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
jennifer62714 ines6375
Posted
Hello Ines,
I guess my question is... are you totally healed? or are you still trying to manage the condition with diet. In other words, somebody that's healed (let's say my mom and sisters) don't have to do any of these because they are totally healthy. Do you get to the point where you stop all these cares and move on with your life as if you had never had anything? (by this I don't imply to eat junk, but just be able to enjoy eating out at a restaurant, drinking some coffe once or twice per week, enjoy french fries once a month, etc,) Are you totally healed?
Thank you.
ines6375 jennifer62714
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alice10848 ines6375
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Hi everyone am still forced to write urging you. All to try the water therapy . I can challenge you that its working it has worked for me as well as my friend who was very excited to tell me about the therapy which I had already started. When she told me experience it confirmed my doubts as I wasn't sure it was the water I was taking that was making me acid free. After confirming with my friend I made sure to take the water as per TB Joshua 's timetable e.i 1.5ltrs in the morning around 5 to 6 or even early if u can. 3/4 ltr between 11 and 12 and another 3/4 ltr between 3 to 6pm or anytime about there. This is working please try it by 3 to 5 days u will notice the difference. Am hv bn fine I hv mild symptoms when I overdo by eating out and when I eat carelessly. U shd continue with the diet of free acidic food but take the water. You will be fine.
joanne84073 alice10848
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elaine20904 ines6375
Posted
After years, various test and more, I wasn't able to find the cause of my gastritis. I bought lots of natural remedy's that were recommended in this site. It helped but didn't heal it. I got thinking one day that anxiety causes more stomach acid. I decided to take an anxiety pill and it worked. I was so bad that I would upheave and get flu like symptoms. I lost 25 lbs. For those that tried everything, consider this. i hope this helps someone!
papote53 elaine20904
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cinder6977 ines6375
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am very intrigued by your information. I have similar issues and I'm wondering how you have been doing? I'm going to try what supplements you described as helpful. Since my doctor's can't find anything wrong with me so far. Please let me know how you're doing and any advice you can give me would be most appreciated.
Thank you so much!
Caterina912 ines6375
Posted
Has anyone had side pain with gastritis? I'm thinking that maybe nexium caused it? But it's discomfort and sometimes down to my leg. I'm concerned and scared.
cinder6977 Caterina912
Posted
Cathypic, yes I also have left pain under my ribs and felt more in my back. I have not been diagnosed with gastritis, but my symptoms sure could possibly fit. So I'm going to try some supplements that was suggested on here to see if these help. I too was very worried and scared.
However, I've had just about every test done.
I've been on PPIs for the last 10 years and I agree I think this has taken it's toll on my digestive system. I started have weird sinus and ear pain, So doc put my on antibiotics for 5 weeks for sinus infection. For the last two years I've been fighting for recovery. Many specialist, MRI, CT, tons of blood work, stool tests, EUS,EGD, colonoscopy. Immune specialist, etc.
So far they say gallbladder has stones, DDD, fibromyalgia, stress...the pain in my left side of the middle back and stomach definitely seems to be related. They've looked at just about every organ and found no problems. So try not to scare yourself like I have. I'm still trying to find answers. This is the 1st day of taking the new supplements so hopefully this helps at least the digestive system. I will post in a week or so of my outcome. Please don't worry it only makes it worse. Trust me I know it's easier said then done. Take care!
Caterina912 cinder6977
Posted
Thank you for your response. I have sono and ultrasound tomorrow morning. Hoping all goes well. I had bloodwork done less than 3 months ago so they wouldn't do it again due to insurance reasons.
I stopped the meds.. but not sure if that's it. I'm very very nervous. My girlfriend is trying to convince me it's gas.
susan556 ines6375
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jennypangan ines6375
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hello everyone. i am blessed i found this forum. i have been diagnosed with hyperemic gastritis and esophagitis last year and after 7 months it recurred because of my neglect to eat the right diet. since the onset of my gastritis, i have only taken omeprazole 40mg before breakfast and 150mg zantac at night as previously prescribed by my doctor. but i strived hard to heal naturally so i stopped taking the meds after two weeks and started healing naturally through healthy diet. i must say that my symptoms got better by eating plenty of ripe bananas after every meal and cinsuming quinoa salad at night. but i developed a nagging cough after two weeks of treating myself naturally because it's summer already here in our city. i went to the doctor to get myself checked and she prescribed antibiotics for 7 days to treat my upper respiratory infection. the antibiotic is so strong that it triggered my gastritis again. i lost several pounds in the past month because i altered my diet. i'm worried because people are noticing that i shed some pounds and i know that weight loss is part of having this grim disease. i just have to be strong and finish the antibiotics to cure my infection and hopefully i will be able to cure my gastritis as well. i am currently taking vitamin supplements C and B Complex to keep me from being deficient and weak. Has anyone have the same supplement that I am having? i am interested if the vits really work. thank you everyone for ur stories. it helps me a lot.
jennann jennypangan
Posted
I did try a lot of different supplements but they didn't seem to help and I was concerned they might actually be irritating my stomach. I am definitely not any worse off having stopped them.
jennypangan jennann
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elaine20904 jennypangan
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If nothing seems to help consider gluten. I was really bad. Had issues for years, test, etc... On top of the gastro issues, I developed a bad painful rash. I asked if maybe I was gluten intolerant and the doctor didn't think so. One day out of desperation, I tried going gluten free. My stomach is in the healing process. Once I stopped eating gluten, I realized dairy was an issue. I'm also taking anti-depressants to cut down on my stomach acids. Gluten intolerance can also cause anxiety and depression. Bodies lack of nutritional absorption leads to so many issues. I have found the slippery elm, DGL and digestive enzymes very helpful.