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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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  • kelly81759
    kelly81759 ines6375

    Posted

    Hi Ines.

    Recently, I have been diagnosed with gastritis -no ideas if severe or mild. I am currentlyliving in Spain and Doctor are crap, despite the magistral prasing everybody does to them (unless my experience).

    I am so DESPARATE!! The medicines they prescribed made me very constipated. Also, i was told to eat very little - the size of my fist, or a Cup, maximum. But it has been a week now and i cant feel any difference. I dont know what to do as absolutely everything I eat hurts my stomach and gives me (very) bad wind.

    I can't see above the natural diet you tried for your gastritis, so I was wodering if you could share it with me? You sound so convincing and i am so desparate right now that I would try anything...

    Everything feel pointless as I am so hungry, scared to eat but at the same time so tempted, with bad wind and constipated.

    Unlike you, I sleep without problems and sometimes that's my only cure to "not feel" the discomfort. But when I eat, that's the real deal.

    I would really appreciate your help - and answer -.

    Thank you so much in advance.

    • ines6375
      ines6375 kelly81759

      Posted

      Hi Kelly,

      The natural  supplements and diet I tried is described at the beginning of this post. The diet was essential in my case, but after trying everything, the medication worked better and faster than the natural supplements.

      I would suggest you follow the diet I describe and keep taking your medication. Drink a lot for the constipation, try to take walks. It is not uncommon that it takes at least a month or two to feel an improvement. For some reason, it seems that stomach problems get better very slowly.

       

    • ines6375
      ines6375 kelly81759

      Posted

      Which medication are you taking? Maybe the doctor can prescribe something else? The first time I took dexilant I got a terrible headache, I felt so bad I did not want to take it anymore and I told the doctor. He prescribed me Nexium. But when I compared the list of side effects for Nexium and Dexilant, and the reviews online, it seemed that dexilant was a better product, so I gave it another try and I was fine afterwards. I hear some people trying different things with the help of their doctor before finding the product that helps them most.
    • kelly81759
      kelly81759 ines6375

      Posted

      Hi Ines!! Thank you for your answer.

      I am taking Arapride in tablets as a gastric protector (one in the morning and one at night) and Motilium - a chalky liquid (20mins before breakfast, lunch, dinner).

      The Motilium helps though, but for only a little while, but specially today i have been feeling very bloated and with pain.

      Can i try natural options such as Slippery Elm and Licorice whilst taking these two i've mentioned above? Or do i have to take either one or the other - I would really like to do the natural way but I dont know the consequences. What about te's or chamomile?

      Finally, do the fist-size food portions help to this disease?

      Thank you again for your help.

    • ines6375
      ines6375 kelly81759

      Posted

      I don't  know the medication you are taking so I can't tell you if you can take the natural supplements at the same time. The natural supplements I recommended are usually safe but you should do some research. I like the website webmd to understand the medications you are taking better. Your doctor might be able to tell you too.

      Tea is not recommended but chamomille is fine. I drink a lot of chamomille all the time.

      When I was feeling very bad I kept my portions at 2 cups (1 cup  of carbs, 1 cup of vegetables and one portion of proteins), I think it helps but what helps most is what you eat (and don't eat). Some foods are irritating and make things worse.

  • Jennifer28269
    Jennifer28269 ines6375

    Posted

    Hi all. I was on Nexium 40mg/day for four months after being diagnosed with GERD after gallbladder removal. Four months later I was sick as a dog, GP referred me to a Hematologist who discovered I was anemic to the point where I required an iron tranfusion and severely deficient in B12, both from taking Nexium long term. I took myself off the Nexium cold turkey (which I had read not to do but after feeling like death for months and going through a 5 hour transfusion, I was done). I started taking digestive enzymes, DGL and a probitoic. I also take Zantac as needed but not often as this also causes B12 DEF. Also altered my diet dramtically. Three months later I have control over the reflux but am experiencing horrible right side pain several times a week as well as lower abdominal pain. I have an appointment with my Gastro tomorrow to determine if this is reflux related or not. Does anyone else have this issue who went all natural from PPI's? 
    • ines6375
      ines6375 Jennifer28269

      Posted

      I did not have right side pain but I am wondering if the enzymes might be irritating.
    • Jennifer28269
      Jennifer28269 ines6375

      Posted

      Right side, near waistline and lower abdomen below belly button. I am beginning to wonder if it's not IBS as I have bowel issues as well. Side pain often radiates to my back as well. It's like gallbladder attack symptoms all over again yet no gallbladder in there rolleyes Thank you for the quick response!
    • ines6375
      ines6375 Jennifer28269

      Posted

      This is strange. If you suspects IBS, try the fodmap's diet. I have ibs too and the fodmap's diet helps a lot, especially avoiding gluten, cabbage, lentils and beans.
    • Jennifer28269
      Jennifer28269 ines6375

      Posted

      My Gastro actually recommended that last year. I will pull it up and see what I am eating that I shouldn't be. Do you take anything for your IBS? Like an anti-spasmodic?
    • ines6375
      ines6375

      Posted

      The worse for me was really the gluten, it caused me bad pain in my bowels a few hours later every time. It made a huge difference going gluten-free. I am not very strict for the other things, just for the gluten. I tried spelt for a while, I get a milder reaction from it, but I decided to stop too. It is not easy going gluten-free but for me it was 100% worth it.

      And there are lots of good products to replace the gluten anyway: tinkyada pasta, pamela pancakes, food for life bread, ...

    • Jennifer28269
      Jennifer28269 ines6375

      Posted

      Interesting. I tried gluten free bread last summer and thought I would choke HA. But I will def look into it given the pain I am in. Will post more after Gastro visit tomorrow. Thank you!
    • ines6375
      ines6375 Jennifer28269

      Posted

      I would like to add that I have been tested for coeliac and I don't have it, so this reaction to gluten is a bit mysterious. I guess it falls under what they call gluten-sensitivity.

      Some gluten-free breads are really bad but if you can find a local bakery that makes it, sometimes you can be surprised. Here in NYC there is a local bakery called EverybodyEats, they make delicious gluten free brown bread (they mix in buckwheat flour, that is the secret). Also if you try the food for life bread, it is better toasted.

      Good luck!

    • Jennifer28269
      Jennifer28269 ines6375

      Posted

      I was tested for Celiac a few months ago, negative. Thanks for the brand suggestions, will look for those as I am in the states as well smile
    • daniel_80
      daniel_80 Jennifer28269

      Posted

      Never ever take nexium for so long, it not good for the body. I read a site where hundreds of people are complaining about the side effects it caused on them. My doc only prescribe me 2 weeks nexium and after that he changed to lower dosage of the med. 
    • ines6375
      ines6375 daniel_80

      Posted

      I am sorry Jennifer had such a bad experience but I took dexilant twice, the second time for four months and I was perfectly fine with it. It helped me a lot to recover.
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