Gastritis diagnosed but PPI's not working

You*( I meant how "you" are)

My gastritis started after a couple rounds of antibiotics.. started with nausea then my Dr. Put me on a Ppi with carafate. I then started feeling worse and 2 weeks I had full blown gastritis. Scope confirmed no ulcer. So I went off the ppi and started zantac with bad side effects. So the specialist put me back on ppi nexium and things started to look better with brats diet. But then it's slowly getting worse each day. I was reading that ppi drugs can in some causes cause gastritis. So you keep taking the ppi to keep from getting an ulcer but slowly it just gets worse. I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster of better days and bad days. Taking the ppi Capsule apart and lessening the dose does sound like a good way to taper off but fearing a major gastritis attack. Carafate also keeps me awake all night. I get 2-4 hrs each night.

Hi

Just wondering how you're getting on? I see you posted this thread 6 monthes ago.

 I had a gastroscopy and colonoscopy 5 days ago and they found gastritis with some bleeding. 

Your post got me though because I'm 100% convinced that my condition has developed after taking ppis (for just 6 weeks). 

I started taking ppis for reflux back in May time was on them for 6 weeks and had no choice but to stop due to the abdominal cramps and diarrhea. I thought stopping would help but stopping didn't do anything! I've suffered ever since and I never had any stomach issues before then. I'm waiting for my biopsies to come back now but I'm terrified of what I've done to my stomach! 

Everything I read seems to recommend taking ppis to fix gastritis but what do you do if it caused it?! 

Sorry to hear you were suffering. What has your experience been? Are you any better now? 

Angela 

ProtonStar

Has anyone had any updates at all? I've had it for almost two years with no relief

I fell exactly like you, Angela. I was prescribed PPI two years ago for suspected silent reflux. Two weeks into taking it, I got intense stomach pain radiating into the back, never had such pain before. stopped taking medication, pain got more tolerable but never went. GP said pain was probably coincidental to cause the pain and put me on another PPI. Again, after about two weeks, same intense pain, stopped medication. Rnitidine did not help much either. Same thing after trying a third type of PPI. Pain also made me feel nauseous plus I got too loose stools making me lose too much weight. MRI was normal. Endoscopy of stomach showed two benign polyps and gastritis, probably medication-induced so the consultant said initially assuming I regularly take aspirin or ibuprofen which I did not. He then said, probably stress-related which I find hard to accept as well given the low stress level I have. I cannot help thinking the PPIs caused it. Since then, I still get flare ups of this stomach/back pain (luckily not as intense anymore) mainly long after eating/empty stomach. Feels like my gastritis has never really cleared up despite all the careful eating. Need to see the doctors again.

corrections: GP said PPI and pain onset was probably coincidental. Ranitidine, not rnitidine.

esthi4711

I had 30+ tests and all come back good. I have been on 40mg ppi once a day and 1gm carafate 1 hr before 3 main means meals and once before bedtime for 6 months. I can say with all the excellent medical I have received. I am on my own. Nobody wants to cure me but only treat the symptoms. A doctor truly needs to experience this to understand it completely. This type of complication can break you down in ways never thought possible. My goal is to be fully cured before my 1 year reunion. I am now taking only 20mg ppi and 1gm carafate before bedtime. I am semi stable but working towards to cure. The bad thing is ppi drugs are very dependant drug that when removed all a sudden can cause hyper secretions. Be careful and do it slowly. You are not ready to stop a ppi until you forget your medications. I bought a small digital scan and pull the capsules apart making sure the dosage is exactly. Little by little so my body doesn't hypersecrete and damage its self during the ween process. Doctors can't tell you to do this and are very tight lipped about it. That is the key. Yes the medicine is bad for us. Take it, eat right and heal. Then ween off slowly until you are 100% off and cured. Its not a magic pill but in time you will heal and 100% recover.

