Gastritis Support Group
Gastritis is a medical term for inflammation of the lining of the stomach. It means that white blood cells move into the wall of the stomach as a response to some type of injury. Gastritis has many underlying causes, from infection with the bacterium H. pylori, bile reflux, or excessive consumption of alcohol or certain foods or drugs like aspirin.
Hey guys and gals, this past June I started getting really bad upper left abdominal pain (that sometimes also is present in the upper right abdomen). It came on suddenly without a lot of buildup. I'm an otherwise healthy 35 year old male.
After about a week and unable to take the pain anymore, I went to the ER and they gave me some painkillers, prilosec, carafate, and made an appointment for me in the family practice at the hospital.
I had a urine test, blood test, ultrasound, and h. pylori test. All tests came back fine, so the doctor thinks this is either an ulcer or gastritis.
I was a heavy drinker for many years up until the time the pain started. Once the pain started, I quit and haven't had a sip of alcohol in over 6 months. I'm thinking the pain is the result of years of drinking.
I have a great appetite, bowel movements are normal, no vomiting, and I'm not nauseous much. It's just this unrelenting pain in the upper left abdominal region that sometimes feels like it shoots through straight to my back. I also experience the pain on my left side near the bottom of the ribcage. Sometimes the pain also appears on the right hand side (A problem I had commonly during drinking binges which my doc said may have been reflux/ulcers due to alcohol).
I have been doing a lot of reading online and it seems all my symptoms points to gastritis or ulcer even though my doctor hasn't given a definitive diagnosis yet.
I take 150mg zantac everyday when I wake up and I am on tramadol for the pain... usually around 100-200mg day depending on the pain level that day. I did prilosec for a few months but it didn't do anything. I may try nexium.
This is stressing me out bigtime. I feel like it's never going to go away. I feel like it may be cancer, even though I have no other major bowel symptoms. All these negative thoughts keep running through my head and it's hard to stay positive when I'm constantly in pain.
Six months of this. How long does gastritis and/or ulcer take to heal... especially when I was a heavy drinker for many years. I have put down the bottle. I have no intention to start drinking again, I just want my life back and the pain to go away.
Is it normal for gastritis pain to last over 6 months???
Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you for reading my story.
After about a week and unable to take the pain anymore, I went to the ER and they gave me some painkillers, prilosec, carafate, and made an appointment for me in the family practice at the hospital.
I had a urine test, blood test, ultrasound, and h. pylori test. All tests came back fine, so the doctor thinks this is either an ulcer or gastritis.
I was a heavy drinker for many years up until the time the pain started. Once the pain started, I quit and haven't had a sip of alcohol in over 6 months. I'm thinking the pain is the result of years of drinking.
I have a great appetite, bowel movements are normal, no vomiting, and I'm not nauseous much. It's just this unrelenting pain in the upper left abdominal region that sometimes feels like it shoots through straight to my back. I also experience the pain on my left side near the bottom of the ribcage. Sometimes the pain also appears on the right hand side (A problem I had commonly during drinking binges which my doc said may have been reflux/ulcers due to alcohol).
I have been doing a lot of reading online and it seems all my symptoms points to gastritis or ulcer even though my doctor hasn't given a definitive diagnosis yet.
I take 150mg zantac everyday when I wake up and I am on tramadol for the pain... usually around 100-200mg day depending on the pain level that day. I did prilosec for a few months but it didn't do anything. I may try nexium.
This is stressing me out bigtime. I feel like it's never going to go away. I feel like it may be cancer, even though I have no other major bowel symptoms. All these negative thoughts keep running through my head and it's hard to stay positive when I'm constantly in pain.
Six months of this. How long does gastritis and/or ulcer take to heal... especially when I was a heavy drinker for many years. I have put down the bottle. I have no intention to start drinking again, I just want my life back and the pain to go away.
Is it normal for gastritis pain to last over 6 months???
Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you for reading my story.
First thing i need to get rid of is the anxiety/worries/stress which is the root of the gastritis (mind healing, im currently undergoing 21 days Mind Detox from Dr. Caroline Leaf ti's greatly help me) then proper food diet (there's a lot of book food for gastritis) exercise for body healing. There is a great hope for all of us in 2016 we can beat it with the help of our God.
Also, when you get the pain does it sometimes shoot through to your back? Alot of burping? Gas?
