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, I'm a 19 year old college student who was recently diagnosed with gastritis. I spent my entire spring break feeling sick and I thought I might have just caught a bug, but I went to the doctors and she told me it was gastritis. I haven't had any big tests done, but she gave me zofran, which hasn't really been helping. I've also been taking pepcid AC which also hasn't really been helping. I've had sleepless nights, nausea, trapped burbs, I've been miserable. I don't have an appetite, I tried choking down some rice but could only eat half a bowl. I've lost weight, which isn't good since I'm already slightly too thin. Crackers are okay, tea kind of helps, so do bananas. I go back to school in a couple days and I'm so nervous because it's 3 1/2 hours away from home. Also, the food at my school isn't very good for sensitive stomachs since they're so greasy and fatty. I won't have much access to the bland foods I'll be needing. I also have to give a speech and do all this work, which is really making my anxiety spike. If anyone can give me an tips or guidance, it would be much appreciated.
Good luck. I hope you feel beter soon.
It breaks my heart to hear of someone so young having this horrid illness. I don't know how to work with the food issue at school. Could you talk with the kitchen to see if they can do a special menu for you?
If you try it - I hope it helps!
K
Before the doctors went prescription-crazy, the progression was this:
Zantac, then if Zantac fails, PPIs.
Zantac has far fewer serious side-effects than PPIs, because it leaves some stomach acid there, which is necessary for bacterial control. It is also better time-tested than famotidine (Pepcid AC).
You're in a bad place, where I was, before I figured this out. Follow this regimen exactly and see what happens: I will use exact brand names because that's what I did, and went from "losing 30lbs and barely digesting rice" to having KFC and chocolate cookies on occasion.
Hey, nobody's perfect ;)
1) Dump Pepcid/Omeprazole. Take a Zantac 150 (or generic equivalent) every 8 hours exactly. Set a timer on your phone to remind you. This is crucial. They say that the normal dosage is twice a day, but it's not enough for severe cases- in my experience it lasts 8 hours, not 12. The reason - prevent acid indigestion and excess acid from eventually burrowing a hole in your stomach
Don't eat 30 minutes before or after the "Zantac intake moment"!
2) Start taking Dr. Best Pepzin GI (get it on Amazon). It is a Japanese miracle drug that they've been using for 20 years now to heal the stomach. Take up to 8 capsules a day, but not more, otherwise you may get into "zinc overdose" territory. The official dosage is 2-4 capsules, but this is the safest drug I've ever taken.
Just by itself, Zantac slows damage to your stomach by suppressing 70% of your stomach acid. However Pepzin GI actually works as a band-aid that sticks to inside of the stomach and heals it. It is CRUCIAL. Both are needed - to be safe.
3) Before every meal, take 5-6 capsules of Source Natural Digestive Enzymes. Your stomach needs help digesting food now.
4) Get a probiotic with acidophilis. Doesn't have to be fancy. There's a Walgreens 20-billion acidophilis one in a yellow box... take it with enzymes before breakfast.
___________________
This is the basic regimen. Now, in the beginning, to jumpstart your progression and also help with potential H. Pylori problem, I would recommend you buy Gastromend HP and take exactly as directed (4 a day, 2x by 2 pills).
Among crucial stomach-healing ingredients like DGL and Vitamin U, it contains mastic gum which has an antibiotic effect on the stomach that kills H. Pylori. It seems most effective when a dose is taken on an empty stomach in the morning, and H. Pylori gnaws on it and dies.
Taking it means that it is especially important to take probiotics with your breakfast. It kills bacteria indiscriminately, but it doesn't have horrible effects on your whole system like pharma antibiotics do.
______________
Another tip: if you can't eat anything, try eating cottage cheese (often sold in Russian stores as "tvorog"). It contains protein that is important, and it neutralizes stomach acid, AND it is a natural probiotic.
I used to stuff myself with it at early stages, and also found that it helped me when taken after other food.
_______________
Regarding greasy school food: you will have problems handling it for a while. Stay away from erosive things like ketchup and dressings.
However Pepzin GI has a protective effect. I would take 2 capsules before offending food, and after, to minimize damage. And maybe more enzymes than usual.
I realize all of this is going to hit your pocket, but I'm just relaying something that's been working for me.
Note, that it's very difficult to get off Zantac. You can't just quit. But if you were on Omeprazole, first you'd have to substitute it with Zantac, and then quit Zantac.
Zantac is relatively harmless, with very minor effects on the liver. It does stifle absorption of B12, which can be taken as sublingual methylcobalamine (I use Jarrow brand, once a day).
Also you can consider taking something like Taurine to help the liver. Taurine is a natural component that is already part of cat food and many energy drinks, but the drinks are filled with garbage which negates its effect.
I feel you man. I'm in the same boat. I developed my gastritis in the fall of my freshman year of college. Today, I'm finishing up my junior year. This fall will be 3 years with gastritis. I've experienced some pretty rough, lonely, depression filled times, but I will say that gastritis CAN be healed, I repeat it CAN be healed. My gastritis is healing and will be gone by the summer.
If I may, I'd like to give my humble opinion on some of the issues you wrote about.
When it comes to what you can and what you can't eat it's person to person. You are going to have to learn what hurts your stomach and what soothes it. However, for general guidelines: Most foods that are natural and soft do not hurt my gastritis. Ex. Apples, Quinoa, fish, applesauce, etc. Any kind of food with unnatural processed aspects in them I would stay away from, however some say they eat them and are ok. I would highly recommend staying 100% away from salt, it is irritating. I would recommend eating potatoes, as they are EXTREMELY soothing and anti-inflammatory. FYI losing weight is going to happen with gastritis. What's most important is healing your stomach, so that your digestion is no longer impaired and your body is fully absorbing the nutrients of the food you eat. Bananas are solid.As your gastritis heals, your start to feel more regular in your eating habits, aka you'll get hungry, don't worry it's normal. I never felt hungry because all I felt was the pain/burning in my stomach.
Here are the steps to heal your stomach:
1. Most importantly, stop hurting your stomach and continue to do so. If you do this, your stomach will start healing normally as inflammation increases decreases with time if it is not irritated again.
2. Find a healing agent(coating agent) to speed things along. Doctors usually prescribe Carafate (Sulcrafate)as a coating agent as well as a PPI of some sort (Zofran, Pepcid, Aciphex, Nexium, Prilosec, etc.). I personally never saw much improvement from the PPIs, for me it was the coating agents that made the difference. My God send has been Jarrow's Mastic Gum. Take one pill morning and night and I get steady healing every time I sleep. Judge if a coating agent is working by comparing week to week, not day to day.
3. Lastly, SLEEP, SLEEP, and SLEEP!! This is when your body heals most efficiently. Get your sleep. I've developed sleep problems as well and have a doctor that prescribes me Trazodone to take before sleep to knock me out, and keep me out. If your having trouble sleeping, go to a doctor with their own private practice. One more thing, exercise is great for the inflammation in your stomach. I know you don't have much energy, but even a slight jog to break a sweat goes a long way when done consistently. For me, going for runs helped tire me out so that I could sleep.
If there is anything else I could help you with or if you have any questions PLEASE ask man. I can help you get rid of it. It's not that difficult I promise.