What has worked for my nausea, which could be coming from any of 3 illnesses I have, is Phenegran suppositories and then I sleep at least a half hour. The nausea is almost always gone. Zofran never worked for me either, didn't even feel it. Good look in finding an answer.

Totally know what you're going through. I have yet to be formally diagnosed with gastritis but I feel that is what I am enduring. I'm only 23 and it came on completely by surprise (was perfectly healthy before this) and has seriously hindered my ability to function as well as my quality of life. My general practitioner prescribed me Tecta (pantoprazole magnesium) as well as Reglan (metoclopramide) and both of these had very little impact on my symptoms. Supposedly the Tecta was supposed to stop the burning pain and the Reglan would make my nausea stop and increase my appetite. I still don't know if the Tecta is having any effect/benefit but I continue to take it as advised by my GI until my endoscopy results come back. The Reglan did absolutely nothing for me in terms of nausea, although it did make my stomach grumble from hunger. However, the side effects I got from it were awful. Earlier on when I'd take it I'd get awful gut aches and sometimes a bit of diarrhea. It'd make me incredibly tired, and at other times jittery and shaky. I'd often lose my focus which was extremely difficult as I was struggling to finish my last semester of university. I think that the more I took it, the more my body got used to it, but (hilariously enough) it made me start lactating and has caused me to miss my last period (no, I am not pregnant). I stopped it cold turkey a few weeks ago as I don't think it was doing much for me at all except messing up my endocrine system and giving me undesirable side effects. I've also tried ginger Gravol and that burned my stomach and made the nausea worse, as well as regular Gravol (dimenhydrinate) and it made me dizzy/light-headed. I have yet to try any other forms of prescription anti-nausea meds. Just trying to control it through diet alone...it's really rough but I know what you're going through. It's debilitating.

The Zantac/PepZin regimen is not a magical cure. It's not going to work, for example, if you eat things which worsen your stomach. You have to be sensitive to your condition, and when it worsens, shift to more gentle protocols, i.e. small bland meals every 3 hours.

Nausea can be created by stomach acid disturbing your damaged stomach lining.

Pay attention to WHEN you experience most nausea and WHEN the gurgling occurs. Does it mostly happen in the middle of the interval between the Zantacs? If so, you may need to increase the intake.

For me, 2 Zantacs is not enough, for instance.

I used to recommend shifting to taking Zantac 150 every 8 hours, but in retrospect, it's better to buy Zantac 75 and keep to your existing 12-hour schedule, but instead of 150, take 150+75 every 12 hours.

It's less effective, but easier on the body in long-term.

Try and connect cause and effect in your condition before making any changes. Things are not just random.

If you get your stomach under control and THEN still experience nausea, then it's likely actually a separate issue and then you may want to seek consult on its causes and remedies. But you have to eliminate your stomach as the cause, first.

Many various health condition can cause nausea.Hormonal imbalance and all the illnesses that are connected with it can cause it.The other thing is that certain medications can cause it as well.The funny thing is that even medication for nausea can potentially cause nausea in some people.Same with antidepressants and anxiety meds.They can increase anxiety at the beginning before they start working:)

As for exhaustion I experience debilitatning exhaustion every time gastritis hits me.It ususally takes me between 2-3 weeks from the beginning of the full blown symptoms to get better.Hang in there and relax as much as you can.I know its easier said than done especially if you are a very active person like myself but you have rather no choice.Exhausted body is incapable of doing anything but relaxing.I get depressed and get cabin fever whenever gastritis comes back on but I usually feel so tired that I have serious problems with completing basic housework tasks so I just relax whenever I can and wait for it to go away

Thank you all dearly for your replies...just knowing I'm not alone makes all the difference.

Allie and JoHam and Lynn- sending lots of strength your way and hoping you will feel stronger and healthier with each passing day! I feel your pain!!

Shihonage, if you don't mind I'd like to pick your brain....You are most certainly right that the Zantac/PepZin regimen is not a magical cure- though I wish it was. It has helped me immensely however and for that I am extremely grateful. I am extremely aware of what I eat and how I eat, however I am finding it very difficult to track down the cause of the flare-ups. My flare-ups are happening less often and they tend not to be as severe. When they do happen, I always shift to the strictest of diets and my recovery period has in general become shorter and shorter. Unfortunately, I can not solely eat my "safe" foods as I will be lacking vital nutrients and vitamins I absolutely need to fight my cancer. So I am trying to incorporate the safest foods possible that have the highest nutritional value. However, every so often one of these foods is too much for my stomach to handle- or perhaps it is an accumulation of eating less than totally "safe" foods that brings about a flareup.

