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
alice10848 ines6375
Posted
I read that when you are ageing the stomach produces less acid. could these symptoms be that of less acid? Am 58 in two weeks.
I take one litre of warm water every morning and it helps in digestion as I open my bowels soon after drinking the water. I try not to be anxious but still my worry is if am going to be healed. I have had this problem for over 30 years now. Can it really go away? Am seeting my GP on 24th this month.
ines6375 alice10848
Posted
I don't feel good with fatty fish either. If I eat salmon I try to have half the portion I would have with white fish and that is ok but when I was trying to get better, I avoided it as much as possible.
The pantaprozole is a PPI that reduces the production of acid by your stomach. So you do have low acid but it is not from your age but from the medication. Are you taking it to cure gastritis or just against heartburn?
I don't know the other medications but from what I read online domperidon makes your digestion go faster, the other ones help with acid reflux. All these medications influence your digestion one way or the other either on purpose or from their side effects. I think one first step towards being healed and recover a natural digestion is to see which medication you can diminish or better stop taking while on a strict diet (low fat too) and still feel good. Don't stop them too fast though, PPI must be stopped gradually over a long period of time.
I don't know if your problems can go away completely, but I think it is worth trying. If you are like me, you might have to be somewhat careful with your diet forever though. I feel good now but I know there are some things I can't eat. I think it is a small price to pay for a good quality of life medication-free.
emma666 ines6375
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ines6375 emma666
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I had acid reflex when my gastritis was the worst, with a horrible metallic taste in my mouth all the time. I get stomach pain with a lot of things.
emma666 ines6375
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ines6375 emma666
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With the pregnancy, my doctor suggested I take calcium and B9 though. Thankfully I found one brand of Calcium supplements that seems to be ok: and I seem to tolerate the B vitamins prescribed by the doctor. Usually I don't tolerate any vitamins.
emma666 ines6375
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I'm getting myself in such a state with my health at the moment which is the worst thing. Its really hard not to let it run your life.
Just going to eat sensibly and not try anything else. I'm so glad you put your gastritis story on here, you have helped a lot of poorly people.
ines6375 alice10848
Posted
Have you checked your B12 levels? I don't know for how long you have been using pantaproxole but long term use of PPI can cause B12 deficiency and B12 deficiency can cause nerve damage. I thought of that because you said you have problems with your nerves in your feet.
sirivinay1786 ines6375
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I agree with Ines that supplements could be irritating. I was taking vitamins D, E, B and probiotics initially but I cut down and stopped everything except vitamin D (I have to take it as I have a deficiency) and I am feeling so much better. I agree that if you eat healthy you probably do not need supplements unless you have a deficiency. The vitamin D also hurts me, but I take a dose only once a week (60,000 iu) so I can tolerate it.
sirivinay1786
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sirivinay1786 emma666
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I agree with Ines that supplements could be irritating. I was taking vitamins D, E, B and probiotics initially but I cut down and stopped everything except vitamin D (I have to take it as I have a deficiency) and I am feeling so much better. I agree that if you eat healthy you probably do not need supplements unless you have a deficiency. The vitamin D also hurts me, but I take a dose only once a week (60,000 iu) so I can tolerate it.
emma666 sirivinay1786
Posted
Are you getting better now without taking any supplements apart from the vitamin D?
sirivinay1786 emma666
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Try to vent out your frustration or divert yourself. Bottling it up will make you feel even more anxious. These forums and people are so much of a help, you know there are others who are going through the same thing!
I feel much better now that I have I stopped the supplements. I know people say vitamin E is good for the stomach lining etc, or that probiotics is good etc but all these days when I took the supplements I didnt feel anything good was happening. The only difference I felt was with the D as I had severe back pain due to deficiency and that has gone now after supplementing with D (through injections initially and then supplement).
emma666 sirivinay1786
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acakes emma666
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sirivinay1786 acakes
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sirivinay1786 emma666
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alice10848 ines6375
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Thank you very much for your quick response. Well I can say am trying to take your advice and am sure it will help me. But let me ask you; I was told that the problem that I have is that my stomach produce more acid than normal and that even if I change my diet the problem will still be there. What do you say about that.
The medicine that I have taken for a long time is omeprazole till I discovered that it was doing nothing to my problem then the doctor changed to Pakleoflat and (domperidone with pontoprazole) in one capsule. I have not yet checked my B12 levels yet but will do so. So I dont know if the effects are the same with the two drugs: omeprazole and domperidone with pontoprazole. The nerve problem started sometime back but not as long as the gastritis problem. At first I was taking Amyplitrine and it started giving me dryiness in the mouth so they changed to Gabapentin. Since I started taking chamomile tea I have seen some changs in the nerves that I dont take the drugs everyday as I sued to. I sometimes sleep without taking drugs and I feel good throughout the night which was not happenning before as I had to take the tablet every morning and every evening. I am sure the drugs are for gastritis. I will try to start reducing the drug intake and concentrate on the diet and will do as you say reducing them slowly. Can I use Olive Oil for cooking in small quantity. Like frying fish or chicken with it?
ines6375 alice10848
Posted
When my stomach was irritated, it was producing excess acid too. My uncle who is a doctor told me that it is a problem in the family and that I should take a drug similar to omeprazole forever. But with the diet I managed to get my stomach working normally and producing a normal level of acid. As long as I stay careful I am fine without medications. I read reviews of patients of Dr Koufman online who got the same result. But one must be patient as it often takes many months (one patient of Dr Koufman said it took him one year and a half but he had very serious problems). Unfortunately I can't tell you 100% that it will work for you but I think it is worth trying.
Olive oil is an excellent choice for cooking if you don't use high temperatures (the oil should not be smoking). That is what I use too.