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 am sitting up unable to sleep for the pain. I wanted to post about it but there are so many others in the same boat. It hurts and goes beyound hurting as its flaring up all the time now. I acknowledge that it could be something Ive had to flare it up. I just am fed up of it and want rid of it. Ive had stomach trouble for 3 years. Its not easy when a friend goes into a chocolate shop,then a sweet shop. I did go in them but its so upsetting that I can,t eat them. I don,t have orange juice and can,t eat anything spicy. Im fed up of the can,t eats now I can,t sleep for pain. I know we are all there on it. Its a horrible thing to have. I could eat anything before this but I never was a big eater. If I recover from this I will just cook and cook. I will eat whatever,so long as its healthy. Its got to get right we can,t be like this all our lives. I pray and get prayed for and take my meds but nothing helps. It really is driving me crazy. I went away with my husband but have been getting attacks so that is out. Im going nowhere. Its turned so cold here too in the UK. What is going on? Life eh?
I am exactly where you are poorlygir4l! Last week was one of the worst weeks for me. With waking up dizzy, and nauseous, and weak. I let my body and emotions take over me. 2fastforward messaged me and she gave me hope that things will get better!
I have been trying to look at things in a brighter light. I know it's extremely complicated to be positive when all you feel is negative and horrible. But it's very true what they say. You are sick because you're stressed. And you're stressed because you're sick. It's a never ending vicious cycle...
But if you let your emotions, and the pain envelope you, it will not get any better. I'm just as frustrated with the doctors as much as you are, and it gets to a point when you start to think if it's even worth going to see them anymore? Why would they want to help us? That means they lose a patient and in turn lose money...
I am learning to accept what I have. I am learning to accept that I may not feel at my best everyday. If I have to lay in bed all day, then I will even if it means my daughter has to be stuck in my room all day. But if that's what it takes for me to feel better.. than so be it! If you have to, find your comfort zone. Something that makes you feel comfy and happy and cling to that for as long as you need before you can get past it all. Try to be ok with it instead of being mad about it. I was very mad for a very long time because my flare-up came back. And I was struggling to find out what caused it to come back, and I kept looking back and thinking back to the days when my gastritis went away momentarily. But don't look at the past and don't focus too much on the future. Try to get through each day, and with each day try to stay positive. It's hard, but it helps! I promise!
I am looking into self-help books to help me balance out my stress and anxiety. I'm hoping homeopathic remedies will help as well! Just try to stay positive! You are not alone! I promise! I am right there with you! :)
I'm lucky that my lifestyle allows me to lie down the whole day if I have/need to, and I did this a lot in the beginning, just to rest the stomach as sitting made it ache! So you have to find that sweetspot that makes you comfortable, and as happy as you can be under the circumstances.
When I was in pain it was natural to focus on that pain and worry yourself silly about it (could it be cancer!) - but try a diversion, gosh watch movies or read a book or listen to an audiobook on your iPod, just get your mind off it for a while. Stress is a killer!!
Keeping a food diary has helped a lot too.
I've been having really bad flare-ups and this past weekend I've been feeling like I'm fighting off the stomach flu. I have to admit, that this weekend definitely had me feeling defeated. I had to let a few tears out the past couple of days because of my frustration. But I am still very much trying to push through it and not let it win.
Last month and this month so far have been proving hell for me. But I just try to stay positive and look forward to my husbands homecoming from deployment. A lot of me is hoping that once he is back, things will start to get better for me (even though I know that it won't go away overnight).
I have been losing sleep because I will wake up in the middle of the night or wake up really early with a bad stomach ache and it takes a couple of hours before I can finally get back to sleep. It's really hard to get through it all alone, but I just try to stay strong. The GI wants to do another upper GI endoscopy (this will be my 3rd one as i had one in Dec 2008 and March 2009). I scheduled it for the 16th, but I was getting anxiety over it, so will probably be rescheduling it for when hubby is home.
Hang in there girl. We are all here and are all going through the same things. :)