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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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  • matt85910
    matt85910 ines6375

    Posted

    Hi 

    Thats where I have an issue, before I started this I rarely ate any fruits apart from banana as I just cant stand the taste... Ive since tried about 8 fruits to see if there any more I like and, apart from apples, there really isnt. lol

    Might see about the cabbage juice next, need to get a good blender first though.   Invested in some sock eye salmon for dinner tonight, as its right up there on the list for certain nutrients, but my god its expensive!  

    • ines6375
      ines6375 matt85910

      Posted

      Which fruits have you tried? I really love all the fruits allowed for gastritis: cantaloupe, watermelon, papaya, banana. Recentely I had them in smoothies mixed with ice and it was even better, especially papaya-cantaloupe-banana.

      If you eat enough vegetables, you probably don't need fruits. My favorite juice with the juicer (I am very happy with the compact breville) is carrots-celery-fennel. I have it almost every day. Carrots are supposedly good for the repair of tissues but most of all they are so sweet, the perfect juice base. I gave up cabbage juice, it makes me feel too tired and horrible, but I find steamed savoy cabbage very soothing without the bad effects of raw cabbage.

      I keep salmon for special occasions and in small quantitites only, it is too fatty, also there are the problems with all the contaminants: heavy metal in farmed salmon, pollution in wild salmon. Yesterday I had super fresh baked flounder (washed then dried with paper towels) with a little bit of olive oil, a tiny bit of fresh thyme, 15 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, it was heavenly.

    • belledizon
      belledizon ines6375

      Posted

      Hi Ines! I'm reading the trend and was amazed how you manage to cure your gastritis which I am currently suffering and not happy about it. How are you today? Hope you reply. Thanks.

  • matt85910
    matt85910 ines6375

    Posted

    I tried a lot, pinapple, mango, bluberries, blackcurrants etc.  I need to invest in a new juicer as a lot of the juice is lost in the one I have.   I like most vegetables, runner beans especially, but currently have at least 3 a day.   Beatroot, Cabbage, broccoli, Green Beans. etc.   Im going to be eating a lot more fish, salmon, cod, haddock and then try a few others maybe.  One thing I really need to identify is foods that are high calorie as I am stuggling to get 1500 a day with the foods I am eating never mind 2000.   Thats my next goal.  Need to get some of this weight backmon that I lost.
    • ines6375
      ines6375 matt85910

      Posted

      All the fruits you mention are too acidic, they hurt the stomach. If you wish to try fruit juices again I suggest papaya, watermelon, melon and cantaloupe.

      Yes it is not easy to have enough calories, especially for a man since you need more. I don't loose weight anymore but I stopped exercising too. If I exercise I get too hungry and I can't controle what I eat as well anymore. The problem is that the easiest way to get a lot of calories is too eat fat but fat causes inflammation of the stomach which is what we are trying to avoid.

  • matt85910
    matt85910 ines6375

    Posted

    Has anyone ever had issues with eating warm soup?  I had the same meal yesterday as today, that being Chicken Broth with white rice.  Had the same last week and it was fine every time, today its set my gastritis off again, maybe I had it a bit too hot, but I thought that if it was not too hot for the mouth, and it really isnt, than it was okay for the stomach. Or do you really have to have it luke warm at best?
    • ines6375
      ines6375 matt85910

      Posted

      Sometimes I am so hungry that I eat the food too hot, and it is not good for sure. But I don't have problems with the food just being warm.

      Is it a home made broth? If it is not home made, check the ingredients, usually chicken broth contains garlic, onions, black peppers which are all enough to set off my gastritis. When I make clear broth soup, I just saute the vegetables with olive oil and salt to give flavor then I add the hot water, and rice and cook it. You can make your own broth too with chicken bones but it takes more time.

    • ines6375
      ines6375 matt85910

      Posted

      Too much fibers set off my gastritis too, are your vegetables well cooked?
  • matt85910
    matt85910 ines6375

    Posted

    Its a fresh one off the fridge cabinets at the supermarket.  The only difference between the last 3 times I had it and today was the temperature, I dont think I let it cool down enough as I was so hungry!  I think maybe Ill stick to salads and salmon... but have just been tryung to get as many calories down me as possible.

    Any tips for calming the stomach after having soup thats too hot for it?

    • ines6375
      ines6375 matt85910

      Posted

      Being strict with the diet (low fat and low fiber help too), DGL licorice and time.
    • ines6375
      ines6375 matt85910

      Posted

      I think the soup was a good idea but I would skip the broth from the supermarket. And if you can't wait for it to cool down, put a few ice cubes in it, I do that for my chamomille tea sometimes.
  • matt85910
    matt85910 ines6375

    Posted

    Yeah I take 2 DGL Licorice per day, 3 Zinc Carnosine and 2 Slippery Elm.
    • ines6375
      ines6375 matt85910

      Posted

      Which one relieves your pain better? Slippery elm or DGL licorice? I would take more often of the one that is helpful. In my case DGL licorice works better, I take it every time my stomach hurts, sometimes in the middle of the night too but I try to keep the amount reasonable, never more than 4-5 per day.

      Have you considered seeing a doctor and taking medication? PPI and carafate can be very helpful and more efficient in relieving the pain.

  • matt85910
    matt85910 ines6375

    Posted

    Have you got a good recipe for Home made Gastritis Soup?  Im not a great cook, but I can follow recipies.
    • ines6375
      ines6375 matt85910

      Posted

      I have a lot of recipes. You can do all the soups you find online as long as you avoid irritating ingredients like onions, spices, garlic, ginger. If you want a quick clear broth chicken soup, I would saute the vegetables with the chicken in a little bit of olive and salt to brown them and develop the flavor, then I would add rice and water and cook slowly 20 minuts. If you can tolerate herbs, add fresh thyme and 1 bay leaf, it gives some nice perfume, you can add it at the beginning.

      If you are feeling really bad I would skip the browning and the herbs, keep the level of salt low and just boil everything until it is cooked.

      Another one I like a lot that is a bit similar: cube some carrots, parsnips, turnips, zucchini squash, saute in olive oil and salt with fresh thyme, barley and water, cook until barly is cooked, then add a tbsp of white miso. You can skip the miso if you don't like it.

      Pureed soup are very soothing: butternut squash alone, or with carrots, or if you don't mind bitter: zucchini and turnips. Green soup: potatoes, green peas and spinach is very good (add the spinach at the end, they need very little cooking). Cauliflower alone is very good too. Except the spinach, you have to cook the vegetables until they are overcooked then puree them. If you saute them or bake them first (except peas and spinach) it develops the flavor but makes them more irritating.

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