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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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  • Tea0916
    Tea0916 ines6375

    Posted

    Thanks so much for sharing! Has anyone else experienced acid reflux with their gastritus? My story started with heart burn and reflux and as I treated it the gastritus for worse. No h pylori so they say. Now I'm off meds trying to cure it with diet since the meds never seemed to work. Now I don't have any heartburn just burning in my throat throughout the day and especially at night. My throat is full of pustules and hurts! Help!
    • ines6375
      ines6375 Tea0916

      Posted

      If the diet does not work quickly you might need some medication to lower your stomach acid to protect your throat until things calm down.
    • Tea0916
      Tea0916 ines6375

      Posted

      The diet has helped gastritus symptoms quickly. But I've had pustules in my throat for probably the last year, even when on meds. Did you ever have reflux or am I maybe dealing with something completely separate?
    • alice10848
      alice10848 ines6375

      Posted

      Hi Ines, Its been along time since I communicated with you people here.  My question is what is the difference between Acid eflux and gastritis? Can one have one of the two and not have the other what are the symptoms of each.

      Hi Ines, Just want to know the difference between Acid Reflux and Gastritis.  Can one have one of the two and not have the other.  I though they both mean the same thing.  I have been on strict diet for some three months, but I still have rebounds.  the other question is can the gas not destroy some of the inner body parts.  Am asking this coz last month my GI run a series of tests on me.  He did some tests to check my liver function and it came out ok he said everything came out fine.  But when they did a scan there was a comment that my liver seems coarse in texture.  What does that mean.  My GI said there was no problems since the blood tests came out ok and that he will follow it up in six months time.  My suspision is that the gas may case some damage to these parts. I dont what do you say.

       

  • rafiq27035
    rafiq27035 ines6375

    Posted

    Hi. Ines.

    I would like to ask u the most imp info on dgl licorice. Does this increase or decrease the blood glucose, I am pre diabetic(borderline post fasting).

    I would appreciate very much if u can give me this info, thank u in advance.

    • ines6375
      ines6375 rafiq27035

      Posted

      Most DGL licorice tabs have sugar in them you must take into account but I don't know the effect of DGL licorice itself on blood sugar.
  • rafiq27035
    rafiq27035 ines6375

    Posted

    Hi,

    Does any one know any credible info on dgl licorice with regard to blood glucose. Does it increase /decrease blood glucose. Appreciate ur response

    Rgds...

  • MissingBacon
    MissingBacon ines6375

    Posted

    Thanks ines for posting this information.  I developed gastritis/duodenitis after four months of oral doxycycline for lyme disease.  My initial symptoms were mild pain followed by diarrhea shortly after having my morning tea.  I quit the tea, but other acidic foods soon caused the same reaction.  

    Endoscopy revealed gastritis/duodenitis but I was negative for h.pylori after biopsy.  Doctor put me on PPI 2x/day, reduced acid intake, and fiber pills.  I can only tolerate a very bland diet of fish, white rice, and bananas.  It has been six months since my symptoms first appeared, and one month after my endoscopy and start of PPI therapy.  I've been on slippery elm for two weeks.  I am no better.

    Questions:  are you still cured?  Can you eat a normal diet?  Should I add cabbage juice to my diet?  How is the cabbage juice prepared?  Anything else you can recommend?

    Thanks again.

    • ines6375
      ines6375 MissingBacon

      Posted

      Hi, I am mostly cured: I feel good most of the time.

      My diet is closed to normal now, I eat all sorts of fruits (except citrus), all vegetables (except tomatoes, onion and garlic), all meats/fish, fat, dairy (mostly goat though). I still get irritated with onion, garlic, strong spices, citrus, vinegar, mustard and tomatoes though so I avoid them. Also I eat berries/red fruits in small quantities. Irritating foods give me light discomfort and silent reflux that disappear in a few days. I used to have much stronger symptoms, those are gone. I haven't tried coffee and chocolate but I suspect I better avoid them.

      My recommendation is to keep doing what you are doing: bland diet and PPI and for the rest just give it time, take care of yourself in a more general way (go swim, walk, yoga, massages, ...) and try to think of other things. There is no magical cure, it just takes time.

      I am not a big fan of the cabbage juice because of the effect on the thyroid and the unpleasant effects on the digestive tract (gas, bad breath, ...), but it is soothing for the stomach and if you want to try, get a juicer and put a cabbage in it. If the taste is too horrible, add some carrots and other vegetables. Kale is from the cabbage family and probably works too to some extent. If you feel tired and sluggish after your cabbage juice (hypothyroidy), stop it.

      I said I am not a big fan of the cabbage juice but I am a big fan of (organic) vegetable juices in general, my favorite is: carrots/celery/romaine, you can add parsley and fennel root as well. The provitamin A in carrots is excellent for the repair of tissues, and the green vegetables are full of all sorts of vitamins (romaine is very rich in B9 in particular which is excellent for cell renewal). I really felt the positive effect of daily vegetable juices on my health and energy in general and I highly recommend them.

