How I cured my gastritis
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When I got diagnosed with mild gastritis (but no H. Pylori) and esophagitis, I looked all over the internet to find what to do. I did not find many accounts of people who have cured themselves successfully and how they did it. So I thought I would write my story once I am cured. Here it is. If you have cured yourself from gastritis too, please share your experience below as well.
Many people ask how long it takes to be cured. At first I started on dexilant for a month but I did not see any improvement. After a month I kept taking dexilant and I started the low acid diet in parallel. I got much better in 2-3 days. After two months on dexilant and one month on the diet, I felt completely good. Then I stopped the dexilant cold turkey and got a lot of pain and acidity back in my stomach. Now I regret I did not take the dexilant a little longer as my stomach was obviously not healed and not strong enough to go through the rebound effect of stopping dexilant. I regret also that I did not stop dexilant slowly taking it every other day for a week, then every three days for a week, .... I felt anxious about taking a medication that has so many side effects taken long term and I wanted to stop immediately, which was not reasonable.
Anyway there I was back at the beginning with stomach pain and acidity day and night. I felt pain related to the esophagitis as well which really scared me. I hesitated to take dexilant again but I decided to try to cure myself the natural way. Below I describe what I did. I got cured in approximately two months, getting slowly better week by week. After two months of natural cures I had no stomach pain anymore and no excess acid, I was able to sleep again, felt like a new healthy (and lighter -- I lost a few pounds) person. However after those two months, I felt that I needed to follow the diet another month for my stomach to get strong and be able to handle a less strict diet.
THE CURE
Books
Most of what I did is summarized in two books which I found very useful:
The first book is "Dropping acid: the reflux diet cookbook & cure" by Jamie Koufman. This is the book I based my diet on. The only disagreements I have with the author regard dairy products that I stopped taking as they make the stomach produce more acid (very clear for me), and the use of ginger, manukka honey and aloe vera which I find too irritating and/or acidic (and I don't feel that they help). Also she does not talk about salt which is known to be irritating for the stomach lining in excess, I felt an improvement when I lowered my intake in salt. I will explain the diet more in details below.
The other book is "Ulcer free! Nature's safe & effective remedy for ulcers" by G. Halpern. I know you may have gastritis and no ulcers but the two conditions are related and what cures one usually cures the other too. I used some of the natural supplements recommended in this book. In particular slippery elm (this one is actually not mentioned in the book) and DGL licorice for stomach pain (coat the interior of the stomach lining), Zinc-Carnosine (reduce inflammation and protects stomach lining - I felt a great improvement after starting to take it especially with acid production at night), and cabbage juice (finished my recovery with this one, after two days I had no stomach pain anymore at night). I describe the supplements more below.
What did not work for me
Mastic gum hurts my stomach. It is supposedly helpful against H. Pylori which I knew I did not have (I had been tested).
Prelief removes the acid in food and stomach very efficiently but causes constipation.
Tums works well for 45 minutes but then there is a rebound effect with the stomach producing more acid.
Manukka honey hurts my stomach (Too acidic, Ph level 4, but maybe also because of the tea tree essential oil in it). It is supposedly helpful against H. Pylori.
Aloe Vera is too acidic (around Ph level 4), and I don't feel it is doing anything positive.
Ginger is irritating and I don't feel it is doing anything positive.
Probiotics helps with digestion but not really for the stomach.
Zantac works very well at removing the acidity but makes me feel dizzy and incredibly tired.
PPI worked very well at removing the acidity and pain in my stomach while I was taking it while doing the diet, but I had a bad rebound effect when I stopped (one must stop slowly by taking it every other day for a while). Also having too low acid in the stomach because of PPI might cause problems in the long term (problems with Calcium and B12 absorption, bacterial infection more likely).
39 likes, 3077 replies
Mochy ines6375
Posted
Im a nurse I still I focus more on a natural sources
Im not going to a doctors unless if something I cant fixed with my own acknowledge...The only product that works for me after experiencing a a bad symptoms of reflux....i start detox....did clean my stomack..change my eating habits..eggs is really good..avoid greasy, spicy food, start eating less amount of food..I bought a Siberian nut oil bought at Amazon.theres was no much info on how much to take(dose)..i ve to be creative..start with a 1 tpsp on empty stomack in the morning and 1 tpsp 10 min after unch..1st week .and 2wk 1tbsp on empty stomach 1x a day..Is Amazing the results no side effects cause is a natural source..get informed google SIBERIAN NUT OIL...this is so good oil the taste is like sweet easy to swallow and cure gastritis kills pillory bacteria. Boost the inmune system...I recommend this product...works for me can work for you..google it..get informed you can get at Wal-Mart, EBay, wallgereens..I start with a small bottle to try this product for the 1st time...I will keep using because of the great health benefits...Iwish you the best...God Bless..
