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 Everyone,
I'm really at a low point. I was diagnosed with medium level reactive gastritis on July 31 via an endoscopy. GI doc prescribed Protonix. The side effects were intolerable. I went to ER because of bad cramps after an attempt at a colonoscopy prep. I messed up the instructions because I am still mourning the loss of both my parents in June & July.
ER prescribed Carafate. I had never felt so sick and nauseous before. I had headaches too. I called my GI doc who was clueless and told me to take Pepcid. The docs were so confusing I just decided enough was enough. I couldn't deal with more stress. I had gallbladder surgery btw in Feb. It seemed each time I got pushed more medicine I lose more weight and sanity.
So I went to a GP/integrative med MD who finally taught me to modify my diet and how to eat on Aug 14.
I don't really have much nausea or heartburn, just occasionally. I do feel the hypersecretions of acid more as I prepare for bed.
But I'm still losing weight at this point. My psych has tried to help me deal with all the stress & anxiety by prescribing me Lorazepam.
Sorry for this long rant, but is it normal to keep losing weight? I'm 5 ft 6 and currently between 96-98. I'm scared of wasting away.
Will I get better?
I'm really at a low point. I was diagnosed with medium level reactive gastritis on July 31 via an endoscopy. GI doc prescribed Protonix. The side effects were intolerable. I went to ER because of bad cramps after an attempt at a colonoscopy prep. I messed up the instructions because I am still mourning the loss of both my parents in June & July.
ER prescribed Carafate. I had never felt so sick and nauseous before. I had headaches too. I called my GI doc who was clueless and told me to take Pepcid. The docs were so confusing I just decided enough was enough. I couldn't deal with more stress. I had gallbladder surgery btw in Feb. It seemed each time I got pushed more medicine I lose more weight and sanity.
So I went to a GP/integrative med MD who finally taught me to modify my diet and how to eat on Aug 14.
I don't really have much nausea or heartburn, just occasionally. I do feel the hypersecretions of acid more as I prepare for bed.
But I'm still losing weight at this point. My psych has tried to help me deal with all the stress & anxiety by prescribing me Lorazepam.
Sorry for this long rant, but is it normal to keep losing weight? I'm 5 ft 6 and currently between 96-98. I'm scared of wasting away.
Will I get better?
If you're just on a rice-oatmeal-bananas sort of diet, it can be dangerous. You should try introducing at least a little bit of fish or boiled chicken or mashed eggs, for example. Like after a plateful of oatmeal, wait for half an hour, then have a little piece of it. Baby steps.
Also consider cottage cheese - it works as acid suppressor and probiotic and helps me greatly when I happen to fall back.
Finally, PepZin GI is a simple and safe borderline-homeopathic drug which is clinically proven to speed up stomach lining recovery significantly. It does what Carafate is supposed to do, but has no side-effects whatsoever, because it is essentially a peculiar form of zinc supplement in very low quantities.
I use Source Naturals version. My physician does research into alternative medicine as well and she supports the safety of this supplement.
Thing is I'm so underweight now and hypersensitive to meds I wonder about dosage. Is pepzin gi a powder form? I have probiotics in powder and I'm not sure sometimes if it's the culprit making my stomach churn?
I'm just really frus and wonder about taking the Pepcid 20mg 2x the gi doc recommended but in a lower dose (OTC) to test it out.
Can I take pepzin gi with Pepcid?
Thank you so much for responding again!
Yes you can take PepZin GI with Pepcid and similar meds. I do. It has no conflict in its action. It really has no conflict with anything except possibly Carafate, but even then it wouldn't a violent conflict.
Pepcid is the SAFEST H2 blocker available OTC in the United States.
It has a long record of being safe, and it lacks Zantac's alcohol interactions and some interactions with other meds that Zantac still has.
Zantac and Pepcid are both pretty safe compared to PPIs like Omeprasole/Prilosec/Nexium/whatever.
If you're going on an H2 blocker like Pepcid, you should try and sense how much you need and how often. Otherwise you could make no progress or even make things worse.
After getting an ulcer, I was advised to take one pill, then wait until stomach starts burning again. At that point take an antacid(like TUMS, to stop immediate damage) and another pill. Next day, at the same exact point MINUS 30 MINUTES, take the pill to prevent the entire situation.
This is how I figured out that I required 1 Zantac every 8 hours. Everyone is different, however. Try to sense how much your body needs to heal.
20mg Pepcid twice a day is the standard protocol that was clinically proven to work for most people, but if it isn't suppressing enough acid to stop the damage, doctors can elevate it to 40mg Pepcid twice a day, which is also safe, even for long-term use.
The only problem with all H2 blockers and PPIs is that getting off of them is a nightmare. Or rather, it would be easy, if there was a device that would accurately cut my pills by 5% at a time. Sadly, in 21st century, they don't make those yet :|
While regular versions are supposed to be twice weaker, in reality they may "feel" a lot weaker than that. Don't know why, maybe it has something to do with critical mass needed for it to be effective, but I'm veering into "making things up" territory at this point.