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.
I have had gastritis diagnosed 9 months ago and I have had stomach sensitivity for probably a few years. I still wonder what caused it? Too many irritating foods (Last year, I cooked more indian food, more with tomatoes and lemon, using more salt and pepper), my vitamins in the morning, this fiber supplement I took? The doctor diagnosed me with mild gastritis and oesophagitis. I have no h. pylori and the allergy tests were negatives.
At first I took dexilant. I got great result with that and a low acid, dairy free, low salt, bland diet avoiding anything irritating. After two months I felt great, no acid in my mouth anymore, no stomach pain, I was able to sleep, I felt like a new person. But I stressed about taking a medication and the possible side effects of having low acid in my stomach so I stopped cold turkey. I know I should have stopped slowly. The pain came back and I decided to try the natural way. I was still on my diet. On week after the other I added natural supplements to my diet, trying them all and keeping the ones that really help for me: slippery elm, DGL licorice, PepZin GI, evamore water. I got very very slowly better than I stopped everything after three months. I can't tell I remember exactly how well I felt but it was better than now.
Now I have had a relapse. I probably stopped my treatment too early and I got invited to a big dinner with acidic food, dairy, garlic, fried stuff... three weeks ago. I got into so much pain after that dinner. I am still recovering from it. I slowly started all the natural supplements again. I am feeling better than three weeks ago, the strong pain has been replaced by a mild pain, I have a constant sore throat, it has been a week that I can sleep again but it could be better. The mild pain in my throat mostly and a little bit in my stoamch sometimes is wearing me off at this point. I wonder if I should go back on the dexilant? And if yes for how long? I was thinking of taking it for two months again and then ween off slowly (I have three bottles of it in my closet). I asked my doctor and he said to keep doing what I am doing and to not take the dexilant. I don't feel that beside my diagnostic my doctor has been understanding or very helpful.
One thing that hold me back from taking the dexilant, beside the fear of taking a medication, is that I would like to try getting pregnant. I have a condition that makes it difficult for me to get pregnant and I am not so young anymore, so I would like to get started as soon as possible.
What did you do to get better? And what would you recommend? Any advice would be welcome. I am feeling discouraged.
At first I took dexilant. I got great result with that and a low acid, dairy free, low salt, bland diet avoiding anything irritating. After two months I felt great, no acid in my mouth anymore, no stomach pain, I was able to sleep, I felt like a new person. But I stressed about taking a medication and the possible side effects of having low acid in my stomach so I stopped cold turkey. I know I should have stopped slowly. The pain came back and I decided to try the natural way. I was still on my diet. On week after the other I added natural supplements to my diet, trying them all and keeping the ones that really help for me: slippery elm, DGL licorice, PepZin GI, evamore water. I got very very slowly better than I stopped everything after three months. I can't tell I remember exactly how well I felt but it was better than now.
Now I have had a relapse. I probably stopped my treatment too early and I got invited to a big dinner with acidic food, dairy, garlic, fried stuff... three weeks ago. I got into so much pain after that dinner. I am still recovering from it. I slowly started all the natural supplements again. I am feeling better than three weeks ago, the strong pain has been replaced by a mild pain, I have a constant sore throat, it has been a week that I can sleep again but it could be better. The mild pain in my throat mostly and a little bit in my stoamch sometimes is wearing me off at this point. I wonder if I should go back on the dexilant? And if yes for how long? I was thinking of taking it for two months again and then ween off slowly (I have three bottles of it in my closet). I asked my doctor and he said to keep doing what I am doing and to not take the dexilant. I don't feel that beside my diagnostic my doctor has been understanding or very helpful.
One thing that hold me back from taking the dexilant, beside the fear of taking a medication, is that I would like to try getting pregnant. I have a condition that makes it difficult for me to get pregnant and I am not so young anymore, so I would like to get started as soon as possible.
What did you do to get better? And what would you recommend? Any advice would be welcome. I am feeling discouraged.
