How I cured my gastritis
Posted , 375 users are following.
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
eva50028 ines6375
Posted
Hi Ines stop taking Nexium and aloe vera for my inflammation of gastritis and esophagitis.
Drink some cabbage juice because of my pain on my right side. Ate meatloaf that had little bit of bell pepper onion and garlic yesterday. Could not breathe this morning so I took Benadryl. Don't know what to do please respond.
Fortune7216 ines6375
Posted
I think this is the most informative information about gastritis that I can found in the internet. I will like to share my personal experience and hopefully it encourages everyone to be strong and overcome gastritis.
I have suffered from gastritis a few times in my life and I had quickly recovered from it.
It was only Sep 2017 that i have suffered another gastritis. i did gastroscopy, colonoscopy and ultrasound as I continue to feel bad after taking lansoprazole. The scopes and ultrasound confirmed that i was suffering from gastritis and nothing else.
I continue to take lansoprazole for 1-2 weeks and it control my symptoms. However, I know I have not recovered fully. Unknowingly, I did not control my diet and I suffered several attacks. After each attack, I will restart my lansoprazole for 1-2 weeks. I even tried seeing a different doctor but it didn't help... I continued to feel a discomfort at my upper abdominal but it did not really affect me.
Fast forward to Mar 2018, one day, i suffered another attack. I do not know why I suffered from the attack, it could be I didn't recover fully or eaten something that irritates my stomach. I really don't know.
I went to see my Dr again. He suggested that I try Dexilant. I took up his advice and also requested to see a specialist. The specialist did a blood test and another gastroscopy to obtain some biopsies for culture test. Blood test showed my other organs are normal. Culture test show I am h. pylori negative but i have a mild inflammation (gastritis). The inflammation could be due to GERD.
Today, I am writing this post is because it has been about 2 months since i have taken Dexilant. I have to say I am on the verge of full recovery.
During this 2 months, I have read ines6375's post. It gives me strength whenever I feel down about my symptoms. The recovery was "painful" and slow but do not give up. Be discipline about what you eat and drink. Remember to take your medicine. You will recover.
What i learnt from ines6375. Dexilant is really the best PPI. I have tried omeprazole and lansoprazole since Sep 2017. I can say the fastest improvement is when I took Dexilant (60mg). It is the most effective.
I have also tried DGL Licorice. I won't say it is effective. I cannot feel the difference despite taking it for 1-2 months.
I have tried probiotic. The brand claimed to be dual-coat, more effective to 'deliver' the probiotic to your digestive system. i think it helps as it did improve my symptom.
I have tried manuka honey. The UMF is 16 and 20. I think this is the next best thing after Dexilant. I feel better whenever I took it. Take note, it has to be "UMF 16 and above" Manuka honey. I see the improvement within a week. 2-3 teaspoon per day.
To summarise, i felt Dexilant, Manuka Honey and probiotics helped me the most in my fight against gastritis/Gerd. As what ines6375 mentioned, you have to control your diet too. My specialist's advice, no spicy food, no coffee/tea, no alcohol/liquor/spirits. No late dinner and supper. Meals should be taken 3 hrs before your sleep. Plain food will be great. Also, sleep on your left or with a wedge. You feel comfortable too.
In the past 2 months, I have not suffered any attack and going to recover soon. The numbing/cramping feeling at the abdominal has reduced to a point sometimes I don't feel it at all. I hope my next post will be announcing to everyone I have recovered. Cheers!!
Note: If you are going for a gastroscopy, please tell your Dr when you last had your PPI as it may affect the CLO Test for h.pylori.
yvonne_90682 ines6375
Posted
yvonne_90682
Posted
Fortune7216 yvonne_90682
Posted
i do not know where you are from. Most Doc should be able to prescribe dexilant. It can be quite costly.