I am going to do my best to try and pinpoint WHEN I experience the most nausea; at the moment when I have flare-ups I tend to wake up feeling somewhat queasy (I then take my Zantac) and then a couple hours later the exhaustion and nausea hit. Mind you, this does not happen on a daily basis- I could be fine for 10 days or two weeks and then BAM- it hits me again. This makes me believe it's directly related to the food I've eaten. But I am finding it impossible to find a pattern...Sometimes, I believe I can trace it back to a specific food- but even then I can not be fully sure....which is maddening!

You mention that the Zantac dose may not be sufficient if my nausea appears mainly in between the two doses. Lately, as mentioned above- whenever I do have nausea it usually tends to START in the morning after the first Zantac and remains the whole day- or for a number of days. Perhaps the dose is not high enough for me?

You mentioned that if I get my stomach under control and then still experience nausea then it's likely I have a separate issue. My problem is I don't know whether my stomach is under control or not because I assume that if I have nausea my stomach can't be under control. On the other hand, I see a marked improvement over the last few months. Flare-ups are less common and tend to be less severe. They are still however debilitating. In your opinion how can I know without a doubt that my stomach is under control despite the nausea? (The main symptoms I have are nausea and exhaustion- the gurgling and toilet runs don't happen regularly). Shihonage, I apologise for the lengthy post, but I am desperate for more information so that I may better understand and deal with this. And you most certainly seem to be the one who has the most experience and knowledge regarding gastritis on this forum! I sincerely appreciate any and all feedback you give and thank you dearly for taking the time to reply.

Thank you all so very, very much......

One more question for you shihonage if you don't mind! Would you suggest I try mastic gum, slippery elm or maybe something else to help with the nausea during flare-ups?

Carolina, these are the actions I am thinking of:

1) Distance your breakfast further from the morning Zantac intake - on whichever side of it it is. PepZin GI shouldn't be taken close to either Zantac or food, either.

2) Find the nearest store with Russian, Polish, or Bulgarian food, and look for "TVOROG". Mash it with some sugar and eat. Try to do it after meals as dessert.

It seems most people on these forums ignore my advice about TVOROG, because it's not easy to find, but it can really really help with stabilizing stomach microbial environment. Supposedly it's sold in American stores as "Farmer's Cheese" or "Quark" but I never tried non-ethnic versions of it, so cannot vouch.

If you cannot get ahold of it, you should experiment probiotic brand "Align". But I'd rather you try Tvorog instead. I've used it a LOT to simmer down excessive acid generation and normalize the stomach flora.

3) Somehow I missed the obvious. Nausea can be a symptom that your stomach needs help with enzymes. I take Source Naturals Digestive Enzymes seconds before food intake. They're gentle and yet helpful and provide a jumpstart for the stomach to generate its own enzymes during the digestive process. They're affordable and sold in big bottles on Amazon. I'd suggest taking 4-6 of them depending on what works better. They're weaker than prescription enzymes.

Just a question: Is DGL Licorice an enzyme?

Quark is readily available in all the UK supermarkets, but what is questionable is whether it is truly naturally bacterially fermented (by lactobacilli/lactic acid), probiotic Quark... or if it has been soured using an acid like lemon juice.

It's like most modern "fermented" products - like sauerkraut - very few are actually truly cultured by bacteria - more likely "pickled" with acetic acid etc.

Littlemart - here is a good link all about licorice - personally I'm very skeptical of the efficacy of using DGL... whereas real licorice is good stuff, but has risks.

http://drholly.typepad.com/licorice/

Firstly, a massive thank you to you Shihonage for taking the time and the effort to share your thoughts and advice with me. I am so very grateful! I'd like to respond and ask a few more questions if you wouldn't mind indulging me! It has been hellish trying to find someone here in Athens who actually understands gastritis and at the moment you have far exceeded any help I have gotten from any GI doctors. Your advice is so very appreciated.

I've added questions to your notes to make it easier to remember what we were speaking about.

1) Distance your breakfast further from the morning Zantac intake - on whichever side of it it is. PepZin GI shouldn't be taken close to either Zantac or food, either.

