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.
Hi all,
Finally got to see a gastro specialist after 6 months! I've had gastritis since February this year and was on PPIs until June this year. Generally feeling better now though still have flare ups through sloppy diet which i have rectified.
The gastro specialist was very very dismissive of gastritis - she said it is not recognised as a condition in the medical world and simply means, and i quote, "the stomach is a little bit red." According to her, it does not cause symptoms and therefore any symptoms i have (nausea, lack of appetite, bloating) are unrelated and must have another cause - she cited stress as the primary cause of these symptoms (though she accepted that stress does not cause gastritis) - she also suggested h pylori test (yes, i STILL havent had the test yet!) and celiac disease test. Interestingly, the blood tests i had in Feb indicated low red blood cell count - she wants to see if Im anemic (can PPIs cause low RBC count?)
So, as far a ridding myself of gastritis goes, her view is that is irrelevant - i should identify the REAL cause of my problems and take it from there..... thoughts anyone?
Finally got to see a gastro specialist after 6 months! I've had gastritis since February this year and was on PPIs until June this year. Generally feeling better now though still have flare ups through sloppy diet which i have rectified.
The gastro specialist was very very dismissive of gastritis - she said it is not recognised as a condition in the medical world and simply means, and i quote, "the stomach is a little bit red." According to her, it does not cause symptoms and therefore any symptoms i have (nausea, lack of appetite, bloating) are unrelated and must have another cause - she cited stress as the primary cause of these symptoms (though she accepted that stress does not cause gastritis) - she also suggested h pylori test (yes, i STILL havent had the test yet!) and celiac disease test. Interestingly, the blood tests i had in Feb indicated low red blood cell count - she wants to see if Im anemic (can PPIs cause low RBC count?)
So, as far a ridding myself of gastritis goes, her view is that is irrelevant - i should identify the REAL cause of my problems and take it from there..... thoughts anyone?
I have both IBS and celiac. The blood test and colonoscopy are only about 40% accurate. I carry the DNA gene for Celiac's, she ran that blood test first. Then biopsied my intestines to see how much damage I had. I gave celiac to both my sons. I was born with it and not DX until I was 54.
Good luck.
In my case the cause (4 years ago) was H pylori infection which I had antibiotic treatment for... but I am left with chronic gastritis & IBS. It is post-infectious gastritis if you like... The H pylori wreaked havoc in my stomach & has damaged cells so now they produce too much acid... so the effective "treatment" for me is acid suppression & a low-acid diet.
Just because you still have symptoms does not mean the initial 'cause' is still causing them! The stomach lining is a notoriously difficult environment to heal once injured or inflamed because of the ongoing attack from gastric acid, enzymes, food etc... the stomach is hurting itself!
can only eat chex cereal,carrots,potatoes,and oatmeal + eggs at this point and long grain rice not sweet or overcooked or its like I'm eating an apple, tons of sugar !
I've been researching hard about glutamine. I think we can repair our lining or I'd like to think so to the point that its strong enough to eat a pizza someday.
My view is that gastritis IS the culprit and is making me feel nauseous and anxious etc. but she disagrees.
This can be called things like functional dyspepsia or visceral hypersensitivity. Worth reading up on these.
Yes I had an endoscopy in February where mild gastritis, esophagitis and a small hiatus hernia were diagnosed. My symptoms are nausea, bloating, general discomfort (no pain), weakness/fatigue and appetite loss (though not all at the same time). Gastro's view is that whatever is causing these problems, its not gastritis so she is looking for alternatives. I was on PPIs for nearly 4 months along with PepZin GI, slippery elm etc. but gave it all up in June as i started to feel better - thought i was over it until september when i started to feel a little ill again (though nowhere near as bad as in Feb/Mar) - now on 150mg of Zantac twice per day to see how i get on.