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.
Hello everyone,
I'm feeling a little pushback from my family lately. Long story short, I switched doctors from one who prescribed me carafate for six months (which did nothing) to one who has given me a ppi which I've been on for a week.
My new doc tells me that my stomach lining wasn't anymore inflamed than any normal persons and says my symptoms now (fullness when eating, morning nausea, burps, a feeling in my throat are acid related hence the script). I asked him why then do I still have pain in the middle of my stomach after eating and on my left side and he said "my stomach is probably still a little inflamed."
He says (and I told my family all this) that I just need to stick to a low fat no citrus/spicy/acidic diet and I should be fine in six to eight weeks especially with the ppi
Sounds very similar to what you have all been saying on here as far as your experiences with gi docs. I guess I'm just a little upset because this guy is supposed to be one of the best in the state and, no disrespect to him, he seems to be just as ignorant to this condition as all the other docs.
So basically I told my family all this. I also expressed my concern about introducing new things into diet. And this week, as I started the new diet and introduced things like low fat cheese, granola bars and pretzels, it seems my abdominal pain has worsened. (My fullness and throat feelings have gone down however since starting the Ppi.) needless to say I am going back to the bland diet.
I told my family I have a hard time trusting this doctors recommendations and told them about all you guys and your experiences and how bland diet some supplements and acidic reducers are the things that are helping you heal along with time itself.
And so the comments have started when I told my family this:
"Listen to the doctor not people online. You don't know their situations. They're not doctors."
"Maybe that support groups no good for you. It's all people who haven't healed."
"You can try new foods like the doctor said, listen to him. Not the Internet."
How do you combat/handle comments like these? How do you not let them discourage you or get you down?
I even told my doctor about all you guys and he says "you never know who's on the other side of that keyboard and what they're dealing with" and a bunch of other stuff I tuned out.
I'm feeling a little pushback from my family lately. Long story short, I switched doctors from one who prescribed me carafate for six months (which did nothing) to one who has given me a ppi which I've been on for a week.
My new doc tells me that my stomach lining wasn't anymore inflamed than any normal persons and says my symptoms now (fullness when eating, morning nausea, burps, a feeling in my throat are acid related hence the script). I asked him why then do I still have pain in the middle of my stomach after eating and on my left side and he said "my stomach is probably still a little inflamed."
He says (and I told my family all this) that I just need to stick to a low fat no citrus/spicy/acidic diet and I should be fine in six to eight weeks especially with the ppi
Sounds very similar to what you have all been saying on here as far as your experiences with gi docs. I guess I'm just a little upset because this guy is supposed to be one of the best in the state and, no disrespect to him, he seems to be just as ignorant to this condition as all the other docs.
So basically I told my family all this. I also expressed my concern about introducing new things into diet. And this week, as I started the new diet and introduced things like low fat cheese, granola bars and pretzels, it seems my abdominal pain has worsened. (My fullness and throat feelings have gone down however since starting the Ppi.) needless to say I am going back to the bland diet.
I told my family I have a hard time trusting this doctors recommendations and told them about all you guys and your experiences and how bland diet some supplements and acidic reducers are the things that are helping you heal along with time itself.
And so the comments have started when I told my family this:
"Listen to the doctor not people online. You don't know their situations. They're not doctors."
"Maybe that support groups no good for you. It's all people who haven't healed."
"You can try new foods like the doctor said, listen to him. Not the Internet."
How do you combat/handle comments like these? How do you not let them discourage you or get you down?
I even told my doctor about all you guys and he says "you never know who's on the other side of that keyboard and what they're dealing with" and a bunch of other stuff I tuned out.
No need to say that I am not mentioning an online support group :D There is no use in wasting energy to discuss these things! I have been severely ill years ago and learnt from that time that is is not important what my family thinks or thinks not ... the important thing is that I become better, and I am pretty sure I know better what is good for me than they do ... :D
Hope that helps ;)
I'm healed as much I ever expect to be. I havev100% of my life back and only have to avoid a handful of ingredients that I can live without.
I hope things improve.
if you do everything right though sucralfate+ppis+smooth low acid diet and no mistakes in tapering, it should be gone in two months. as for me i dont have the luxury of ppis or sucralfate nor a very smooth diet if i could handle yogurt or other smooth stuff itd be easier for sure ! Even then it might not go away for other unknown reasons but it looks like yours just might hopefully.
But I would say trust your own instincts. it sounds like expanding your diet is not what you should be doing yet. Opposite to what the doctor said. Most GIs have never had this issue and they dont completely understand how different gastritis can be for each person. Gastritis can come back easily for a period of time and you can find yourself in a flareup again if you dont watch what you eat. For some people it can take much longer than 2-6 months to heal.
I think you know what you need to do. Listen to your stomach firstly and be careful. gastritis is tricky and if the lining of the stomach is still inflamed it makes sense that you still have to be careful. Your body is telling you something that is contrary to what the doctor said. You can tell which one is right.
Experience with this issue over time teaches you that even doctors are not always correct when it comes to gastritis and reflux. They havent had it themselves. When you have it, you become the expert on what is best for you but it takes time.
I've had a "very mild" case for eight months so I know how long this road can be.
This can get way better. Just trust yourself and stay disciplined.
Gastritis is literally a fancy word for inflammation. If you avoid irritants and take the proper medicine it will heal just like any other part of the body would. It only comes back if you continue using the culprits, catch bacteria or never healed it properly the first time.
And it's just my opinion that people on here don't really know how to cure it just considering none of them are cured. They may understand but they aren't doctors or specialists.
Gastritis is not easy to cure even with a PPI and a gastritis diet because it depends on the individual's tolerance to both meds and the diet anything wrong with either of them won't heal yours.
Just tell your family I'm not listening to anybody but my own body you know the stuff that makes you feel worse and only you feel it not the GI doctor or your family members !
Worrying about comments from people makes me worse and when you have anxiety anyway, your mind goes into overdrive which does your tum no favours at all. So I don't tell them anymore I can do without their comments like the doc knows best. Well the doc sure as hell did nothing for me - just referred me to GI and sent me away with 2 prescriptions. No diet restrictions neither. I googled and found a TCM guy on line who explained loads to me for free, he was great and emailed me what he thought would help.
I believe this site is brilliant and you feel much better realising you are not the only one with this god dam problem. There is a way for each of us, our tummies are all different, the loads of the comments are so very helpful.
You are not alone
G x
Gastritis tends to come back even if you are disciplined. The stomach is forever changed once you have had gastritis.
I am extremely disciplined and after 2 years of no symptoms and as soon as I had black pepper that was hidden in something I could tell gastritis was still there in a subtle way.
You have to be very careful with gastritis for a very long time. So it is not fair to say that people on this site havent done the work. You are definitely easily prone to a flare up once you have had gastritis, especially if you had it for a while before you treated it.
I am here to offer help and be supportive. I am not here to put people down. I dont need help with gastritis. I had it one time only but i can tell my stomach isnt quite the same after the first small episode I had. I am a pro on this issue. I got no help from my GI. I also feel they go by what is in their textbooks only. They are not the ones to trust. You have to trust yourself and be proactive about your own health. Time teaches you this. I got misinformation from my GI a few times. They are too laid back about this issue and chronic reflux as well.
There are many experienced smart people on this site who have helped so many others.