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
lady14 ines6375
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ines6375 lady14
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lady14 ines6375
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Today I tried Evamor water, god it was such a relieve. Tap water or any type of water used to upset my stomach a lot, lots of intense burpings, I came to a point of stopping drinking any liquid, but then I was very thirsty whole day. After drinking this water, burping stoped completely! I cannot just believe it! after soo many months!!!
I have a very similar diet as you Ines, I usually have papaya, melon, watermelon and pear with either oatmeal or red quinoa for breakfast. I eat only 1 cup or 1/2 cups. I have found that maple syrup is the only sweetener that does not upset my stomach, and I use it with breakfast. Also, I have found a good substitute for dairy, flax seed milk, it is a good source of omega 3 as well. I do not drink it very often, just not to get tired of it. In addition, I use cinammon and poppy seeds with my oatmeal, delicious! Once per week I have a hard egg for breakfast, with tortillas made with corn or boiled potatoes.
I have been trying to have a strict timing for food, I mean, I try to eat more or less at the same time. I used to eat 4 times/day, the size of the food is 1-1/2 cups. But now that I got carafate from my doctor, I cannot do that, because I have to take the medicine one hour before meal and each six hours, crazy
My problem with size of food was usually at night, at night I use to feel specially anxious which causes me to eat more and faster. So I have been trying to do this: go for walks 30-40 minutes after meal. Actually, go for walks between meals not only reduces anxiety, also helps stomach to evacuate faster, which is also good.
ines6375 lady14
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I have not tried guava. I see that the ph level of guava nectar is 5.5 which is good but the ph level of canned guava is 3.37 - 4.1, too acidic. I wonder what the ph level of fresh guava is.
I have not tried flax seeds milk either. I like rice and soy milk. Unfortunately almond milk cause me stomach pain and dairy as well. I want to try hemp or hazelnut milk at some point.
Be careful with the cinnamon, it is irritating.
Maybe you could try to eat more for breakfast and lunch (2-3 cups), so you are not too hungry at dinner and it will be easier to eat a smaller meal. It is normal to eat too much when one is hungry.
lady14 ines6375
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I only use guava pulp, it seems to be OK. Canned guava also upsets my stomach, but I think it is because of the sugar added to it. In general, I avoid any food sweetened with canned sugar or even honey.
Almond milk also causes me stomach pain, I haven't tried rice milk. I do not drink soy milk because it messes up with my hormons. I really don't know about hemp milk, but I wouldn't try hazelnut milk. I guess the problem with nuts is the fat. In general, I try to avoid any type of nuts, specially peanuts, those are the worst.
Thank you with the advice regarding the cinammon, I'll remove it from my list.
I'll increase slowly amount of lunch and I'll monitor my stomach's reaction. At night, I try not to eat animal protein and very little vegetal protein, so that food gets digested faster, I diminish intake of carbs and instead of potatoes I am trying grains and increasing the amount of vegetables. I eat lots of different vegetables, usually I cook them wrapped in aluminium foil with water, bit of olive oil, salt and some fresh herbs, dill, oregano, cilantro or parsley. I read that kale was good because it has lots of vitamin k which seems to be good for stomach, also broccoli seems to be good for ulcers.
ines6375 lady14
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All vegetables of the cabbage family (broccoli, kale, cauliflower, red and green cabbage,...) seem to be good for the stomach preferably raw in juices. But I find them soothing steamed too, especially broccoli and cauliflower. I read that broccoli sprouts are good too (there is a section about them in the book "Ulcer free!").
lady14 ines6375
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What have been your experience with coconut milk? for instance, what I usually do is to download veggan recipes and modify them accordingly, I just found one that contains coconut milk, basil and turmeric.
ines6375 lady14
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I don't eat raw vegetables much anymore. I find the fibers irritating. But I love carrot/celery/fennel juice. It feels very good. I can't go a few days without missing it very much. Sometimes I put other raw vegetables in the juice.
I haven't tried coconut milk recently. It used to make me very sick. It might be just because it is fatty but I have the feeling that I tolerate olive oil better. When I was feeling bad, I tried to keep my amount of fat per meal below one table spoon.
ines6375 lady14
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lady14 ines6375
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ines6375 lady14
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lady14 ines6375
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ines6375 lady14
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I have had a sensitive stomach for 2-3 years and gastritis for 9 months. I am now taking dexilant 60 mg and following the diet. It has been two weeks and a half that I have had no stomach pain at all. In ten days I will switch to dexilant 30 mg for one month, then half the dose for another month. I don't think I am completely cured yet as I would probaly not feel good if I were to stop the dexilant now and eat normal food but I feel good in general and I hope it lasts when I lower the doses of the PPI.
matt85910 ines6375
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matt85910 ines6375
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Im back on Licorice, Zinc Carnosine, Prbiotics, Multi vitamins and Fish Oil now. Just had baked potatoe and hoping that it goes off.
ines6375 matt85910
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Congratulations!
Maybe you should ask about the triple therapy on the forum of daily strength. I am sure there are people who went through the triple therapy on that forum.
ines6375 matt85910
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lady14 ines6375
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Thank you Ines, all your advices help a lot. Sometimes I am not patient enough and eat stuff I shouldn't. Now I understand that the healing is a real long process.
lady14 ines6375
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I take only one pill per day.
ines6375 lady14
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ines6375 lady14
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If you really want to take vitamins, I think it would be better to take pure vitamins, nothing else. I looked into seaweeds/algae (spirulina, ...) and green powders (wheat grass juice etc) as well but they don't seem to be ideal. Personnally I stopped all the vitamins to minimize the amount of irritating things I eat until I am cured and I just make sure I eat and drink healthy (lots of raw and cooked vegetables, fruits, fish, ...).
lady14 ines6375
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I'm a bit afraid of eating raw veggies, however I've noticed that the stuff that work/don't work for you, do/don't work for me... I'll give it a try. Just bought me some beets, kale and carrots...
I visited an acupunturist for some time, and she gave me some herbal suplements, they worked for some time, they are mainly for stress, anxiety but also help with stomach. Some of my gastritis was related to anxiety/stress. The name of medicine is 'seven forests' Bupleurum S. I stopped taking them because could not order more on time, had to wait for two weeks or more and then forgot to order more, I was very busy. I felt good with them in general.
ines6375 lady14
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lady14 ines6375
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