My first question would be, is the doctor who advised you NOT to take the dexilant, also the one who prescribed it? If not, what type of doctor is he/she (NP, GI or GP?). That may have some influence on their recommendation.
Secondly, with gastritis in general I think that there are a lot of options out there to try to treat this condition- depending on the person, the cause and they medical supervision they receive. Personally, I did not go the all natural route but there are people on here who did and have gotten better. Not all cases of gastritis do heal additionally, as some are chronic, which is a whole additional factor. Long-story short, if you feel that the treatment or the doctor may not be right- keep fighting. You are your own best advocate. If the PPI's felt like they helped more than the natural treatments, consider consulting with your doctor and give it a go. Low-acid is a long-term concern, I agree. One I had myself at one time. However, gastritis left-untreated or not fully treated won't heal either. It sounds like you pulled off all of the treatments as soon as you started to feel better... sometimes though, feeling better is just the tip of the iceberg. It means that you are potentially getting better for some people, but not quite healed yet.
Also, if you are able to, mention to the medical team you are speaking with about your desire to have children. Pregnancy and gastritis have come up on this board before (you may want to search the threads) but the only way to be safe is to really look into things and talk to people. I think that personally there is always risk- however, once risk should not stop you from following your heart, even if it means more pain for a bit but long-term happiness in the long-run.
Warmest wishes and I hope you find the answers you seek soon.
Thank you so much for answering, I was hoping you would as you seem to have a lot of experience.
The doctor who told me to not take the dexilant anymore is my GI doctor. He did not see me anymore, we just had an exchange of emails. But I don't trust his advice. He usually misunderstand my questions, did not tell me anything about following a diet, at first he just said to keep taking dexilant (originally prescribed by my general doctor). When a few weeks later I said I wanted to stop he said ok. Now he is telling me that he will see me again in a few months for reevaluation.
Here is an example of one of our exchanges that illustrate why I don't trust him to be helpful: When I asked a question about eating yoghourt he said that I should not eat it, then I told him that I don't have lactose intolerance (I have been tested in the past), so he said I can eat it then. But I actually noticed that yoghourt aggravated my gastritis, not sure if it is too acidic or if it makes my stomach produce more acid but I wish the doctor would have told me something about that instead of answering lightly one way and then the opposite way. But this is just an example, more importantly I wish I would get more guidance to get better.
I will give you my 2 cents..
I have had bad heartburn in the past with a little bit of gastritis. I know gastritis is more difficult to deal with than heartburn is. The sore throat is called silent reflux. It tends to happen while you are sleeping and inflames the esophagus. Try and prop yourself up at night to avoid that.
OK I would take Dexilant in order to give the esophagus and stomach the best chance to heal. Gastritis can become chronic, moreso than heartburn. I have taken it but not too often and it does heal the area quickly.. the 60 mg one... but you still have to be careful with your diet on it.. not so much with heartburn/reflux but yes with gastritis.. I dont like to take PPIs at all and have mainly managed this issue without them but I know dexilant works very well. it is your best chance to improve the both areas. It works well for the esophagus. Then wean yourself off and then take Zantac for a while until it feels good.. You always have to be careful with your diet. Doing a food journal really helped me with heartburn and yes most dairy products are bad for both issues.. On the GERD site there are a lot of threads on diet . I notice heartburn types all have the same reaction t o the same foods and drinks. So there are a ton pf gerd rules that work for all of us but gastritis seems to be more individual. So that is when the journal helps. I rarely have heartburn now but it takes a while to figure it all out. It takes a lot of patience and determination but it can be done..
Some GIs are great and some are not. I did a ton of research on healing my issue and am a pro on it now. I also found GPs and many GIs are not so great at helping with this .. Shihonage on the Gastritis site has worked very hard on this issue,, read the college and gastritis post and then check out the GERD site... there is a ton of good info on it. It will help you a lot
Good Luck
Thank you for posting that information.
Thank you for your answer.