    • eric49486
      eric49486 MissingBacon

      Posted

      I developed gastritis after taking 30 days of doxycycline for coughing, and lung doctor gave me PPI for two months, I weaned off since it did not work for my cough.  I never had stomach pain or heartburn till endoscopy, GI found I have mild gastitis, after the procedure, all of the sudden, I got stomach pain/burning and heart burn, couldn't sleep at night, so I got back to PPI, and I only felt one day good, then all the symptoms showed up again. I was inspired by acake (in the forum) and my wife's co-worker, who was completely cured and can eat anything now, went to see a nutritionist, and he gave me Aloe Juice, Digestive enzyme, solutable fiber, and probiotics, and Aloe Juice stopped my stomach pain and can get a good sleep, and digestive enzyme helpped my bloating, did not feel any help from other two, but I still had cough after each meal, I made up my mind to try acake's way to sip Aloe Juice all day long, adding 2-4 OZ of Aloe Juice to a big glass of water, I finished 3 gallons Aloe Juice in the past 12 days, my stomach feels very comfortable day and night, my cough is gone 90%, at the same time, my PPI is cut down to OTC dose once every 3 days, most of the Aloe Juice added acid for freshness, only one kind on the market is like water, tasteless, which recommended by Dr. Jamie Koufman too, I can't list name here, anyone can find it easily. 

      Please relax and don't worry, you will be cured and completely cured, here is my wife's co-worker, who is a nurse, and she had severe stomach pain and heartburn, at the worst time, she could only drink coconut water and half piece of banana, sent to ER 3 times a week, and she lost hope for living, but she was completely cured by taking digestive enzyme, probiotic, and meditation/yoga practice (I signed the class too and upate later), she eats anything and put on weight, now working on losing weight. She feels better than anytime in her life, and I believe this too, since our body system has super power, it can fully recover only when we have the belief to work on it. 

      Anyway, everyone is different, this may work for one, but may not work for other. I had doubt about acake's aloe tips at begining, but it works for me too. 

       

    • JEG435
      JEG435 MissingBacon

      Posted

      Like Eric said relax.  It will take time.  In Nov. I was Dx with nodular esophagitis with severe inflammation and put on PPIs 20 mg bid.  By January there was some improvement but increased to 40 mg bid.  I still had eating issues and flare up.  In June I made myself go to a naturopath (at personal expense) because I did not like being on the PPIs.  I am also hypothyroid and I think the PPIs are having an effect on that and I am osteopenic--don't need to add any more to that issue.  The naturopath placed me on a supplement regimen in addition to the PPIs.  I am do to go back for a follow up with the naturopath and also have a follow up endo. It has been an expense but  I am feeling much better.  I am really eating anything I want with a couple of exceptions.  I have given up coffee (I drink herbal teas instead).  I have had 1 or 2 cups but I am fine without (and I drank a lot of coffee).  I have had very little alcohol over the past 2 months--didn't mind when out socially, didn't feel the need.  Hopefully, after the next endo, I will be able to start weaning from the PPIs.

      In end, it takes time.

      From this thread I am learning a lot--especially your issue with the Doxycycline.  Ticks and Lyme disease are so prevalent.  If that happens, I will look for an alternative treatment for that--I don't want this to flare up because of another med.

    • rex_44766
      rex_44766 ines6375

      Posted

      Great post. When you say you are almost cured but you still get occassional LPR, is this just burning/discomfort in your throat? Sorry for the weird questions. I'm trying to work ouit if I'm going forwards or backwards as my symptoms have changed over the years.
    • ines6375
      ines6375 rex_44766

      Posted

      Yes I get a sore throat in the morning and a light discomfort in my stomach. I can feel the acidity.

      For example a month ago I ate at a buffet "normal" food with I suspect contained lemon, garlic, chilly and I felt pretty bad afterwards with LPR and stomach discomfort all night. So I went back on a strict diet and after a month all my symptoms have completely disappeared. I feel 100% fine and healthy but I know that if I eat something irritating, acidic or too much saturated fat it will come back.

    • ines6375
      ines6375

      Posted

      I wrote that I am on a strict diet but my diet has actually evolved: I eat all raw and cooked vegetables now except tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, garlic; the fruits I eat are pear, papaya, banana, melon, watermelon (litchis should be fine but I haven't tried yet); I eat all fish and seafood, turkey, chicken, eggs, tofu. I eat much more vegetal fats: up to three tablespoons of olive oil per meal or a handful of nuts, or nut butter on bread or half an avocado. I eat all gluten free cereals (gluten free because of IBS), roots (potatoes, ...), sometimes lentils/peas/chickpeas (rarely because of IBS). And I eat hard goat or sheep cheese in reasonable quantities every now and then. I also eat salt and all fresh herbs except chives (onion family). I drink a lot of alkaline water, raw coconut water, chamomile and linden tea. I still avoid completely spices, chocolate, tea, coffee, carbonated beverages, acidic food, alcohol, dairy from cows, red meat, fried and fatty stuff,...
    • alex03952
      alex03952 eric49486

      Posted

      Hi Eric.

        Thanks for your guidance.  I am progressively improved.  Just would like to know the brand name of Aloe Vera Juice and Digestive Enzyme that you took for helping you sleeping and bloating.  Where did you buy them?  You could leave them in my mailbox.  Thanks so much

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