How I cured my gastritis

Hi Christine,

Have you tried to mix up the FODMAPs diet with the gastritis diet? Supposedly it helps reduce gas from bacterial activity.

I get my oat from bob's red mill, they have a gluten-free one. They sell it here in the US at whole foods, you can probably find it on amazon. Usually organic stores have that kind of things. But to be honest I switched to bob's red mill organic oat and I don't feel much of a difference, I am fine with it too.

Yes I think maple syrup is fine in reasonable amounts. You should feel it if it bothers you. Also I checked the IBS list from the John Hopkins white paper on digestive issues 2015, and they say maple syrup is fine too (contrarily to honey).

 

Eggs contain some fat. At first I was avoiding them because I was avoiding all fat but I reintroduced them as soon as I felt a little better. So it depends how you feel. If you are in pain, I would say to avoid them. If you feel better, they should be fine. I eat them every day now.

Nuts should be fine too in reasonable amount (also because of the fat).

Grapes are a bit acidic (ph level around 4 I think?). I just started eating them recently as it is harder to find ripe melon. I try to choose the sweetest ones.

Dairy means everything made of milk, so it does not include the eggs.

Hi Christine,

I don't follow FODMAP strictly but I keep it in mind so when I have some pain in my bowels I know which food to avoid. I avoid mostly beans, cabbage, lentils, and gluten (except for spelt even though sometimes it does give me a light reaction, not as bad as wheat though). I try to avoid dairy but sometimes I give in especially since my husband loves his cheddar. I keep all foods not good for me out of the house, but since there is always cheddar in the fridge, it sometimes ends up on my pasta or in my omelet.

Hi ...my advice for every ulcer patient especially when pain becomes recurrent:

1. Stop taking fried foods( fried meat or fish, plantain etc) or too oily meals (fried rice).

2. Avoid spicy foods(pepper meat ,pepper soup, etc)

3. Avoid frided hard/ crunchy snacks (chips, potato chips etc)

4. Avoid carbonated drinks! ( Coke, etc). They cause a lot of pain for an ulcer patient. Take plenty of water instead, or drink fresh milk 5. Avoid mint sweets (peppermint, etc).

6. Do away with orange drinks.

Do:

1. Take plenty of water. It helps to dilute the acid in your stomach .

2. Eat vegetable soup. 3. Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. E.g bananas, watermelon, avocado, cucumber, carrots and cabbage .

Personal experienced showed that antacids only give temporary relief or worsen ulcer because some contains mint.

Hi Mahesh,

Thank you for sharing.

What is progressive dyspepsia? What are your symptoms?

What is your BMI?

These digestive issues are very distressing. They impair one of our primal functions, the ability to feed ourselves. I wish there were more studies on how stress is related to digestive problems: either as a cause or as a consequence.

I used to work shortly in a clinic specialiazed in anorexia. The patients had to desperatly gain weight. What they were doing is give them nourishing meals/snacks at least 5 times a day and preventing them to exercise excessively. You can't really eat much fat since it makes you worse, or too big quantities, so my advice would be to eat often small meals, and shift your focus to making sure your meals contain anything you need (proteins, a little bit of fat, carbohydrates and vegetables/fruits for the vitamins) to be healthy. One of the things that feels really good is to have a fresh vegetable juice (carrots, romaine, celery, fennel). I have one almost every day and it really gives me a kick. About the exercise, I know it consumes calories but it is really good agains anxiety though. Regular cardio exercise has been proved to increase the amount of neurones in the hypothalamus region, to interfere with some damaging molecules generated by stress, and to change the map of which genes are active at any moment (genes linked to some diseases are more likely to be activated in peole who don't exercises). Even if you don't have the energy to really exercise, just a good walk can be helpful. Well this is my new year resolution.

I am feeling relatively good now. I was feeling perfectly good last week than we went to a weekend visiting relatives and I got tempted eating more acidic foods, and I had less control in the content of my meals. So I started having a little bit of acid reflux at night (just feeling some soreness in my throat in the morning) and feeling a little bit of soreness in my stomach. Since two days ago I am back on a strict diet and I feel that I am improving. The light acid reflux at night is mostly gone. It is funny I can see how I am doing just looking at my stools, but I will spare you the unappetizing details. This episode was nothing like what I had 6 months ago though. I haven't had any real pain or bad acid reflux for 5 months now.

 

Hello Ines!

Thanks indeed for your response.

