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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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  • robert49178
    robert49178 ines6375

    Posted

    Has anyone had any success with coconut butter in aleviating gastritis? To be sure, coconut butter, not oil. I eat this by the spoonful. The pain -- or much of it -- vanishes immediately. I have sustained relief for hours.  

    As it is high in fat, however, I worry that its effect might only be a mask -- perhaps it might overall delay recovery (?)

    BTW, thank you INES6375 for starting a very valuable discussion.  I hope you continue to have a nice recovery.    

    • ines6375
      ines6375 robert49178

      Posted

      Hi Robert,

      Why do you think it might delay recovery?

      If you feel good with it it sounds like a good sign to me.

      Personally coconut fat makes me feel nauseous.

    • ines6375
      ines6375 robert49178

      Posted

      Well you are right to be cautious, some foods feel good just after you eat them but they are irritating on the long term (like dairy). Also fat is usually not recommended. The best thing to do to be sure is to avoid the coconut fat a few days and wait that your stomach feels good then try it and note how your stomach feels in the following hours and at night. If you are not convinced, repeat the experiment 2 or 3 times.
  • nicole69924
    nicole69924 ines6375

    Posted

    Hi all,

    I'm so grateful for this forum. I've had gastritis no pylori for many years. Its severity comes and goes but it's constantly there. I'm back on the nexium,carafate and Zantac. Trying my.best to follow a strict diet too. 

    Has any heard of or tried Siberian pine nut oil? 

    Also, how likely... Does anyone know is mild chronic gastritis likely to develop into more severe types of gastritis such as atrophic or even worse!?  

    I am also starting dgl, probiotics and digestive enzymes.

    Nicole 

    • lady14
      lady14 nicole69924

      Posted

      I am wondering whether anybody has had sucessful experience taking PPI's and DGL at the same time. I'm afraid by taking both at the same time, their effects may cancel each other.
    • ines6375
      ines6375 lady14

      Posted

      I took both the same day but not at the same moment: I took dexilant first thing in the morning than DGL before lunch, snack and dinner. 
    • ines6375
      ines6375 nicole69924

      Posted

      Somebody in this thread tried the pine nut oil. I was personally not convinced by the reviews on Amazon. 
    • mermaid62
      mermaid62 ines6375

      Posted

      I have just sent off for the pine nut oil as I seem to have tried almost everything natural and am having another bad flare of gastritis after a good spell when I got it under good control. Unfortunately I ate some chocolate when I was under a week of stress - bad idea of course!

      I have also sent off for some more Zinc carnosine, as I know it's supposed to be good.

    • jayne22513
      jayne22513 mermaid62

      Posted

      Have you tried drinking fresh cabbage juice? Not pleasant I grant you, but it eased my gastritis. 
  • nicole69924
    nicole69924 ines6375

    Posted

    I.feel your pain. I'm.constantly worried about this too! Anxiety and.gastritis go.together!!  I sent.off.for pine.oil.to.test it.out and the book ines suggested. Last night I.used a.hot water.bottle and aromatherapy oils to.try and.soothe the.pain. 
    • Dreaming
      Dreaming nicole69924

      Posted

      Yes, Nicole, along with depression and just feeling exhausted.

      Good day, then not so good days

      Sleepless nights.

      Please let this madness end.

      Body please remember who you use to be and return.

    • Dreaming
      Dreaming nicole69924

      Posted

      Yes, Nicole, along with depression and just feeling exhausted.

      Good day, then not so good days

      Sleepless nights.

      Please let this madness end.

      Body please remember who you use to be and return.

  • nicole69924
    nicole69924 ines6375

    Posted

    Tomorrow will buy cabbage!!  Do I boil it? Add anything??! Thanks!! I ditched my holistic stuff today and just took the nexium, carafate and pep c I found the whole concoction was making me sick.
    • ines6375
      ines6375 nicole69924

      Posted

      Cabbage as a cure for gadtritis must be taken as fresh juice. It eases stomach pain but I am not sure the side effects are worth it: hypothyroidy, bad breath, gas, ...
    • jayne22513
      jayne22513 nicole69924

      Posted

      I had more relief from raw cabbage juice and less side effects than from PPIs. Check it out on google. Some very interesting studies. I mix it with pear. It's not lovely to drink, but when I'm in so much pain I would try anything to take it away.
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