pH that is causing the issue for which your body is trying to tell you that it cannot process it. Stop drinking processed drinks of any kind including coffee and tea. Hope this helps.

    • Posted

      I agree about drinking more water. That def helps with the bladder problems. I drink orange juice now, but only because I take it with my iron supplement, but it's low acid OJ and I cut it with half water. When the gastritis was bad I didn't eat or drink anything acidic. Spaghetti sauce was bad.

      I no longer take any NSAIDS as a result as well.

      Amazing how so many of us have this as one of our first symptoms.

    • Posted

      Suzanne, did your doctor put you on iron pills? Wondering because studies show that iron causes cholesterol levels to rise, drastically. I have since stop buying any pills with iron and many of us the medical field avoid iron supplements altogether.
    • Posted

      I have never heard that! My naturopath put me on iron because my ferritin was an 8. Way too low. But I have to say, I was confused as to why my cholesterol went from a 163 to 238!! I thought it was because I had added red meat back to my diet, but that totally explains it.

      So what's a person to do?

      I've had alopecia all my life, and since I started taking iron my hair has started to grow back, I've got eyelashes and eyebrows again. Was thinking iron was amazing!

    • Posted

      Yes, it would cause your cholesterol to go up. Most definitely. Have you been retested? Once you reach 12-15 mg/dl you should stop taking it. Supplement with higher doses of vitamin D3. Also, Biotin is what's recommended for hair. Biotin or jojoba oil will help regrow hair. I bought a jojoba shampoo once, I was growing hair like crazy. I had to literally stop using it.

      Also, if you're eating meat you're probably already getting enough iron. Bread and cereals also contain iron. Spinach and many of the greens contain iron. However, it's better to get iron from foods than from supplements, unless you're anemic. I don't know how long you've been taking iron but I would say that after taking it for 3 months to lower your dosage or stop. Since you don't need more. Maybe take 1 a week if you feel you haven't eaten enough meat that week. Otherwise, there's no reason to keep taking it, unless your ferritin is still low.

    • Posted

      I too have never heard that iron supplement cause your cholestrol to go up.  In fact my iron was very low and my cholestrol was high which I thought was bizzare seeing I am a pretty healthy eater, I don't smoke or drink alcohol, I have not drank any fizzy soda's in a year so I was a bit in shock.  Then they tested my hormones, and both estrogen and progestrone is low and this can cause cholestrol to go up.  I am taking an iron supplement because I was below the average marker so I had to start taking it.  I can see if you are taking it and don't need it to cause health concerns, but when you hardly have any iron you have to supplement to not have any further issues.

    • Posted

      Yes I discovered that my cholesterol went up while I was taking iron supplements. When I googled and investigated this I found that foods high in iron are also high in cholesterol. Like liver which I love!
    • Posted

      Doctors I spoke to about this say to increase your vitamin D3 levels and take biotin, along with a vegetarian multi-vitamin. Spinach contains lots of iron. This is a short list of foods that contain iron. 

      Foods rich in iron include:Red meat, pork, liver and poultry.

      Seafood.

      Beans.

      Dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach.

      Dried fruit, such as raisins and apricots.

      Iron-fortified cereals, breads and pastas.

      Peas.

      Liver has lots of iron but eat it once a month. Cooking on an iron skillet will also increase your iron.  

       

    • Posted

      I love liver too, but I only eat it when I'm feeling super low energy or not well.  A good multi-vitamin will do just as good. Moderation is key. Don't eat it more than once a month.

    • Posted

      You have to be careful about too much spinach and kale though because it can be hard on the kidneys. 

      I did need to take the iron because my stores were so depleted. I used ferochel which is very easy on the system but takes a long time to build up your iron. I've been taking it since November and have gone from an 8 to a 30 something, but it took a good 6 months.

      But..I did questions why my cholesterol shot up so quickly. I mean, how do you go from 163 to 238 that quickly? I know peri can cause higher cholesterol but the iron intake makes more sense to me now that I know that.

      I'm going to start juicing again and will kick in the red meat and maybe cut down on the iron to a few times a week.

      Thanks for alerting me to this!

