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
acakes ines6375
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ines6375 acakes
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valerie56655 ines6375
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ahmad97104 valerie56655
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I too suffer from gastritis and got disgnosed with it 2 months ago. It's really, really deliberating but know that you will get better. The most effective way to control is diet and it seems you are working on that. But it's not gonna make you feel better in a day or two. It takes time for the stomach to control excess acid even with an altered diet. Struggling with the diet is a common problem and getting used to it will take a while. Furthermore, it seems like your proper medications hasn't really started yet. Tums are good but they only last for a few hours. It's only for quick relief from acid reflux and burning sensation in your stomach, it doesn't help reduce the acid. The doctor will recommend the best medications for you and discuss your condition in detail. Until then, try the following to control your symptoms:
1) It seems like you have already adopted a low-acid low-fat diet. That's good. You might be struggling with it right now you'll get used to it.
2) Eat small frequent meals. Try not to stay hungry too.
3) Eat at least 3 hours and drink at least 2 hours before you sleep. Try not to sleep on your belly.
4) Elevate your bed by 4-5 inches and it'll help keep the stomach acid down.
5) Do some light excersises. I know you're losing weight but try walking 45 minutes everyday. It'll help in digestion and help keep stress at bay.
6) Stress and anxiety will make your condition worse significantly. Even with a proper diet and medications I wasn't getting better and the culprit was my anxiety. So lighten up a bit!
7) Try drinking camomile tea everyday. It's the only safe drink you can indulge in. It helps in digestion, reduces stomach pain, protects the stomach linning and calmes the nerves.
8) I too had diahrrea that lasted for almost 2 weeks. Loose bright stools is a side effect of gastris due to the very fast digestion. I would suggest eating carrots, whether cooked or raw. I would eat em cooked. It's good for controlling diahrrea.
I guess that's all there is to it...for now. And don't worry about weight loss. I have lost 25 pounds in 3 months. It's normal with this condition. There is an end to this but you have to be very, very patient. You will heal but be mentally prepared it will take a few months to fully recover.
Hope that helps!
christine35186 ahmad97104
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What's your diet like? Also, to anyone else who would like to reply as well. Is white bread or whole wheat bread better to eat for gastritis?
ahmad97104 christine35186
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I would have added other, less bland stuff to my diet...If I hadn't cheated on my it. The reaction gave me nightmares so I'm kinda reluctant to try anything else for a while. Oh and about the bread. Well, my cousin also had gastritis so she ate whole wheat bread every morning with jam and she tolerated it. If you wanna go for bread then try the whole wheat one instead.
muhammad24448 ahmad97104
Posted
Do you need endoscopic biopsy proof that your gastritis is cured ? because i am on almost all types of diet and 40 mg Omeprazole twice a day. I have no complanit at all and feel very good since 4 weeks. So should i assume that my gastritis is gone or wait for other endospopy ?
ahmad97104 muhammad24448
Posted
That's great! Feelling normal for almost a month means that you have definitely healed. Congratulations! You might wanna have one last check-up with your doctor to confirm this. An endoscopy is really not required to prove whether your gastris is cured unless the doctor says so. If your body is feeling better then that's evident enough that your gastritis is cured. But do have a follow-up with your doc, just to make sure.
ines6375 valerie56655
Posted
I am doing good thank you, no problem at all anymore. It seems that after I started feeling good, staying on the diet for a few months helped strengthen my stomach to a complete recovery. I can indulge on normal food with no consequence but I try to keep it for special occasions just in case.
I just wanted to add one thing is that in my opinion dairy, milk, yoghourt are bad for gastritis. Many people fight me on this thinking I don't like dairy, which is false, I love dairy, but I noticed that they make me worse. Also I found a few studies that show that dairy delay recovery of stomach problems and make the stomach produce excess acid. Going dairy free was a very important part of my recovery.
valerie56655 ahmad97104
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ines6375 valerie56655
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ines6375 valerie56655
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alex48792 ines6375
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First of all, I want to thank you for all the info and constantly offering support here.
I've also did some research on these natural supplements, to heal my 1 year chronic gastritis. The reviews I've found on Amazon were also promising. So I've taken for the past 2 months:
- Glutamine
- DGL Licorice
- Pepzin GI
- Aloe Vera
- Saccharomyces Boulardii
- Acacia powder
- some local brand probiotics
- Slippery Elm powder
- Mastic Gum
The last 2 immediately made me feel bad, elm powder and mastic gum, and stopped.
On the other hand, all others have helped me to be pain free for 3 weeks! This is a record so far (better than all medicines I've taken). Been taking them for 2 months.
But now, for some unknown reason, my sympthoms are back again. I'm still taking all the supplements (except probiotics and saccharomyces boulardii), and they give me no relief whatsoever. Only dgl licorice and aloe seem to help a bit.
Moreover, my blood tests show Ferritin to be greater than the upper limit, thus I'm suspecting those supplements to be contaminated with heavy metals.
I'll probably buy some other brands.. but I don't understand why I got total relief for 3 weeks and now they have no effect... It really doesn't make any difference if I take them or not.
You were saying in another post that you got cured with Nexium and other drugs. So those supplements weren't strong enough for you either? I've also tryed Nexium and Sucralfate some months ago, they made me feel real bad.