The pain for me seems to move around in the stomach area, if that makes sense. Different spots hurt on different days. Some days I have almost no pain at all, and other days I just want to crawl up in bed with a heating pad and some painkillers.
Just trying to compare symptoms here.
It's definitely kept me awake at night just thinking that I may have cancer or some other serious disease. But I don't have any risk factors and I'm a pretty young guy (35).
I also can go days and days with nothing at all. Strange.
I really believe first thing we need to address is the Mind issue (anxiety/worries etc..) and 2nd body issue (food intake, exercise etc..)
One thing i learn, anxiety/worries/toxic thoughts cannot add 1 hour/day to our life. We need to get rid of it. Admit the things you cannot change and make the best of you for the things you can change (hard work,discipline,diet,exercise, doctor checkup etc..) and do something. Trust God in all situation that nothing is too difficult for Him.
currently i'm having strict food intake with vegetable juice (carrots,celery,cabbage,apple) and rice and turkey, fruits banana, papaya, honey. It seems working for few days now.
Together we can beat it!
I recommend therapy for all, whether that be the traditional sort or self help books, podcasts etc.
You're so right - anxiety adds nothing to your day. My therapist is having me wear a rubber band on my wrist that I snap when I have a negative thought like "this will never get better". I then have to notice the emotion im feeling, identify what prompted it, and see if it's something I can control. And yes I can control this getting better by taking my medicine eating plainly and not giving into temptations and exploiting alternative therapies
Like Reyes said we are our own best doctor. And unfortunately our own worst enemies sometimes with this!
I hope we all find healing this year. This month would be ideal haha
Staying sunny in disposition is getting harder by the week, everyone comes to me to brighten up their day. I just pretend until they have gone then think - what has happened to my life. Then thoughts like that make the ole tum much much worse so think anti d may may be coming my way. How can you heal when you are uptight.
Take anti anxiety/depresson meds if you need to. They are not forever.
Gastritis is a tough/depressing issue to deal with but it does slowly get better. it just takes a lot of work to get to a good place and is easier if you are not prone to anxiety. So deal with the anxiety in whatever way works.
There is a lot of hope! Once you take control of gastritis and heartburn the anxiety goes down a lot. But you also have to do the work on the diet part and follow all the GERD rules to get there. That is also the hardest part for most people. It takes a lot of discipline.
Gwen find your determination again. You have done this before. You can do this again! Go to therapy to work out your stuff. None of us are perfect! Be forgiving of yourself. The best gift you can give yourself is to accept who you are and your past and forgive yourself. Then get good help from a therapist. That will be a life changer for you!
Thanx as always.
Just try and workout today. You will feel better I promise! It gets that seratonin going in that brain! Then you will feel like you can kick it up the a...!!!
CBT is a very good idea! It helps a lot with anxiety as well!
Hang in there!
Thnx hun and guys x
I began taking the prilosec again about 4 weeks ago. I felt like I may be getting better, the pain was diminishing. I started to feel hopeful.
But, a couple of days ago it seems to come back full force. The painkillers aren't working anymore and I don't want to up my dosage. I don't think my doc would up it anymore anyway.
I feel like the prilosec is doing NOTHING. Taking a 150mg zantac gives me about 20 minutes of relief but I can't just pop them all day like candy.
I was reading about how some people found relief with Nexium when Prilosec wasn't working for them, so I may switch to Nexium and see if it helps.
The thing is, I don't even have heartburn. It's just a pain in my abdomen that won't go away. I am getting so frustrated and hopeless. It's been 7 months of this hell. Starting to get real worried too that it something more than just gastritis even though my symptoms really haven't worsened and I'm not vomiting.
Anyone have any luck switching from Prilosec to Nexium?
I would go straight to Dexilant 60 and try it. It is similar to nexxium but it is stronger..
also go to shihonage in this site and look at his website. He is a pro on gastritis and how to heal it.
You can take a PPI and if you dont change your habits, you still wont get better. Have you stopped the tobacco? Taking a ppi and having major anxiety will continue the problem for a long time as well. Mental health hugely affects your stomach and its ability to heal.
It sounds like typical gastritis to me.
The only way to heal is to become extremely disciplined with your diet, lifestyle and get help for any mental health issue as well. That is the reality of gastritis. it can be done. There are many on this site who have struggled with anxiety etc that heal their stomachs. It can take years even with a lot of hard work.