The one thing that confuses me santabongo is that if the endoscopy came back clear what makes you think it is gastritis? I'm curious.
Hope you're coping ok.

So is there anything you recommend trying to take to help cure this? Or any foods I should stay away from? I was even thinking about fasting for a day or so to try and let it heal? I pretty desperate at this point, it seems like everything i eat gives me trouble.I got chest pains, A LOT of gas, trouble swallowing at times, bad taste in mouth, sternum pain when i run, pounding heart beat, ect. it sucks!

Hi there benksteelers12 and welcome,
Firstly there is no quick fix to gastritis if it is chronic. Some heal in months others, like me take years. I'm nearly healed but battle with IBS as well and that doesn't play fair at all.
Check out the thread dietary assistance. For now avoid spicy foods and soft drinks (pop) etc. Keep you diet bland and aim for eating every 2-3 hours. It's best in the early stages to never be too full or too empty.
GOing onto a liquid diet for a few days to rest your tummy could be good and slowly introduce soft foods and work your way back. Avoid alcohol for now. Even the slightest bit could cause pain.
I hope this is a start for you. Please ask any questions you have.

Thank you for the advice sorentum. I also suffer from IBS as well. So what bland foods do you recommend. I think that is my main problem, I am terrible at following a strict diet. How long do you suggest staying on it to let me stomach heal?? I am at the point where I am willing to try anything. Sick of being in pain and constantly burping and passing gas (my poor girlfriend) lol. Should I still take my omeprezole and rantidine during my bland or liquid diet?? Thanks for the info i appreciate it!

Hello, I feel good knowing that am not alone is this situation. I hate having gastritis and not be able to eat spicy food. I ben on Raditilina for 1 month it really helps me alot.

Have you checked out dietary assistance? It has loads of information but is a long thread now so will take some time. Have a read and feel free to ask more questions.
I don't find it hard to stick to a strict diet when going off it means horrid pain. As to how long it takes to heal that varies from person to person. The IBS is more of my nightmare these days.

I am going to start a strict diet on Monday so I will let you know how that goes. Thanks for all the advice. Another question I had was about what symptoms can gastritis cause? Along with the abdominal pain and heart burn I get chest pains, and sternum pain when I run, plus I seem to be really tired and fatigued all the time as well as my muscles are really achy and I feel sore when Im not really working out much. I have ordered a new mattress in case that is the problem but could any of those be gastritis related?

Gastritis can cause a wide spectrum of symptoms. Chest pain is a common complaint as is back pain, nausea, fatigue and more. Stress can cause these same symptoms a lot of times, as can other conditions. You may attribute these to gastritis if you wish, however following up with your doctor (if you are able), is usually the best advice- as your doctor knows your personal health history far more than anyone on here will be able to.

P.S. Take it easy and remember to give your body time to heal... and it will get there.

Good luck and warmest wishes always.

i am new and just wanted to say that it is great(!) to hear of the experiences of others - at times I have thought I was going crazy!

I have had gastritis now on and off for a couple of years. It started following a stressful event, where I was just throwing up acid and couldn't eat for weeks, took Ibuprofen on an empty stomach and ended up with a bleed!

The GP gave me Omeprazole and it settled down after a while. i then changed jobs about a year ago and it is very stressful, with lots of travel and not much sleep and no regular meal times - all bad things I know! I have had the occasional flare-up but recently decided to try and wean myself off the medication, and the last week saw another flare-up which resulted in - SORRY - v dark poo again. This happened when i was first diagnosed but not since....now I am panicking - has anyone else had that symptom and can it come and go?

Thank you

hey starfish

I have def had the dark poop symptom a lot when I was not on any medication. But it could also be because there is blood in your stool which is known to make it dark in color.. hopefully you do not have a stomach bleed again. I just got an endoscopy done. I recommend it so that they can see what is going on in there. I now know what I have, just have to figure out how to heal it! I wish you goodluck!

I know this will sound extreme, but this is my first time here, and I was nearly in tears just knowing that other people finally understand what I've gone through for two years now. I'm in excellent medical care, and I've gone to great pains to modify my diet. I've taken the meds, tried to holistic route, etc., and yet each day I become more and more depressed and hopeless that life will stay this way for good. I'm encouraged by the positive attitude and supportive nature of this group, and I'm so thankful FINALLY someone else relates. The incessant burping, the odd pains on both sides of my stomach, the feeling that nothing will be digested properly, and mostly, people staring at me like I have three heads when I tell them my symptoms. My well wishes to each of you, especially because I can tell many of you have it much, much worse than I do.

What worked for me - I was told to restrict my diet and that there was no magic pill. I plugged along and every once in a while I would eat the wrong thing, knowing I would pay the price. Whle shopping with a friend in Costco, I decided to purchase some probiotic pills and take one a day. I noticed a difference right away but was not ready to hang my hat on that. It has been 2 months now and I am eating what I want when i want it, and so far with no bad result. I consider that a miracle after what I have been through. Maybe it will also work for some of you on this board. Wouldn't that be wonderful? !!!

Hey carole what kind of probiotic did you take? Def something i would be interested in trying. I cant wait to get my stomach healed. How long does it usually take if you are eating a bland diet?

I came to these forums months ago to try to research my own stomach problems, and was taken aback by how much we all worry about our stomach issues. They are a real bother and make us think that there must be something very wrong, but that's not always the case. Let me just say here that when the doc doesn't find anything after an endoscopy, it is likely that your stomach issues are caused by a stress cycle. The only way to get out of it is to eat bland for a while and de-stress your life as much as possible. I never thought my stomach issues would go away but they did. It took 3 months but the best thing you can do is keep your spirits up, grab some books to read, take some time off work, eat simple and relax. For me, I mostly ate bread with peanut butter, eggs, apple sauce, and also took a probiotic once a day. This worked for me and I wanted to post this so that anyone reading who is currently suffering can see that there are some success stories out there.

I realize that this is a pretty old thread but I love the bump.

I am becoming more and more sure that my stomach is an anxiety thing. Just like the athlete who tears an ACL then is afraid to run on it again, sometimes our fear can cause actual pain.

That said, I have made more progress with my psychiatrist in the past 2 months than I have in the past six years treating it myself and with G.I doctors.

If you still feel pain after getting the all clear with an endoscopy, I highly recommend getting psychiatric help. Gastritis can do awful things to ones mind and cause unimaginable anxiety. Getting over it once you know its gone can be extremely difficult