    • Posted

      30 is way too high! The most it should be is 12-15g/dl. Over doing it on the iron is not good at all.  Yes, please cut down on the iron.

      Juicing is excellent. Eat all foods in moderation.  I don't recommend kale, it is extremely hard on the digestive system and is hard on the kidneys. Spinach, on the other hand, is better for us when it's cooked more than when it's raw. Raw spinach is hard on the kidney's but once you cook it the water makes it easier for us to digest and process. 

    • Posted

      I've heard optimal levels of ferritin for a woman my age should be 50 at the minimum and probably 100! Maybe our measurments are different, are you in the US?

    • Posted

      Sarasota FL, but in PA now for the summer. 

      You?

    • Posted

      I'm in Seattle, WA. So the numbers are not different. Labs all follow the same reading's as I recall.

    • Posted

      So the numbers you are suggesting are for ferritin levels? 

      Everything I read and hear from my doctors say ferritin levels should be up around 50 to feel OK. Where did you get your info from?

    • Posted

      My ferriton was at a 9 so that is very low.  I feel better for supplementing as I don't think I could increase it fast with ust food alone.  In a couple weeks I find out where my levels are at, I think they will be good because I feel great.  I will then continue on eating iron rich foods to keep it up.  There would have been no way I could increase quickly with just food alone.  That is why I supplemented.  The doctors were offering IV iron, but I opted for supplements. 

       

    • Posted

      If they were offering you? iv it's because of the potential to become anemic. That's great you're opting for to keep up with iron rich foods.

    • Posted

      I get my information from Medline. The way I was reading it was 15g/dl. Here it's in nanograms. Maybe this is how your doctor is reading it. 

      Normal value range is:

      Male: 12 to 300 nanograms per millilter (ng/mL)

      Female: 12 to 150 ng/mL

      The lower the ferritin level, even within the "normal" range, the more likely it is that the person does not have enough iron.

      The number ranges above are common measurements for results of these tests. Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories. Some labs use different measurements or test different samples. Talk to your provider about the meaning of your specific results.

    • Posted

      Yes, so at an 8 I was iron deficient. I've read that women our age should be minimum of 50. Hard to do unless you are getting lots of iron rich meat, I tried doing it without meat and it doesn't work. So either way your cholesterol probably will go up.

      But I do believe you are correct about iron supplements as my cholesterol shot up so fast. Who goes from a 163 to a 238 in 6 months? So it makes sense about the iron supplements. What's a person to do???

    • Posted

      You can eat liver twice a month, if you like liver, also, you can eat cooked spinach, raw broccoli and beans. Eat nuts, pistachio's have the highest iron content of all the nuts, then it's sesame seeds, almonds, and brazil nuts. 

       

    • Posted

      Suzanne I also take ferrochel, I was wondering why I am still feeling so weak

      I just had blood work done and hemoglobin is still on the low side. I didnt know that it takes a while to build up. I was taking a supplements called blood nutrients , it seem to work better. I had to stop because it has vitamin c which irritated the stomach and my bladder.

    • Posted

      It seems like Ferrochel takes awhile to build up your iron stores. My ferritin is finally getting up but it's taken a long time. Have you tried adding in Floradix? It's a liquid supplement.

      Good to know about the vitamin C, I was considering trying large amounts to see if it helps me, but don't want to aggravate the gastritis, that's for sure!

      Have you been tested for EBV? I was and it shows I have a reactivated infection. Probably brought on by fluctuating hormones. At least I know now what's been causing all this havoc!

    • Posted

      Where can I get the Floradix from? What does EPV stands for?

      I have been in misery for the past 4 weeks , praying that this will let up soon.

    • Posted

      You can get Floradix in most health food grocery stores. It's a vegetable based iron liquid that you can take along with the Ferrochel. It tastes kind of nasty but it should help as long as you can tolerate it.

      EBV is Epstein Barre Virus. Most of us have the virus in our bodies (did you ever have mono?) and I guess the virus can reactivate in times of stress and around perimeno because of the hormone imbalance.

    • Posted

      The Floradix is refrigerated by the way.

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