Well By Progressive Dyspepsia, I mean Dyspepsia which is becomming worse day by day. Intially I used have indigestion occassionally but now its been more or less constant. Following are my symptoms :

1. Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (Silent Reflux) - since last couple of years. ( Although I realized the condition off late only )

2. Sleepless nights. Almost everynight I wake up in the middle  due to stomach discomfort. The pain is not severe but enough to wake me up.

3. Burning sensation in stomach occassionaly after bad meal ( spicy / fatty ).

4. Migrane type headache on right side. - once in a week or so. Occasionally I need to take migranil for relief.

5. Sluggish Bowel motion. I pass 5 to 6 times in a week. But ther's no fixed time ( Normally dont feel the urge in the morning.)

6. Weight Loss - I lost about 10 Kilos in last couple of months. It continues to decrease. I believe its due to restricted diet. Not fats, Very less non veg. Unable to eat full course meal due to discomfor tin stomach.

My Dctr has put me on PPI for almost 2 months now. He thinks it could be functional dyspepsia ( non ulcer type ). I will show him in coupe of weeks again.

My BMI now is around 22.Which is ok. But the concern is this trend of decreasing weight is not stopping. You are right Fats & excess meal makes my symptoms worse. I tried with small freq meals but still feeling of discomfort is there. Sleepless nights not working for it either.

About exercise, I was a regular Gym goer. Had fair muscle build too. But due the above health issue I just can't stand the exertion anymore. Walking is something I could try for sure.

I just hope with the Natural suppliments things would start settling down for me.

Its good to know your improved health status. This also encourages people like us, who are follwoing you, to keep going.  Would like to wish you complete recovery soon.

The dyspepsia worsens

 

This is very interesting Mahesh, I believe I have the same thing as you. I don't have gastritis anymore but every time I diverge from the diet, I start having the symptoms you describe (silent reflux at night, soreness in the stomach, pain after meals, stools becoming of a light color and more liquid, difficulties to sleep, no migraine thankfully). They get slowly worse as long as I eat things I shouldn't and then when I get back to the diet, they improve and after a few days I feel perfectly good again.

DGL might help you when you wake up with pain. I used to wake up with pain around 5 am every night and one tab of DGL would help me get back to sleep.

If I were you I would not worry about your weight. Since I started this diet I lost between 12 and 20 pounds (not sur what my starting weight was), then I gained back 8 pounds. My BMI is at 22.5 now, staying stable there now even though I feel like I eat a lot and add vegan butter to almost everything. A BMI of 22 is a healthy weight. I think it is more import to be in touch with your feelings and listen to when you are hungry or not, listen to the signals your body send you about what kind of food to eat, and try to eat a balanced diet with everything you need.

I did not exercise when I was in pain and unable to sleep, but the dog still needed her daily walks. Now that I feel fine most of the time I should exercise more since stress is likely involved with this condition. I hope you can avoid high stress in your daily life. I went through a very stressful period a few years ago, and this time coincide with the beginning of my troubles. I hope everything falls back in place with time and I can some day indulge in a larger variety of foods. Other things I am doing sometimes against stress are massages, swiming and MELT method but I should do it more regularly. It is not easy to pack everything in our busy lives.

Try to drink a lot when you feel you might have a migraine, or in general to prevent it. Migraine is sometimes caused by dehydration of the neurones. If you have diarrhea, you are more susceptible of being dehydrated.

 

Hi Ines!

Have you ever heard of or considered using bone broth and good quality cod liver oil for rebuilding gut fortitude?

Hi Ines,

Thanks for shaing your experiences & Counseling. It helps a lot.

I tried DGL last night and felt better. Earlier I used to take antacid liq. once woken up at night.  But now I may stick to DGL.

About Stress We have heard so many times how stress can elevate the symptoms. But I never realized that I am working under stress. I fall under Alpha Male types. Perhaps this could be a problem. Off late I am trying to relax myself.

I want to know one more thing. Do you still continue your Suppliments ( DGL / Slippery Elm & Pepsin GI ) ? How long you took them ? Are there any sideeffects to take them continuously / long term ? 

I saw some threads talking about Alkaline water for Silent Reflux. Do you think its useful for us as well ? Personally Iam not convinced.

 

Hi Mahesh,

I don't know if you saw that documentary "why zebras don't get ulcers" in which they study stress, baboons and social hierarchy. Apparently alpha-males are less stressed than lower rank baboons. So good for you!

