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
carol77886 ines6375
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I am so pleased to have found your cure on this site. I'm hoping for this to cure my gastritis and oesophogitus. I haven't eaten for several days and the dr says I have to eat or it will make the acid worse! Mine is a direct result of other medication I'm on. The dr's don't give all the info you've put on here.
many thanks for your input. i've got lots to try now!
dianeinca ines6375
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My 12 year old was diagnosed with Gastritis, Gastoparesis and acid reflux...quite a combination. Diet of the following was prescribed:
Absolutely no:
-Bananas, apples, white grape juice (and related products).
Diet should have:
- 3 servings fruit (pitted fruits and melons only) daily
- Only 3 carbs, but less the better (but with each serving add a fruit serving)
- Everything else ok, in moderation and in accordance with a regular diet
Prescriptions:
-Prevacid, twice daily
-Low dose of antibiotic daily (to help with motility)
-Miralax, twice daily
After hospital and no carbs, the burping stopped and pain lessened. But everything is back again.
I kindly appreciate any input.
acakes ines6375
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ines6375 acakes
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valerie56655 acakes
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acakes valerie56655
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ines6375 valerie56655
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acakes ines6375
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valerie56655 ines6375
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ines6375 valerie56655
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ines6375 acakes
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suzie058 ines6375
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Cme ines6375
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I have been dignosed with functional dyspepsia (non-ulcer dyspepsia). I have had symptoms now for two months. The first month (April 2015) I had ulcer-like symptoms, burning sensation in my stomach, feeling dizzy after eating but I had been placed on esomeprazole (Nexium) so at the time, I was eating and drinking everything except for alcohol and caffeine. After about 4/5 weeks into this illness, my symptoms totally changed in that the burning stomach was down to a minimum, instead, I felt that I had stopped digesting my food. I was burping all the time - after everything I ate. I then had a gastroscopy (where they took samples from my insides) and all came back negative. No gastritis, no ulcers. All looked good according to the gastroenterologist. I was then taking off Nexium cold turkey. Not sure that was such a good idea as that led to burping non-stop where every 10th burp was sour/acid which started giving me a sore-throat on top of my other symptoms. Anway, that started to subside after about two weeks. I also found that I started getting horribly bloated after my evening meals and this led to heartburn/reflux etc in the middle of the night. What helped everytime was to defecate. So for me at least there is a connection here between my upper abdominal symptoms and my lower abdominal symptoms. Going online, I read about the benefits of dygestive enzymes, so I started taking those. They seem to be helping a lot. I've used them for about two weeks and so far, I haven't had another reflux because I haven't really been bloated. Ofcourse, I am very careful with what I eat. I use the Dropping Acid book by Koufman ( Thanks for the recommendation Ines!) and am using the FODMAP diet to futher give me insight so I avoid eating gas-friendly foods. I must say, this month (MAY 2015) I have lost much too much weight because of my inability to digest food earlier on and this resulting in me just skipping dinner (not healthy, I know!). Now though, I have started eating three times a day again but yesterday something went wrong. I don't know if I had dinner too late (6-7pm) or if it was the lactose-free Kefir, or the thin chicken slices I had for lunch but something caused me to have severe burning stomach/heartburn symptoms. This was relieved by eating - after that I was so tired, I had to rest and had an early night. (9.30-10.00 pm). Was scared that I would wake up with heartburn/bloating but that did not happen fortunately. My question to the forum is this: as I don't want to take nexium to manage my symptoms, I have ordered DGL Licorice, L-Glutamine, TRIPHALA, Himalayan Salt to help heal my gut (even though there is no damage!!). I have read that on several websites that the burning sensation in the stomach is a result of the slow emptying of the stomach, and the slow emptying of the guts i.e. things are not moving along as they should causing a build-up of acid in the stomach, malabsoption in the guts. I just wanted to know if there's anyone else with 'functional dyspepsia' on this forum who would like to share their story with me. Functional dyspepsia feels just like gastritis, interestingly apart from the bloatedness maybe. Look forward to hearing from you all. Seeme, (in Stockholm, Sweden).
ines6375 Cme
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valerie56655 Cme
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scott20738 Cme
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Scott
scott20738 Cme
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My symptoms began as LPR reflux, almost 4 years ago. The symptoms have remained, sometimes strong (high-fiber foods and oil make it worse) and sometimes mild. About a year ago, I also began experiencing a burning sensation in my stomach, usually between meals; not every day.