That is a good possibility about gastritis possibly being an auto-immune issue. I just had my second EGD done last Thursday and was told I have Gastritis still (after my last EGD 1 1/2 years ago) , but no H-Pylori. The mucosa lining is fine in the small intestine and my esophagus is fine. My inflammation is pretty much in my upper stomach and I get a lot of irritation and sometimes pain. The irritation has gotten so bad I can't even work right now much less anything else. I am on Pantoprazole 40mg once a day and Carafate. Like the others said to no avail. If the Gastritis is not auto-immune related it is now narrowed down to being just taking the PPI long term itself. If there is little acid in the stomach due to the medication preventing it from being secreted, then your stomach will no longer see a need for a mucosa lining with the PH being higher than normal in the stomach so when the stomach lining finally wears down you get the little bit of acid or things in the food we eat irritating the lining of the stomach resulting in the Gastritis. Our immune system will cause the inflammation in the stomach due to the stomach lining being irritated by some acid or food having no lining to protect the stomach. The only method to get better is to rebuild the stomach lining with certain foods/supplements( bone broth *I prefer the powder*, collagen, L-Glutamine powder, etc) slowly wean off the PPI and take something for inflammation reduction. I have found good success with a good pure Mastic Gum supplement (although there is a certain acid in the Mastic Gum that is good for killing H-Pylori so if you have no stomach lining and no H-Pylori then make sure you do continue to take something to prevent that little bit of acid in the Mastic Gum from irritating the stomach lining also which you will mainly notice when the Mastic Gum wears off after a couple of hours. Well, that is just my 2 cents and that is where I am at now. I just started doing all of these today together so I cannot say how well it will all work, but I believe it should. It can vary depending on how bad someone stomach is and as always, certain things work better for certain people. There is also a possibility of an immune-suppressant drug to help, but that might cause more issues or illnesses. I hope this helps anyone who reads it. You just have to be persistent in finding what works for you. 

I've since went on a low histamine diet as I've found I have elevated mast cells. The low histamine has helped. Gastritis is tricky, long term gastritis causes wearing away. However long term ppi treatment also causes wearing away (atrophic ). I'm controlling mine through diet and supplements. I absolutely refuse to do ppi drugs ever again. They caused me significant problems and after affects that I never had before. My gastritis is mild according to my report so I've never had to hear the word "chronic". I take glutamine, and whey protein. I use dgl licorice and I also take selenium. I don't have any stomach pains right now , just rebound from getting off ppi drugs. Learning your trigger foods are both difficult but necessary.

I stopped using bone broth as I've since found out that through research , there is no evidence of broth healing. While broth is rich in collagen, your body doesn't use the collagen in the broth to make collagen in your body. It simply breaks it down and disposes of it how it needs. It was a bit disappointing to hear that but my Mayo clinic doctor and my naturopath both said that it's pretty much a old fashioned myth and when bone brothwas observed in long term use of autoimmune and inflammation, there was no evidence of relief or healing. Anyways, I'm determined to beat this.

I'll keep in mind all you said. Yes I believe my Gastritis is atrophic related to long term PPI usage. I wish I would have known about the effects and did the research years ago, but it was harder to find info then as not much was online at the time about it when I did look. A lot more information is out now and known about long-term PPI usage. I am now weaning off the PPI and using supplements plus a few dietary tweaks. I will keep that in mind about bone broth. I thought that might be the case anyways, but when I finish it I doubt I'll buy more. The powder is super expensive. I'm glad you are making improvements and I'm looking forward to the same. Best of luck to you.

Hello Brian, how are you feeling today, after nearly one year since your post? Did your supplement regime work?

hello Jeremy

I 'm in a similar situation like you were . I hope you are better now after 11 months. my problems started at the same time as yours. as I had this also 4 years ago .... like you I also tried those diets and I did stick to them strictly...... but obviously they didnt help as Im back to square one. let us kniw if you recovered which would be great.

yes, I made a full recovery