So far, I didn't take slippery elm.
vikrant55 ines6375
Posted
I have been recently diagnosed with gastritis and hiatal hernia, along with mild H Pyroli infection. I was getting burning pain in upper part of the stomach for one month before i went to the hospital. although, the doctor said that hernia is nothing to worry about, the pain is only due to the acid in stomach and first they need to make sure my stomach is okay, before they prescribe antibiotics to treat h pyroli. so they put me on esomeprazole for one month. instrestingly , the doctor also prescribed an anxiety medication called buspin, even though i never told him any problems about anxiety, although i get stressed easily sometimes, but it is not a problem for me, i don't know why he prescribed that to me for 15 days. but i will take it and lets see how it works.
until now i was eating all kinds of things, spicy food, junk food, occasional beer, no smoking. But now after doing some research i will start from the absolute minimum and slowly incorporate the following items in my diet:
Vegetables:
>carrot
>spinach
>broccoli
>potato
Fruits:
>banana
>apple
Grains:
>rice
Juices:
>cabbage juice
Herbs:
>camomile tea
>manuka honey
Meats:
>chicken
>fish
Spices:
>minimal salt
Supplements:
>probiotics
>digestive enzymes
>zinc l-carnosine
>yogurt
Medicines:
>omeprazole , or,
>esomeprazole
I will start from zero and slowly add these one after another so see how it feels. i will also add or remove items according to the results. lets see how it goes, hoping for a fast and complete recovery. right now i am just taking esomeprazole, curd, vegetables, rice , and buspin(for 15 days)
robert35353 ines6375
Posted
I was diagnosed with Gastritis back in February. Extreme burning in my stomach and lots of bloating and gas build up. The doctor prescribed Zantac, Prilosec or (two 20mg pills a day), and an anxiety medication. The side effects of both Zantac and Prilosec were horrible. So I searched everywhere online to find anything that would help. Here's a few things that work for me and seem to make everything manageable.
Foods: Bananas, Eggs, Mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, boneless skinless chicken breasts, white bread, lettuce, skim milk cheese, feta, baked chips, Avacado, Onions, Garlic, Sea Salt or Pink Hymilayan Salt, Virgin Olive Oil.
Remedies: Camomile Tea helps relax, juicing low acid fruits, Probiotics with a minimum of 30 billion cultures and 12 strains. The best thing that worked amazing was Siberian Pine Nut Oil. It's a little pricey but it worked, my acid was down and I was not gassy at all. However once I stopped taking it, the pain came back a couple weeks later. I would recommend trying this and taking 3 teaspoons a day before each meal for 3 weeks and then just once or twice a day after that.
Bads: Most processed foods, Almost all fast food, fried foods, greasy foods, red meats, whole milk, Alcohol, Highly acidic vegetables and fruits.
I have my gastritis under control. The trick is to get your stomach acid to an Alkaline state. 60% Alkaline and 40% Acid should help keep bacteria from growing and spreading.
robert35353
Posted
I am also off all PPI's and acid reducers, I currently only take Probiotics and eat very healthy. I've lost 70 lbs since it started. I'M LOOKING AND FEELING HEALTHIER
vikrant55 robert35353
Posted
michael86733 robert35353
Posted
scott20738 michael86733
Posted
eric49486 scott20738
Posted
I agree with Scott, that was my doctor told me and has been my experience too. Dr. Amy's strict diet is for 2 weeks only, after that you need to gradually get back to normal diet.
robert35353 vikrant55
Posted
I'm not under weight. Lol. Look here I eat just fine. I just don't eat greasy foods or red meats really. I eat plenty of veggies and chicken. The fact that everyone on here says to go back to my old diet and no one even knows what my old diet was....So basically you are all saying for me to go back to eating junk food and fast food and drinking sodas all the time.... Maybe you all should have read my full message
ana20464 ines6375
Posted
Hello,
I would like to know if you are cured.
I have had gastritis for many years. I did have H. pylori once and took the antibiotics. I do check ups every year with endoscopy and colonoscopy. The Gastroenerologist always finds " antro gastritis " he does the biopsy for H. pylori and it comes out negative.
I hate the Doctor since he tells me that I have nothing and gives me anti acids and Ranitidine. I just bought Zinc ( 50mg) and there is no Carsinine to find here in Lima, Perú.
I have bought the book you recommended; please help me to get cured with your advice. Thank you
Fortune7216 ana20464
Posted