My wife began experiencing LPR symptoms about 2.5 years ago. And she just began noticing the burning sensation in her stomach a few weeks ago.
We've both recently had endoscopies. Hers turned up nothing noticeable -- the GI thinks it's just acid reflux. Mine (two days ago) showed redness of the mucosal lining -- "erythematous mucosa". We're both still awaiting the results of the biopsies.
Like many of you, I've spent a lot of time researching LPR and indigestion. The fact that my wife and I are both having the same symptoms leads me to believe it's *likely* that the underlying cause is something we have in common -- not just a coincidence.
Lately I've been thinking it might have something to do with our history of excessive dieting. We're both healthy eaters, and we're both thin (my BMI is around 20, and my wife's is about the same). I've been on a paleo diet for just over 10 years. I've struggled with a fear of certain foods (grains, dairy, potatoes and other nightshades, legumes, etc.); as a result, I struggle to get enough calories. My wife has also been eating a high-protein, low carb diet for the past several years. I've read reports that long-term restrictive eating can slow gastric emptying, which can lead to indigestion/reflux. Maybe it has to do with a lower metabolic rate, from not getting enough calories. We're both frequently cold when those around us are warm.
Were you dieting or practicing some kind of food restriction when your symptoms first appeared?
I suppose it could also be some type of infection that we both picked up years ago and our bodies just haven't been able to clear it.
I've been eating a low-FODMAP diet for the past several months, and my bloating has almost entirely disappeared. I've also been recently trying to eat a lot more calories, and I've noticed my chronic constipation has disappeared.
I don't take any medications or supplements. My wife takes Zantac when her symptoms are bad; but she's not entirely sure it helps much. She has noticed that beef makes her symptoms worse.
My GI doc prescribed Zantac for me. I haven't started it yet. I want to first try eating LOTS of calories to get my metabolism up and see if my stomach starts emptying quicker and my symptoms improve. I'll give it another month or so. If no improvement, I'll try the Zantac.
Scott
Cme scott20738
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My functional dyspepsia symptoms are linked to my having been on an NSAID drug called Naproxen 250mg x 2 daily for 6 months and a 10 day course of Flagyl 500mg x 3 daily for 10 days. I think. It's true also that I was eating relatively low carb when symptoms first struck. I switched to a strictly vegetarian diet to see if that would help. It has, as my stomach has less complicated stuff to digest. I also took out gluten and dairy.I take many supplements: digestive enzymes, Triphala, L- Glutamine, chia seeds, funugreek seeds, alfaalfa seeds, cumin, turmeric, ginger etc. I drink electrolytes once a day. I take multi vitamins, zinc, magnesium as well. Basically as much of the healing foods I can get in to my diet - that aid digestion.I tried cayenne pepper but it hurt on the second day so I quit that. I also get lpr reflux of some kind when I
eat acidic foods, I think. My sore throat is located in the roof of my mouth (the soft part). Is that lpr, do you know?
Cme scott20738
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scott20738 Cme
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Thanks for responding.
If you're pretty sure acid is the cause of your sore throat, then it seems reasonable to assume that the soreness on the roof of your mouth is also from LPR. Of course, I don't know for sure.
I've been managing my LPR by eating low-fiber foods. Eating more calories seems to help, too. It seems like my stomach is emptying faster -- much less bloating and almost no belching. I'm trying to get around 3000 calories a day. I've gained a couple of pounds (I think, I haven't weighed myself), and I'm grateful for that. It's a struggle to get more calories, because I'm dealing with food phobias from all that time on a paleo diet. But I'm slowly learning to ignore those fears.
I'll check out the LPR discussion you mentioned. Thanks.
Scott
rafiq27035 Cme
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