I think carafate is to coat your stomach. I have not tried it but it sounds like a good idea. I am taking DGL licorice that coats the stomach as well. I actually stopped a few days ago and I feel the difference. I am starting to take it again.

If omeprazole does not work for you, there are other PPI. I am taking dexilant and it helps a lot.

I take Carafate but admit that I don,t take it four times a day. I live in England and have heard that it is being discontinued there. I am still in a lot of pain and I take Slippery elm. However I cant coat the stomach and take meds at the same time. I am thinking of trying Aloe Vera gel as someone said it was good to line the stomach.

Pepcid Complete is a mix of two meds. If you want to shift from Omeprazole to pure Pepcid (20mg twice a day) or Zantac (150mg twice a day), it may work. It is a desireable switch because Omeprazole is a PPI with more harmful side-effects.

And in order to get off PPIs, people usually shift to Pepcid or Zantac first, and then get off Pepcid or Zantac.

There IS a magic remedy.

If I were you I would drop the Carafate and replace it with the holy trinity of PepZin GI, Ulcetrol and Gastromend HP, to be taken depending on their effect. They all do the same thing - heal the stomach - but in increasingly forceful order. PepZin GI is the safest, most reliable, but also least aggressive. It does the job, though.

Don't confuse PepZin GI with Pepcid. Completely different.

I love pepzin GI and it was very helpful when I stopped the PPI but in three months even though I got an improvement, it did not cure me completely. I think it is good to take it when you stop the PPI after being completely cured to avoid a relapse.

What bothers me with ulcetrol and gastromend is the presence of mastic gum. I tried mastic gum for 4 days and it caused me a lot of pain and clearly made my gastritis worse. After reading the reviews on amazon I noticed that I was not the same in this case. Also I would stay away from the vit C in gastromend, it is very acidic.

Please keep this going. I am learning so much.

I am on another board for Palpitations and most of those people do not like Omeprazole either. I don't know much about any of these meds. Don't know what's in them or exactly what they do or do not do for us. I'm medicine-ignorant.

When you all say to stop taking Carafate or Omeprazole are you saying to stop without the doctor's blessing? Do we have to consult with him before we change these meds ourselves? Since Omeprazole is sold over the counter I would guess it's not a problem to stop taking it and try something else.

Yesterday was a terrible day, stomach-wise. I tried everything and didn't feel any better until I took a small bit of Klonapin and went to bed.

I've never taken the Carafate as direcrted so I wonder if I just haven't given it a chance. But now I wonder if I should even bother with it anymore.

Thanks so much. Helping.

Hi littlemart,

Let me tell you about my experience.
At first the doctor prescribed me dexilant for 2 months. I got a huge improvement. Actually I felt perfectly good after two months (It took me one month to find out about the diet though, so I started feeling better only after one month taking dexilant). Then after two months, the doctor said to take it a few more weeks and then wean off slowly by taking it every other day for a week, then every three days, ....
But I was so anxious about taking a medication (especially after reading about the side effects of PPI) that I did not listen and stopped at once cold turkey. I had a lot of acid coming back as soon as I stopped with a lot of pain.

So I decided to try to cure myself with natural supplements and the diet. I did a lot of research about it, read a few books, read a lot of forums, and tried a lot of different supplements (almost everything recommended for gastritis really). The only supplements I found really helpful were pepzin GI, DGL licorice and slippery elm. After taking those three months, with the diet, I felt better. My stomach was not hurting much anymore even though it still felt sensitive. So I stopped everything. I started feeling more and more sensitive and had a really bad meal at the restaurant with garlic, lemon, spices, ... As a result I ended up with a lot of pain again for a month, LPR at night, sore throat. Obviously I was not cured.

The good thing is that now I can compare trying the natural approach and the medication, and honestly it helps a lot to recover quickly to turn off the production of acid in the stomach with a PPI. Excess acid hurts the stomach and prevents healing. Supposedly pepzin GI helps the stomach recover in the presence of acid but first if it really works, it is very slow (sometimes while taking it I was wondering if I was improving at all for days), and second, it is very unpleasant to live with excess acid, especially at night.

Now I am back on PPI for 10 days, and I feel that I am improving again, much quicker than these last months. My sore throat is mostly gone. And I plan to stay on it until I am cured.
I really recommend working with your doctor to find the right medication, and if you are not happy with your doctor, there are many others. Dexilant works great for me, it is one of the most recent PPI out there. I looked at the studies and it seems to be one of those that work best as well with the less side effects. Personally, I had no side effects from it so far.
Why not try carafate a little bit and see how it goes? I wish somebody told me a few months ago to listen to my doctor instead of trying my own thing, maybe I would be cured by now.

Ines the only real problem I have with the Carafate is that it constipates me. A problem I have anyway, but don't need to make it worse. Not sure how to combat that except to take more Clearlax and fiber.

Can you tell me which meds are PPI's? I know about Omeprazole, but don't know about the others. I keep hearing negative stuff about Omeprazole.

I am taking the Carafate right now. Just doing about twice a day. Sometimes 3 x. I'm pretty sure my doctor will let me try other things. He's actually a surgeon who specializes in liver cancer and gastric stuff. He seems to know his stuff.

I don't mind the natural products too much, but I know that you still have to be careful with them just like any meds. I became pretty sensitive to meds and supplements after they killed my thyroid.