jayjay79922 ines6375
Posted
Ines6375, you mention that you took ppi's and they helped. My husband just brought home my scrip of 40 mg. of Prilosec, and after reading the possible side-effects, I'm afraid of it! I feel so ill I took one anyway, but is this truly a safe med? I'm in my second month of contending with this horrible gastritits, trapped gas, and pain.
Neoison555 jayjay79922
Posted
ines6375 jayjay79922
Posted
The meds are most likely to be more help than troubles on a short term basis (a few months). The nasty side effects are if you take them for years. My advice would be take them now, get cured and then be careful to stay healthy so you don't have to take them forever.
ian59199 ines6375
Posted
clari78690 ines6375
Posted
I had a severe case of gastritis.
Horrible nausea, burning sensation in stomach and diarrhea. Couldn't get out of bed for days. Thought I was dying. Dizziness, weakness, couldn't breath properly. My mother suggested a remedy, I didn't pay attention and continued sick, couldn't eat, lost weight. My son told me the remedy mom suggested cured him, so I tried it. It consists of either Sprite or water with
fresh squeezed lemon and a 1/4
teaspoon of baking soda. Started feeling better by day two,
continued it twice a day for a
week, even though I was better by day four. Also ate half portion of
food when it was time to eat.
During all this I was also avoiding any spicy foods or fried foods. Ate more fruits and vegetables and
chicken and rice soup. Also had
fish seasoned light with salt and
pepper. Haven't had relapse since I stopped the remedy and I am
feeling well. Had to share this
hoping it can help someone. Im
eating normal again, but will still
avoid spicy foods which I believe was the cause of my severe
gastritis.
rafiq27035 ines6375
Posted
Pls tell me how much and when I should take Pepzin and slippery elm. Appreciate ur response.
ines6375 rafiq27035
Posted
I am sorry I don't remember but I probably answered that question somewhere previously in the thread
gloria82922 ines6375
Posted
bernadette53009 gloria82922
Posted
gloria82922 ines6375
Posted
I know you didn't do this, but can you take zinc carnosine with a ppi!
ian59199 gloria82922
Posted
The whole concept of Zinc Carnosine is to get off ppi's not to take them as well as ppi's.
?Stop your ppi's, there will be a period of acid rebound which might last 3 weeks then you should start healing.
?Supplement with DGL licorise every day and slippery elm when needed.
?Watch what you are eating, identify the acid triggers and remove them from your diet.
?Ppi's prevent the absorption of protein and B12, not good for you.
robin93893 gloria82922
Posted
It's true that, everything else being equal, you're better off ppis than on them. However, as far as I can see there's no particular reason to believe there would be any problem in taking both zinc carnosine and a ppi and in fact I do so myself.
ian59199 robin93893
Posted
Taking ppi's and zinc carnosine seems like a pointless exercise, which one is working is the unknown. It is a known fact that ppi's have a detrimental effect on your health so why continue to take them. If you need instant relief you might as well persist in taking the ppi's and forget about the Zinc C
robin93893 ian59199
Posted
Sorry I don't agree, they do different things. PPIs reduce stomach acid to allow healing, zinc carnosine aids that healing, so they are complementary. It's true that, if symptoms improve, you don't know to what extent the different treatments are contributing, but that's only necessary in research, and if you're being selective in your diet as well as taking one of these then you have the same issue.
ines6375 gloria82922
Posted
I don't know if you can take the zinc carnosine, I don't see why not. But it is not clear to me that zinc carnosine with PPI is more helpful than PPI alone, PPI is pretty efficient by itself.
gloria82922 ines6375
Posted
I didn't know if was ok to take zinc carnosine along with a ppi! I see people posting on the reviews about zinc saying that it contains calcium carbonate which you are not suppose take with a ppi!
ines6375 gloria82922
Posted
I don't know if you can. Personally I would take one or the other not both. The PPI and the diet are enough to cure you efficiently.
robin93893 gloria82922
Posted
Zinc carnosine itself does not contain calcium carbonate. However, they might be combined in some proprietary formulations, you'd have to check ingredients before buying.