Thank you,
Alex
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ahmad97104 alex48792
Posted
Ines unfollowed this blog some time ago so she won't be around for some time. You might wanna message her on her other threads or PM her instead.
Although, she did say that those natural suplements helped her out a bit, it was ultimately a PPI and a diet change that really did the trick. Furthermore, me and numerous other gastritis sufferers also faced this 'yo-yo' effect: You're doing fine and suddenly gastritis kicks in for not apparent reason. It usually settles down within a few days or a week.
What problems are you facing right now?
alex48792 ahmad97104
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Thank you for jumping in. Indeed it feels like a yo-yo effect. Now i have pretty much the same symphtoms as before starting taking them, rumbling in my stomach, hunger-like sensation, pain in my gut and lower esophagus, all of those between my meals. The food is also important. All gluten based was giving me gerd and bloating. Now im gerd free and trying to go gluten free for a few days to see how it goes. However.. gluten breads were quite good to my stomach in small amounts, like it was soothing it, even tho they gave me gerd and bloating. I am very confused of so many diets out there, as it seems a balanced diet was suiting me best (avoiding only the standard triggers, fried, fat, spices, sugar, fruits, raw legumes).
Wish you all the best!
Alex
ines6375 alex48792
Posted
Mastic Gum gave me terrible pain, I don't think it is good for gastritis, maybe it kills h.pilory, I don't know, but it is definitely irritating. Also Vera was too acidic, also it is astringent, not good.
My gastritis is completely healed now, no yo-yo. I had a few meals with spices recently actually, and to my surprise, no reaction from my stomach!
I am feeling perfectly fine.
What do you eat?
alex48792 ines6375
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Glad you've reached back!
And also very glad to hear that you're completely healed, and able to eat normally again! Congrats! :D
Here's my current diet:
Steamed vegetables: carrots, spinach, celery, marrow squash, peppers.
Steamed meat: chicken breast, mackerel, salmon.
Cereals, pseudo-cereals: basmati & jasmine rice, millet(recently added), buckwheat flakes (recently added, soaked overnight)
Soup made with: chicken breast, carots, peppers, celery and parsley.
Olives (salt free)
Rice waffles (made of white rice)
Water ph 7.8
Before this diet, I had a similar one, only that I was also adding gluten bread (any kind of wheat), oatmeal, corn flakes, potatoes and low fat cow cheese. It was great to my stomach(especially the breads); it caused no pain, only gerd, bloating and ibs... So now I've quit those and trying gluten free as described above.. switched like 2 weeks ago.
As a result I have much less gerd, bloating and ibs, almost none at all. However, my regular pain and hunger like sensation is back, 2 hours after each meal. Usually kicks in when I start drinking anything. It's like the stomach finishes digesting much quicker and it immediately gives me that painful hunger sensation.
The breads seemed to keep it busy longer, it was soothing.
So I don't really know whether I should keep going gluten free or come back to wheat sometimes.
Also, all those supplements and herbal teas started to annoy me, it stressful because they are so many and I've been taking them daily for 2 months
Regards,
Alex
ines6375 alex48792
Posted
Your diet seems very good, only peppers (bell peppers and spicy peppers, something about the pepper family) are on the red list. I can't tell you why but I am sure you can find on google. Also I would be careful with the olives, it really depends how they are conserved. The ph level of fermented green olives is between 3 and 4, this is too low.
What did you stop eating potatoes? They are excellent for gastritis and gluten-free. I eat them all the time, even now. You can also find gluten-free oatmeal. If you are in the US, bob redmill makes some. For bread, I use the gluten-free bread from the brand "food for life", their english muffins are delicious! They also have a good rice-based bread (better toasted).
Do you make your own broth for your chicken soup? I made some the other day using the bones from an organic plain roasted chicken (from whole foods). I started my broth with sauteed carrots and celery, than I added the water, the bones, one bay leaf, salt, some fresh thyme and rosemary, and I simmered everything for 3 hours. It was delicious! Supposedly broth has good properties for healing the GI tract, I don't know if it is true, but at least it tastes good. I used it to make a chicken soup by adding fresh carrots, fresh celery (I threw out the ones used to make the broth), rice and cubed chicken breast.
alex48792 ines6375
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Yes, i've heard about peppers too, but they seem ok, as well as olives, i'll pay attention more closely whether they trigger anything.
i don't use a separate broth for my soup, i just put the ingredients in and boil them.. i'm a guy and i hate cooking lol, just trying to keep it simple.
i'm in Eu and in my country gluten free versions are quite pricy, for breads like 6 x normal. Didn't look for gluten free oats yet.
i'll retry potatoes, boiled and juiced. Sometimes i just forget about some foods, not yet used to keep a food diary.
I'm thinking about trying a probiotic again, just not decided about the brand. Hope to find something effectie and non contaminated ofc. Maybe some enzymes, w/o protease - heard it's not good for gastritis.
and also retrying slippery elm. Last time it was giving me pain down my esophagus, but now i'm trying caps.
Hope to see some progress again.
alex48792
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I wonder what's the PH of the coconut water, as I use to sip it sometimes.
Oh and forgot to mention avocados, they're great, I eat one/day or every other day and feels soothing
P.S. Have you tryed Swedish bitters? I saw one made out of 50 herbs at my local shop. I wonder whether it's worth it, being so many herbs in there I think there's a high chance some will irritate the gut...