How I cured my gastritis
Posted , 375 users are following.
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
vicky888 ines6375
Posted
All the time i thought that maybe everything is jst in my head, but recenlt i realized that it's not as my symptoms sometimes just came back when i was playing with my kids and not thinking about being sick.... And woke up at night when clearly i was asleep.....
I've been thinking to ask my specialist for tests like endoscopy, etc. previously he told me all the tests are not necessary as the treatments would be the same anyway.
i live in austrlia btw, and it's so hard to book for appt with docs...the earliest appt with my doc is still next month
so please if anyone can help me share your experience, please help...
ines6375 vicky888
Posted
Three years ago I went to the doctor because I passed out after a very fatty meal. The doctor did a blood test and found that I have a slight anemia but nothing that justifies passing out. I told him that I often felt sick with greasy foods and other types of foods and that I tought something was abnormal. He said that I should see a gastro-enterologist and do more tests. Unfortunately that doctor was working only in relationship with my company and I changed jobs shortly after so I could not see him again. At the time I was also suffering from Insomnia, waking up around 5 am every night.
The next year I went to see another doctor recommended by a family member. I described my insomnia and problems with food, she said that it is in my head, and the insomnia is caused by depression, and that anyway doctors can't do anything for this sort of problems. So I did nothing for a year. Last year I started gradually to have more and more bad symptoms and ended up bloated, with stomach pain, acid in my mounth in the fall. That year I ate differently than usual too (lots of cooked apples, lots of tomatoes, I did a high-fiber diet, I experimented with french cuisine and indian cuisine, I started using more lemon and alcohol in my recipes, I used a multi-vitamin every morning..) .
One year after seeing the second doctor, I went to see a third doctor who prescribed me dexilant immediately and sent me to see a gastro-enterologist. The endoscopy showed that I had gastritis and esophagitis. The rest is described in my previous posts. But as soon as my stomach got better, I started sleeping full nights.
I am still upset at that second doctor who made me doubt of myself by telling me my problem is depression. My insomnia was clearly caused by stomach probems. I did have a hard time the years before I saw her but I had stomach problems too that needed to be adressed. I should have asked the opinion of another doctor earlier.
Now I am changing doctors again. The GI doctor I saw did all the tests (blood work, allergies, endoscopy, ultrasound, colonoscopy) at the beginning and it was helpful to know what I have (and don't have) exactly. The tests are important for diagnosis. But beside telling me to take dexilant he did not help me at all. He did not give me any indication about the diet, after I stopped the dexilant and was trying the natural supplements, I contacted him a few times as I was still in pain and I wondered if I should take the dexilant again and he said no, to just wait. But even if I am much better, I am obviously not cured, what good will it do to just wait and live uncomfortably being obsessed by my stomach? So I took an appointment with another GI doctor next week.
matt85910 ines6375
Posted
Ive had it myself for about 6 months now, and having had the upper GI endoscopy know that I have "mild" duodenitis most likey caused by excessive use of Ibuprofen due to several injuries I have had for the last 3 years.
Unfortunately all the docs and specialists keep telling you to take these damn pills and I even called a few pharmacies as I was worries about the consequences when I was taking them, but they all just advised it was ok so long as I stayed within the no more than 6 in 24 hours rule..... how wrong they were!
I started on 20 mg omeprazole, they worked a treat so I slowly weened myself of them and after 2 weeks made the error of giving into a cup of coffee. Bad move! Agony within 10 minutes... so started all over again, after about 4 weeks I got back to being ok and this time 2 slices of lean pork set it off.
Back to the pills again and was upgraded to 40mg of Esomeprazole, 4 weeks further on I still had the pain no matter what I ate and by this time I had pretty much read every book, article and website on the subject so knew a lot more.
Doctor has now doubled the dose again to 80mg and at this point Im worried about how long I have been on these pills as well as I know they also have long term effects on your stomach.
I have now last week come off all PPIs and started on the supplements, Zinc Carnosine, DGL Licorice and Slippery Elm. Am on a strict diet and hoping this sorts it out in a few months.
