Also forgot to ask what time period is usual for the symptoms to get better or to heal say for mild gastritis. thanks guys :)

Boobear,

just an example for you: when I first got this about 5-6 weeks ago, I thought I was dying. Then, I got on the Nexium and my pain went away, but Nexium gave me extra nausea. I got off the Nexium after being on it for a week and switched to 10 mg of Pepcid AC a day. I still had some nausea, gas, belching etc. but I was able to eat without too much pain or aggravated nausea. I even ate spicy chilli and a hot dog over a couple of days with minimal discomfort. After being on Pepcid AC for a week, I figured I am at a place where I can get better through diet and natural supps (I have been taking Zinc Carnosine since day 1) , and got off the Pepcid AC. Within 3 days, the nausea, pain etc. came back. Why am I saying this? Because we need to realize that there is a difference between feeling better and the stomach healing. When the acid is suppressed, we don't feel the symptoms even though the stomach is raw and not fully functional yet. If we allow the acid to return before full healing, we will lose all the traction we made. I don;t know exactly how long it takes for the stomach to heal, I have read 3 months in many places. My GI dr. said I have to take Pepcid AC for 6-8 weeks at least. Drugs.com says gastritis heals in 8 weeks under acid treatment. My GI dr. also said that if I don;t take high enough of a dose of Pepcid AC (he said 80 mg), I might feel better but as I expand my diet, the sx will come right back.
So, I would say try to stay on the meds for a good 2 months with a very restricted diet. Then, while on the meds, expand the diet just a bit, carefully. If you can tolerate that, continue eating well, but more foods (no chilli or jalapeno pizza!, etc.) Then, depending on how you feel, lower your H2 blocker dose and see how you do... your bsoy will guide you. I would say do NOT rush. Having not gone through the healing myself, I can't give you a definitive answer, all I can say is take it slow and listen to your body :)

Hi Anne1
Thankyou so much for your help here, I think I am struggling with this condition because of a few things. Firstly all my symptoms started 7 months ago, I suddenly could not eat and like you was in hell, pain, depression lost over a stone. Kept going back to Dr, they just said IBS. Eventually had the endoscopy last month and have gastritis. Now the problem I had was that the PPI gave me very very bad indigestion (like eating heavy stones)..and after 8 weeks changed to the zantac...but wait for it they also give me the same side effects (found out today!)..so in other words the zantac pain covers the gastitis pain...so not sure which causes which! so I think I will have to put up with the zantac side effects and do like you said...gently try other foods and then in a few weeks gently lower the meds. Is your gastrits mild? did you have H Pylori ? thank you again for you advice :) really appreciate it.

Boobear, you are welcome. I wrote to you in another post a few days ago that Pepcid AC has another brand name in the U.K., so if you live there, look it up under that name ( I can't recall, please look at my post to you from 2-3 days ago).
What do you mean you have the same sx with Zantac? Like the food not moving in your stomach and rocks sitting in your abdomen feeling?
I'm happy to say Pepcid is far better than the PPIs for me so far.
May i suggest that you not eat any type of meat for dinner? I only eat chicken as far as meat goes and cannot digest it ( boiled chicken breast) due to acid suppressing, especially if I eat it for dinner. I've found I can tolerate boiled chicken leg ( no skin) much better - still eat it at lunch.

Regarding your qns: I haven't had an endoscopy, but I think mine is mild, yes ( though it still turned my life upside down). I had h pylori 3 years ago - resisted the antibiotic treatment since I'm so anti- medication and brought on this hell of gastritis upon myself ( along with GERD) when I tried to treat with "safe" natural treatments. Never had reflux or ANY stomach problems in my life before. The endoscopy 3 years ago showed mild gastritis but I had so much hell I was going through ( due to an allergic reaction while I was self treating myself for h pylori and yeast) that I ignored the gastritis ( I wasn't having any discomfort from it and it was an incidental finding on the endoscopy and my dr. downplayed it). When it got out of hand 6 weeks ago I realized that I have had it all these 3 years with minimal sx. Anyway, it's a long saga. So, ultimately, about 2 years ago, I did treat the H Pylori with triple therapy ( plus pepto bismo - so it's quadruple therapy) and it went without a flinch, very easy, after the hell I brought upon my health just to avoid that treatment. So I no longer have H Pylori.
I hope this answers your questions. I hope we all improve soon. Make sure you are on a bland diet :))

Asli

boobear, thank you for asking this question _ I have been wondering myself. I had or have h pylori, found during a scope along with moderate gastritis - I also had an ultrasound to check for gallbladder issues, etc but that came out fine. I did the triple therapy to eradicate the H pylori which ended 2 weeks ago. Three days after the therapy I think I had about 4 days of no symptoms and was feeling great.

I had the misfortune of getting phyrangitis and had to go on a 5 days course of penicillin a week after my therapy and felt ill during and immediatley after ending the course.

I still have reflux, heartburn and nausea. I think I also set myself back by trying too much to fast - I had been drinking coffee and I ate some raw onion and gherkins on a sandwich for lunch one day and I had such terrible nausea since. Currently taking Omez 20mg twice per day and eating a bland diet but still have the nausea! Going to follow Anne1 advice here and just try to go really slow.