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How I cured my gastritis

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ines6375
ines6375

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).

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  • frederick68461
    frederick68461 ines6375

    Posted

    Good day ines thank u ( I'am borderline diabetic) so I try to balance fruits and vegtables for both gerd and diabetes  (acid  vrs alkaline)  RS starches vrs complex cards vrs refined sugar etc..  But trying to get weight sustainable dropping it like crazy last 2months thus is thee reason for  the protein drink doesn't sit we'll at all but it has 30 g of protein I've tried salmon fillets but seems to fatty (acidic) so I went to catfish do u do a lot of low acidic green or other vegetables when do u cut off your eating time at night and did u ever try any other ppi's previous to 60 mg of dexilant and  how long were u on DGL before u actually felt it wking do u swear by it and have u heard of Apple cider pills; thank u much
    • ines6375
      ines6375 frederick68461

      Posted

      For proteins, you can do chicken, tofu, tempeh, white fish, clams, ... I used to not do well on protein mix but now I seem to be ok with whey.

      I drink a green juice every day made with romaine, carrots et celery, sometimes spinach and fennel.

      I feel best when I eat last at 6 pm, but it is hard to do so I often eat later but never after 8 pm. I did not try any other ppi.

      DGL works immediately for me, it removes the pain almost immediately. I don't know if it helps for anything else than the pain though.

      I have not heard of apple cider pills but in general I avoid apple cider because it is too acidic.

    • frederick68461
      frederick68461 ines6375

      Posted

      How long have u been on dexilant may I ask, see I was told chicken turkey have three times the acidic count then does plain fish what greens wk best for u low acid wise how do u get your Protein imput up daily? Thank u
    • ines6375
      ines6375 frederick68461

      Posted

      I was on dexilant 60 mg during July and August this year, then on dexilant 30 mg in September, then on dexilant 30 mg every other day in october. I don't take anything anymore as I feel fine now as long as I stay on the diet.

      We are not talking about the same definition of acidity, I care about the ph level of food. If you consider only the ph level of food, chicken and turkey are fine. I find them excellent actually when dealing with gastritis and this is how I get most of my proteins still today (I eat a lot of eggs too, 2 a day usually).

  • frederick68461
    frederick68461 ines6375

    Posted

    Have you tried unsweetened almond milk and do u eat any eggs with or without yolks do u do any grains how often do u eat jasmine rice in a wk 
    • ines6375
      ines6375 frederick68461

      Posted

      I have tried almond milk in different forms, I get a mild reaction to it, I suspect it comes from the added vitamins but I am not sure. I tolerate almonds though. Fresh homemade almond milk would be worth a try.

      I eat whole eggs regularly now, but when I was badly in pain I did not as much, but from time to time.

      I eat jasmine rice every now and then, I alternate with quinoa, suchi rice, sticky rice, potatoes, spelt pastas, ... I like variety and all whole cereals and potatoes seem to be fine except that I don't tolerate wheat/rye for other reasons (IBS).

  • frederick68461
    frederick68461 ines6375

    Posted

    Ines how much DGL mg do u take in between your meals. and would it be safe to take if border line diabetic Also do u know based on your experience  how long after consuming a low acid food could u tell if it was a trigger and or irritating item. Do u have best times during the day that u can eat certain foods best also how do u prepare your meats and veggies steamed roasted and what type of oil unsalted butter seasonings. 
  • ines6375
    ines6375

    Posted

    My chiropractor recommended I try gastrazyme against acid reflux. It contains the active ingredient found in cabbage without the side effects that the consumption of cabbage brings, and a few other things (vit A, rice extract, chlorophylle, enzymes,...). Did anybody else try it for a substantial amount of time? I just started yesterday, I can't tell at this point if it helps or make things worse. If anybody is interested don't hesitate to ask me in a few days/weeks.

    I started sleeping on a wedge again, and my back pain disappeared overnight. It seems that it was caused by nocturnal acid reflux. Maybe gastrazyme helped too as it helps digestion, but I really don't know.

  • frederick68461
    frederick68461 ines6375

    Posted

    happy thanksgiving ines hope it's an most memorable holiday I meant to ask u when u started on dexilant was it for severe acid reflux or mild and or was it mostly because of Ibs chronic stomach pain and after being on it say three woks or so did u ever have to buffer say with gaviscon and or mylanta until u found the low acid diet plan, and will DGL work for gerd I know u mentioned u take it for stomach pain? have yourself a blessed day.
    • ines6375
      ines6375 frederick68461

      Posted

      Happy Thanksgiving Frederick,

      I started on dexilant because of mild gastritis that would not go away. I had stomach pain and acid reflux. Dexilant worked well by itself, after a few weeks, I did not need anything else really beside the diet. DGL is very helpful for stomach pain but I did not notice it does anything for acid reflux. Now I don't feel any stomach pain anymore but I still have very mild acid reflux at night, but sleeping on a wedge takes care of it. I stay on the diet to keep improving and hopefully I can sleep without the wedge in a few weeks/months.

  • frederick68461
    frederick68461 ines6375

    Posted

    how many MG of  DGL before each meal? Have u tried ginger  root freshly grated how's about D-Limonene Extract & zero side effects from dexilant  notta nothing and have u ever been on anything else
    • ines6375
      ines6375 frederick68461

      Posted

      I described everything It tried at the beginning of this thread.

      I don't recommend ginger. Many people think ginger is anti-inflammatory, but I have not found any scientific evidence proving this. Maybe it is true but the problem is that like many other spices, ginger is irritating to the stomach lining (you can taste that it is spicy, this is an indication that it is irritating).

      I don't know about D-limonene extract. But from the name I suspect if comes from a fruit of the citrus family and citrus are not good for gastritis. Just a thought.

    • ines6375
      ines6375 frederick68461

      Posted

      I avoid gluten because of Irritable Bowel Syndrom but I tolerate spelt. So I eat organic artisan spelt bread. I used to eat white spelt bread when I was in pain, now I seem to tolerate brown spelt bread. I also eat gluten free bread from the brand "Food for life". If you don't have irritable bowel syndrom you will probably fine with any type of bread as long as it does not have too much hard fibers (in dark brown bread).
  • rose98900
    rose98900 ines6375

    Posted

    Hi Ines,

    Hope you have been feeling better since your last post. This indegestion/ upset stomach business is new to me (about a month and a half) and I have been on 20mg omeprazole every morning for about 4 weeks now- doctor's orders, but haven't had any tests yet. The Doc wants to see how I m doing on it first.

    Just started keeping a food diary this week since I was still not feeling well. Going back to see him in 10 days and request further investigation. Avoiding dairy, gluten apart from sugar /fatty and acidic foods right now. Have you tried Roiboos tea? I found that it really soothes my throat and makes me feel much better in terms of digestion if i have it an hour after lunch. Controls my coffee craving too as it is slightly bitter. Thanks 

    • ines6375
      ines6375 rose98900

      Posted

      I tried rooibos tea but did not continue with it, I don't remember why. I probably did not feel so good with it. I just drink chamomille usually, it is the only safe tea I know.
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