Best foods for me right now seem to be coconut water on waking up, followed by a banana, then an apple at about 10.30am. Lunch is salad white rice and red salmon, Dinner is White fish Cabbage, Green Beans, Broccoli and sometimes rice.
Organic White rice crackers seem ok (taste like sugarpuffs) and am just trying things one thing at a time. I read somewhere that high cocoa value black chox is an anti inflammatory, not with it isnt I can confirm but for others it might be ok.
emma666 matt85910
Posted
I made the same mistake of taking too many painkillers and antibiotics 18 years ago and was told by the Dr at the time, that I could take up to 20 painkillers a day. I ended up with h pylori which a nutitionist killed for me with oregano and this has also damaged my stomach lining.
I had an endoscopy at the time which didnt show anything and they said I had non ulcer dyspepsia. I am still struggling with my problems and am waiting to have another endoscopy.
I have also been put on 20 mg of esomeprazole but they are making my stomach sore so am going to stop taking them.
I am on a very similar diet to you, oats, bananas, salmon, prawns, rice, potatoes and lots of green veg. I do improve with it but tend to start cheating when I feel better.
How long do you continue to do the diet for once you are feeling better. I think thats my problem as I only do it for a couple of months then I introduce wheat and sugar. I have been told that it can take up to a year on a special diet to actually heal your lining.
ines6375 matt85910
Posted
Thank you for sharing.
I recommend against chocolate. It contains caffeine, it is high fat, it probably will do no more good than your cup of coffee.
matt85910 ines6375
Posted
matt85910 ines6375
Posted
ines6375 matt85910
Posted
I have taken pepzin GI for a few days (at most one week) when I switched from using only natural supplements to dexilant (PPI like nexium), than I stopped the pepzin GI. Pepzin GI is supposed to help your stomach repair in presence of acid but as with the PPI there is less acid, I thought that it is not really necessary anymore.
I have taken slippery elm a few times too in between meals at the beginning while I was taking dexilant, but somehow I felt that DGL licorice was working better.
Now I only take dexilant 30 minutes before breakfast, DGL licorice 30 minutes before lunch, DGL licorice 30 minutes before dinner and one more DGL licorice whenever I have a light pain. I have the DGL licorice a long time after I take dexilant and not in the morning to not interfere with the absorption of dexilant. I feel good like that with the diet.
ines6375 matt85910
Posted
matt85910 ines6375
Posted
luna3 matt85910
Posted
matt85910 ines6375
Posted
ines6375 matt85910
Posted
When I started this post I thought I was cured. I felt fine. I stopped taking anything but I was still careful with what I was eating. Then I got invited to the restaurant and had a big meal with a lot of irritating foods. I got in a lot of pain afterward for weeks. So I was not completely cured obviously and still now I am not. I feel good again but I am taking dexilant and I am careful with what I eat. I know that if I stop the dexilant and start eating anything, the pain will come back. I feel a slight pain every time I eat something slightly irritating (too much fibers, dairy, something acidic). But my diet is more relaxed than it used to, I eat more fat for example. And if I eat something slightly acidic I don't get a strong reaction like I used to and I recover quickly. It has been 6 months that I try to cure myself, more or less three months with natural supplements, 2 months and a half with medication. I talked on the forum of healingwell to somebody who got cured after 6 months of medication, for some it takes a year or more. They could eat a lot of things I can't.
Personnally I think I will always be careful to some degree with what I eat in the future. I had every now and then stomach problems for years before it became gastritis (I did not really know what my problem was at the time). I think I have a sensitive stomach and once I am cured I don't want the gastritis to come back. I am used to eating according to the diet now and it does not bother me except for the difficulty to eat with other people at the restaurant or when we are invited. I do miss tomatoes and dairy but I miss them less then the time when I was in good health.
ines6375 matt85910
Posted
matt85910 ines6375
Posted
ines6375 matt85910
Posted