I took dexilant for 2 months in January and February this year. I felt good, symptom-free while on it at the end but as soon as I stopped I had terrible stomach pain. According to the GI doctor it should have healed my oesophagitis. (I saw in the dexilant notice that only 80% of people with oesophagitis are healed after 2 months on dexilant 60 mg, and only 14% of the healed people are still healed after 6 months if they stop dexilant) But I wonder if the rebound effect hurt my stomach and put me back on square one. This is one of the main reasons I hesitate to take it again. Even though now I would stop progressively and I know better how to managed the pain with natural supplements.
Moreover my stomach feels better now than last week on my low-fat, low-acid, low-salt, dairy-free, gluten-free (for IBS), bland diet. I think I have a good working knowledge now of the diet as I studied all foods in details and experimented a lot. What bothers me more than my stomach now is my throat which is more or less new. Pepzin GI seems to help me improve my stomach very slowly, at least I hope so. Does the decrease of pain in the stomach mean improvement? Sometimes I worry that all the supplements I take just dull the pain but that I am not really improving. And that with the PPI I would be cured more quickly.
I can tell ravenfish has a lot of experience with this as well. Gastritis is such a tough issue to deal with. I feel for you. It is so frustrating. It sounds like you are doing all the right things with diet. Are you focusing on easily digested foods as well? Some low fat and low acid foods are not easily digested. You want to eat foods that move out of the tummy quickly as well. It sounds like you are eating small meals as well, right?
I am suspicious that the pain goes away because the inflammation subsides for a while but the stomach needs a longer time to heal and so once you eat a trigger food, it is too much for the tummy to handle. I know that when you heal the esophagus.. it needs 4 months in a very low acid environment and you cant treat yourself at all in that period and I think it is longer for gastritis. The 2 month thing the doctor said doesnt sound right to me. I think you may not have been on the Dex long enough...Usually it is 60days at 60 mg and another 60 days at 30 mg and it can be longer for gastritis. However if you are managing the diet part well and are not having symptoms unless you treat yourself. You are doing pretty good but if you have a sore throat regularly you are still having acid impacting the esophagus and throat,, which is not good. The subtle symptoms are deceptive and your esophagus is telling you it is annoyed. That is a symptom of GERD. That means that you are regularly having an acid reflux issue. The acid can travel up to the throat.. So pay really close attention to when it is happening. It can be a postural issue. If you have it more in the morning, then it is coming up at night. If you have it within an hour or 2 after you have eaten it is food related.. Try to not slouch at all after you eat and dont sit down for a while either. Anxiety can definitely cause gastritis and make acid come up into the esophagus. So be aware of this as well.
OK.. I am pretty certain that the people who have had an inflammed esophagus and after they stop taking a PPI, are not careful enough with their diet. Once you have this issue it is always there. You will always have to be careful with food and drinks. That is the reality of this situation. That is how it is for my esophagus. I have learned if I start to get too relaxed about food, it takes about 2 weeks and then it is back again. The esophagus slowly starts to get inflammed again. It is all about diet and it is an everyday thing. I do think that it is harder to manage gastritis and it can come back more easily. The esopahgus can get a break from acid. The stomach can not and it is always working as well. It never gets a rest.
Do what feels right for you. You are also working hard on this and it is bound to get much better over time. This is a tiring issue but stay determined and you will get better.
I know a few people who like Gastromed as well.
Lesley
Thank you for your message.
What is gastromed, is it a clinic? I would like to get some references of doctors in NYC.
I feel much better these days actually. I have been very strict on the diet with no cheating for a while, still taking pepzin gi and DGL licorice. My stomach does not hurt at all anymore. My sore throat is still there but it does not seem to get worse in the morning like it used to. So I cross my fingers that I keep improving.
You sound like you are doing well! Stick to the diet and watch the sore throat thing. You need to eliminate that as well. Keep doing what you are doing and you may be able to treat yourself a little in a while.
Gastromed is a liquid that people drink for their gastritis. I think it is a prescription but not sure. Try googling it. I know shihonage on this site has mentioned it.
Good Luck!
Lesley