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.

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/ Gastritis Support Group

Does this sound like gastritis?

BillyB
BillyB

Going for a GI consult the end of this week. Trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with me. Been miserable for about a month. Do the following symptoms sound like gastritis?


Used to take advil pretty regularly for back pain, etc. Probably several times a week. Also enjoy a beer or two in the evening and sometimes a saturday night of a few more drinks (maybe once a month). Ive also eaten pretty bad, junk food, burgers, etc.. I would say Ive had mild heartburn pretty frequently for years and would take pepcid to keep it at bay, nothing too serious.


A month ago I was given some oral steroids due to bad sinuses. Took that and advil a few days and one day woke up with horrible burning at the bottom of my sternum. Could literally feel the food passing by the spot and burned like crazy. Started on prevacid that day and it got better in about a week but since then my stomach has gone down hill.


Main symptoms for the past 2 weeks:


TERRIBLE BLOATING after meals, pretty much no matter what I eat


Belching like crazy and its the only thing that brings relief


Pressure under my ribs especially on left side


Gurgling stomach sounds


Sometimes nausea (no vomiting yet) and some mild pain to the left and down from sternum


Loss of appetite and anxious about eating because I know it will bring misery


Lost about 5-7 lbs in 2 weeks


Overall wretched feeling surrounding eating, lack of energy, tired and tired of being sick to my stomach


But the odd thing is that I dont have terrible pain but I feel awful.


Does this sound like what you guys are dealing with? Thanks in advance.

boobear
boobear
Hi Billyb,
A lot of what you have described does sound like gastritis but usually one of the main symptoms is a burning above the belly button or below the ribs plus some times it goes through to the back...also a dull aching around theese same areas...do you have any burning symptoms??,,,have you had an endoscopy to comfirm the gastritis?...I have gastritis and also a hiatus hernia...sometimes the pain is from one or the other..it's hard to tell which. A lot of your symtoms sound like I was at the beginning...makes you feel awful...but here in the UK it takes quite a while before you get diagnosed (6 months for me) by which time i had all the burning symptoms appear. Keep us updated..but don't worry you will get better..are you still on any meds?
twinmommy
twinmommy
Your symptoms sounds similar to mine. My pain (more discomfort- like an air bubble feeling) on my left side under my rib cage, loss of appetite (I’ve lost 20lbs) and over all feeling like garbage. I’ve been to the ER 3 times, had an endoscopy and colonoscopy, tons of labs drawn and was admitted to the hospital for 4 days this month and I STILL don’t have a diagnosis. It’s extremely frustrating. I see my GI doc this coming week and from what I’ve been told the next step for me is a gastric emptying test. I’m so sorry you’re going through this- I know how awful and dibilitataing it is. From the forums I’ve read it sounds like eating bland foods and patience is the key because it’s a long journey unfortunately. I hope you get answers soon.
defense33
defense33
Yes to all of those symptoms. I did not have the hardcore pain at first, but it arrived , on and off , after a couple, of months. I am currently on PPI's, zantac, tums and gaviscon. It has been 6 months and it is slowly starting to improve. I still can't get a referral to a GI specialist. (Canada). My doctor says it is a common problem and we have to use the PPI's for longer first.
Comencme
Comencme
My gastritis symptoms were pain on the left side, constant Loud stomach growling, vomiting. I couldn't even hold down water. Weight loss. I'm down 30 lbs since November. I never have had heartburn. I would sometimes feel dizzy. I always felt nausea. I got this way from taking over the counter pills for pain and steroids bc i have bronchial asthma, i had very poor eating habits. I never would drink water. Only soda and iced tea. I ate a lot of fast foods. But this has all changed since gastritis. It's possible u have gastritis but only a gastrologist would be able to tell you. Good luck.