I took DGL licorice for more or less 9 months, pepzin GI I am not sure, at least 3 months, I took slippery elm only occasionnally, I don't think I finished one bottle. Sometimes slippery elm would work, sometimes it wouldn't, and I found DGL more tasty anyway. I did not notice side effects. My doctor said my thyroid is running a bit low recently, but still in the normal range though. I was wondering if it might be caused by the DGL but who knows.

I drank alkaline water for a few months. I can't tell if it helps or not. It feels good to drink it as it soothes the throat if you have a sore throat due to silent reflux (from what I read it deactivates the damage due to the pepsin). It felt good to drink too for my stomach when I was not taking the PPI but did not seem helpful at all when I was taking the PPI. So no I don't think it really helps for the stomach, just for the throat maybe. Just try a bottle and see how you feel.

Hi Deb,

Yes I considered using bone broth. Next time I go to the farmers market I will get a few bones to make it. It became very popular from what I read. Apparently there are some places in the city where one can get different types of broth to drink, unfortunately they probably have spices and onion so I will make my own. I forgot why it is good though, the L-glutamine? something about the cartilage?

I stay away from cod liver oil though, too much vitamin A can be toxic, I prefer to get my vitamin A from beta-carotene in my carrot juice (pro-vitamin A) with which there is no risk of taking too much. Also I read  on webmd that cod liver oil can cause heartburn and belching, so I am not taking the risk.

Hi Ines!

Also, when making stock make sure to use bones from YOUNG animals to get the most gelatinous and mineral rich broth. The fact that older animals (including humans lol) lose cartilage as they age is lost on many people, even in the health and culinary worlds. I tried powdered gelatin for a spell, but found that it seemed to bother my stomach, thinking it was stimulating acid production. Don't seem to have problems with homemade though, feels very soothing actually.

In re to vit A, the potentially toxic affects are ameliorated when it is combined with vit D and K2 and work synergistically, supposedly. Moreover, there are only one or two brands of CLO that are not totally adulterated. I would send you a link on all this but don't think it will go through. Supposedly vit A is critical for the epithelium. 

Just want to tell you also, that the Pepsin GI has worked miracles for me, funny cause I was so reluctant initially. Not sure if it was just coincidence, but I experienced a marked improvement almost immediately (within a day or two) upon beginning with it. Discomfort seemed to move from my stomach, where it has consistently been, to my throat, and now even that seems a bit better. Far from completely cured but much improved. Only problem however, is I am flirting with disaster and dabbling with coffee again. Thanks for the tip on the Pepsin GI, I would have never come up with that on my own. Wondering if I will backslide if I stop taking it... did you experience that?

Thanks again for all your help!

Deb

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Hi there. Just wondered if you could tell me if your bone broth is quite greasy. I have stomach problems and leaky gut and keep being recommended to take bone broth, but when I tried to make it, it turned out really greasy and made me feel very bad. Thanks for your help.

When you cook it, be sure not to bring to boil it, just a bare simmer. This way the fat does not become emulsified with the broth. Then you need to chill it completely and the fat will rise to the top and can be easily removed. Chicken fat is a little less saturated (softer) but can still be scraped off with a spoon.

Hi Deb,

Thanks for the tip!

I am glad that pepzin GI is helping you.

The good thing about a precursor of vitamin A like beta-carotene, is that your body use it to produce just as much vitamin A as you need instead of risking taking too much vitamin A with the fish liver oil. Too much vitamin A is toxic and carrot juice taste so good!

I did not notice things getting worse when I stopped Pepzin GI, but stay away from that coffee!

Hi Emma,

When you make your broth, the fat will float on the surface, just remove it.

Many thanks for that.

Thanks Ines. Glad you are feeling better. 

Emma,

I made a few broths recently and to remove the fat, the trick is to put the beef broth in the fridge a few hours so the fat with solidify on the surface. Than you can remove it easily.

I tried with chicken broth and for some reason the fat did not solidify in the fridge but then you can put it in the freezer and scrape the surface.

To be honest I did not like the beef broth, I won't make it again, but the chicken broth was very tasty!

Thanks for that Ines. Yes have been making the beef broth. I did find it more successful than the chicken. Its nice to see you back. Im still  having a lot of trouble with my gut and sinuses and have been recommended to try omega capsules for the inflammation. Have you taken these successfully? 

Hope you're still feeling better, keep going with the diet as long as you can. I wouldn't have been ill for so long if I had stuck to it for longer.