Wondering if Pepcid and Zantac are just as good as Omeprazole. I know the doctors always prescribe Omep. I hate to experiment too much. You never know what's going to set it off.

Thanks again.

Hi littlemart,

PPI mean proton-pump inhibitor, it is a family of medications that act on the little acid pumps in your stomach and basically turn them (almost) off. Omeprazole is part of this family. Dexilant (the one I take) is a recent one from the same family. This is the strongest medication doctors have today to help with gastritis. The problem with them is that you have to stop them gradually as when you stop your stomach might react and produce more acid, also with long term use (years), you can have deficiencies in B12 vitamines and Calcium. I like the websites webmd and wikipedia to find out more about medications.

Pepcid and zantac are H2-blockers, another family of medication. Check on wikipedia. They are less strong, work differently and don't cause rebound effect. Personally zantac cause me more side effect like feeling dizzy, I don't like it.

I understand the probleme with constipation. At some point I had found a great supplements that removes the acidity in food: calcium glycerophosphate. I had to stop because it was making me constipated. Maybe you should talk to your doctor about taking DGL licorice to coat your stomach instead of carafate. I know you are afraid about your thyroid, I don't know if DGL licorice would be a problem, especially since they removed the active component glycyrrhizin. I would think it would be ok but I am not a doctor. I am very sensitive to supplements that lower the thyroid hormones, or just cabbage, and if they have an effect on my thyroid I feel it quickly.

Ok a few more things.

1) In the beginning used to take dietary advice from a gastro surgeon. Turned out he's fucking clueless. Surgeons really are not "in touch" with what's happening. He took me off Zantac too early and didn't provide enough dietary information, so I quickly walked into the trap of developing an ulcer.

2) PepZin GI is vital. Look up clinical studies. Chances are your doctor (of any type) doesn't know about it despite it being widely used in Japan since the 90s. The pharma industry does not care for actual cures.

3) Ulcetrol and Gastromend do contain mastic gum. However, one Gastromend pill has twice less of it than the lowest per-pill dose sold in the USA. Ulcetrol has even less than that. In both cases its mixed with other ingredients which really alter its effect. Mastic gum alone was never helpful for me, but inside these ingredients it works.

4) Yes, Vitamin C is abrasive to stomach lining. However, not while inside Gastromend. The reason its inside Gastromend is because Vitamin C(along with Mastic Gum) fights H.Pylori which can grow excessive in gastritis cases.

5) While using PepZin GI alone I hit a plateau, then discovered Gastromend and it really changed my condition for the better. Now I mostly stick to PepZin GI and only use Gastromend when I screw something up. I use Ulcetrol intermittently. Usually on empty stomach in the morning or before bed.

Mastic Gum does have a constipative effect on me. Also it's a localized antibiotic. So after taking ingredients with it, I don't eat for at least an hour, and always take probiotics with food.

And of course before every meal I take digestive enzymes by Source Naturals. Since they're weak, I take 6.

Oh, and I would definitely consult your doctor about changing from PPI to H2 blocker. I just don't think your doctor in this case should be a gastric surgeon. Even a plain old physician/GP might be better informed.

Can anyone list the side effects of the PPI's please? I've heard that a lot of people don't like them and I'd like to know why. I've never taken them regularly so I never had the problem of getting off those meds. But, I'm also not convinced that they do much good.

Hi littlemart,

I don't know the direct side effects of PPI as I do not have any but you can check on the internet for each medication or on the paper that comes with the box of PPI you are taking. The long term side effects I know (and have not experienced) are because of the low acid in the stomach (caused by the medication) and not because of the medication in itself.

Because of low acid in the stomach, we don't process calcium and B12 vitamins as well and after a long time (many months, years), we may have a B12 deficiency and bones problems due to lack of calcium. Also with less acid in the stomach we are not as well protected against bacteria like C. difficile. And finally when you stop them, your stomach might react by producing more acid than normal for a little while (but this can be managed by stopping progressively).

I think PPI are very useful. I took pepzin GI for three months and I got better but at some point I was not improving anymore and kept a slight pain in my stomach. Now I have taken the PPI for almost two weeks, and the pain is completely gone. The lack of acid in the stomach really helps the stomach to heal itselfs.

PPIs eliminate nearly 100% of stomach acid, which exposes the stomach lining to potential infections and developing new allergies.

Also, they alter digestion of certain elements, which over the years results in hair thinning and bone brittleness.

H2 blockers are safer. Zantac, which is probably the most well-studied, eliminates 70% of stomach acid. I believe if you can stay on Zantac it's always better than going on a PPI.

Zantac lowers B12 absorption and too needs B12 supplement, but its effects are generally not as severe as with PPIs.

I believe doctors are way too in a hurry to put people on PPIs without trying the lesser evils (Zantac/Pepcid) first.

It is not true that PPI remove 100% of acid, I read a lot about this and there is still some acid going on. Moreover being on dexilant I can feel I still have some acid going on at night. It is true there are some (small) increased risk of infections and decreased absorptions of vitamins and minerals because of the lack of acid, but the goal is not to take the PPI forever but to be cured quickly and stop it. With low acid in the stomach, the stomach lining is not constantly irritated by the excess acid anymore and can regenerate more quickly. Moreover we have reserves of minerals and vitamins to last healthily a few months on PPI.