Ok- this is one of my big questions. Would this schedule work:
wake up at 7:00
take PepZin GI at 7:15
eat breakfast at 8:00
take zantac at 8:30

I have no idea what the spacing between them should be. I wake up at 7:00 most days and am more than happy to follow a strict regimen- I just need to know a rough estimate of what I should be following.

2) Find the nearest store with Russian, Polish, or Bulgarian food, and look for "TVOROG". Mash it with some sugar and eat. Try to do it after meals as dessert.

I honestly have looked high and low for this here- and I still have not found it! I used to find quark very easily in Germany and The Netherlands of course but here in Greece it is not very common. My search continues however! Is there any other alternative I might have more luck finding? Otherwise would you suggest I take Align- and if so, what kind of dosage and spacing would I need to be aware of?


3) Somehow I missed the obvious. Nausea can be a symptom that your stomach needs help with enzymes. I take Source Naturals Digestive Enzymes seconds before food intake. They're gentle and yet helpful and provide a jumpstart for the stomach to generate its own enzymes during the digestive process. They're affordable and sold in big bottles on Amazon. I'd suggest taking 4-6 of them depending on what works better. They're weaker than prescription enzymes. "

Well, of course the first thing I did was run to buy these enzymes and of course I was met with disappointment when they told me they did not have the brand here. They have various other brands with various enzymes but I think it's best I don't experiment and simply order online. Would you recommend spacing the 4-6 out over the day? Any specific times (i.e. before or after food, etc?)

Again, I can not express how thankful I am for all your help and patience- Truly. I am wishing you a lovely day and hope very much that you are doing wonderfully well!

Karolina

One last question (again)- would you recommend Gastromed HP as part of my arsenal?

And last but not least I wanted to let others know that I have started using mastic gum (here in Greece we are obviously very lucky to have the best quality mastic gum!)- Does anyone have a specific regimen to taking them? The bottle says 2 pills twice a day before eating and once before bedtime. Each pill is 350mg.

Based on your posts, I'd suggest experimenting with this:

7:00 - wake up & take Zantac 150 (keep it near bed)
8:00 - eat breakfast
Move the morning PepZin GI to "1 hour before next food intake". In fact, move all the PepZin intakes to such a schedule... closer to imminent food intake than to previous food intake.

Those enzymes are weak, the 4-6 capsules should be taken _immediately_ before food intake. You can start with 2 as written on the box, but it may not work well. Those quantities are not per day, but per food intake (i.e. dinner).

Digestive enzymes out there differ wildly in effectiveness and abrasiveness, and I ended up sticking with these.

Align should be taken once daily as the box says. Since you're experimenting with mastic gum, which is a natural localized antibiotic, I would put Align as close to morning as possible (don't remember exactly what the box says), and mastic gum as close to bedtime as possible. Taking 2x 350mg (700mg) before bedtime is a reasonably safe amount IMO. People have been taking much more.

With mastic gum, watch out for potential constipation or other strange effects. Chances are small, but it's not guaranteed to be side-effect free.

Effects could be unpredictable, depending on whether mastic gum successfully suppresses unwanted gut bacteria and in such way normalizes the environment while Align re-seeds it with some beneficial bacteria... or whether mastic gum will simply keep destroying everything and the process will keep repeating indefinitely.

There's no way to find out but experiment with those. Maybe start without mastic gum at first... then see if in a week anything changes... add it... ?

Gastromend contains PepZin GI, Mastic Gum, DGL, Vitamin U, Vitamin C... it did help me. Your mileage may vary. If you shift to Gastromend, you should stick to directions on the box, lower your pure PepZin GI to 2 capsules per day, and stop mastic gum.

Since Gastromend has two doses which are meant to spread through the day, it's going to be tricky distancing it from probiotic.

Good luck ;)

I am wondering if you have an allergy to gluten or msg? There are several youtube videos by Dr Joel Wallach that address that and I suggest watch part 1 and 2 of Dr Wallach at Creflo Dollar for starters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnZv2kbRyj8 is part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27NZu39JXO8 is part 2
both are very informative and sprinkled with Dr Wallach's dry humor.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me or I can give you the contact info of the woman who has helped me.
God bless you
Terry

I have used Source Naturals Digestive Enzymes for many years with great success. I cannot tolerate PPI and would like to find an antacid that helps with gastritis. Any suggestions?