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
rose98900 ines6375
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dolores07100 ines6375
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ines6375 dolores07100
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amy_Gerd ines6375
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Can you tell me if barlett pear is ok to eat? I read somewhere that said Asian pear is lower in acid but I am still afraid to try.
Also, I am confused on whether to eat whole grain or not? Some people said no grains while you have gastritis and others said whole grains help your stomach heal. I wonder if I can eat whole grain cereal which hardly has any sugar.
Also, do you use coconut oil? I read that some people put coconut oil on their sweet potatoes because it helps to heal the stomach. I wonder if it will affect my cholesterol level if I use it.
Also, what is the purpose of Evamor water. It does help to heal your stomach?
Thanks for all your help.
Amy
ines6375 amy_Gerd
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I recommend eating whole grains because you need calories. Avoid harsh fibers (like wheat bran) though that are mechanically irritating. I like having oatmeal for breakfast, it is very soothing, and white rice regularly (I like rice in my soup too). It helped me get enough calories from my low fat diet and recover nicely.
I don't use coconut oil. I tried to avoid fat which delays digestion and promotes inflammation of the stomach and gerd. Also I don't feel so good with it. If I really need some fat, I use mostly olive oil (which is good for your cholesterol).
Evamore water feels soothing, especially for the throat if you have a sore throat due to acid reflux. I don't know if it really helps to heal, maybe, it does not hurt. I think what helps to heal the most is to avoid anything irritating by taking medication to reduce stomach acid and following a strict diet, so the body can heal itself.
Marc15981 ines6375
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are you on PPIs now ?
ines6375 Marc15981
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I suspect I have some reflux at night but it does not bother me as long as I sleep on the wedge; to help with it I have been meaning to try gastrazyme recommended by my chiropractor.
Marc15981 ines6375
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I did the PPI s treatment , but stopped abruptly, and the rebound is horrible.
Please advise
Should I start the PPI s again ?
ines6375 Marc15981
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gaynor61068 ines6375
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ines6375 gaynor61068
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But if I eat irritating food, I feel a discomfort immediately so I avoid it. I am staying on a relaxed diet (I eat more fat than before) for now. Also I suspect I have low level acid reflux at night. My feeling about it is that recovery is not black and white, one day you are sick and the next you are recovered, but a slow process with different stages. I am at a stage where I feel good but I need to keep taking care of myself so it stays that way.
When I was in pain I remember wondering if it would ever go away too, it does go away with proper treatment and time. It is normal to worry, use your worry as a fuel to do everything you can to get better one day at the time.
gaynor61068 ines6375
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ines6375 gaynor61068
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I noticed a small difference with pepzin GI than it seemed to plateau for a while. After three months on it I had a bad meal and I felt that I went back to square one so I gave up on natural supplements and took dexilant 60 mg (2 months on dexilant 60 mg followed by two months decreasing the dose progressively). That did the trick. I don't take anything anymore and I feel good now.
gaynor61068 ines6375
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What's Dexilant? Is that a PPI like Omeprezole?
I bet you're over the moon you're better!
ines6375 gaynor61068
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Dexilant is a PPI.
I was happy to be better, then I started worrying about other things ;-)
gaynor61068 ines6375
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Guess I'll just have to see how I get on. Are there any foods you recommend? I'm not good with gluten either x
ines6375 gaynor61068
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I described at the beginning of this thread my diet plan.
gaynor61068 ines6375
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ines6375 gaynor61068
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jayne22513 gaynor61068
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gaynor61068 jayne22513
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ines6375 gaynor61068
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yaseen16900 ines6375
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Not sure if anyone is active still here .Be great if someone is .
Ive been diagnosed wit severe nodular gastritis en hemorrhaging in the stomach after they done endoscopy top 1 ,ive been prescribed 2 antibiotics en topzole en gaviscon en reuterina as antibiotics caused running stomach . I am still in discomfort but discharged from hospital was in hospital for 3 days where i was put on a bland diet en a drip which they put nexium ,buscopan en anti biotics i felt bit better relief from pain but once at home experiencing discomfort en constantly hungry ,looking for ways or foods to heal ,any advice be great .the pain does vecome debilitating at times en i hate going to ER .