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
ray93617 ines6375
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matthew59368 ines6375
Posted
Looks like it's been about three years since you were cured. Are you still cured? If so, do you have to stick with the diet and supplements you mentioned, or can you eat more "normally" now without causing symptoms?
ines6375 matthew59368
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I am still cured, tolerating more and more foods slowly but still being careful. I don't take supplements anymore.
ManageIT ines6375
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Neoison555 ManageIT
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ManageIT Neoison555
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jennann ManageIT
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I would also like to know how whey protein works for people. I tried rice protein powder and I thought it was a bit irritating to my stomach. I was also vegetarian until recently - I started eating tuna because I found it so difficult to find vegetarian sources of protein that didn't also have fat.
trisha56811 ines6375
Posted
I was diagnosed with gastritis and had a biopsy done. Came back I have reactive/ chemical gastropathy. I've tried all meds PPI'S. And even pepcid which made me dizzy. I'm now trying carafate. Getting dizzy and nauseous. Not sure if I should stop since it's only first day. I'm super sensitive to taking anything. Losing all hope. Read on here about natural supplements you listed. Curious if they really do help and if there are side effects?
Neoison555 trisha56811
Posted
Hi, Carafate will make you constipated. But nausea and dizzy is a ppi h2blocker effect. Carafate is really intended to be used with an acid blocking drug. But if you can beat gastritis with carafate alone you are awesome. I've been at this for 3 months and still no big healing solution. I had the upper Gi scope done also and the Anesthesia mixing with acid blockers gave me anxiety and panic attacks. So keep strong you can been this.
papote53 trisha56811
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it sounds to me your dizzyness is anxiety, and not the medication. Stop thinking you are sensisitve to everything because is not helping you. If you believe you are, then you are or will be. ;-( Relax, listene to some soft music, watch a funny TV show or just take a walk. Read the Bible or a nice book. I was 100% healthy at 52 until a Doctor told me I was having a heart atack (which I wasn't), after that my life changed and not for the better. ;-(
karol98641 trisha56811
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How r u doing? Did u get relief with your symptoms ?
mariast papote53
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There are many ppl out there who are sensitive to medications. Dizziness is a common side effect of ppis.
scott20738 ines6375
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Hi Ines. You, and others, might find this article interesting. It's about new research that seems to link functional dyspepsia to stress. Apparently the stress causes physiological changes in the gut:
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4717131/stress-is-a-pain-in-the-gut/
papote53 scott20738
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scott20738 papote53
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Yep, I agree. I also liked the advice you gave the other person about trying to relax -- watching comedies and listening to soothing music. Try "Easy", by The Commodores.
Neoison555 papote53
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Yep, maybe stress didn't effect you before but with gastritis and ulcers brake the stomach down in a way that the slightest amount of stress can trigger acid giving you discomfort and pain. I would figure out ways to relax. Try a heating pad or warm bath. Try eating foods to promote serotonin production.
papote53 Neoison555
Posted
One good way is epson salt with warm water, it works for me. ;-) Scott, good times in the 70"s. " Commodores"