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 stumbled upon this group as I was researching Gastritis. I want to thank you all first for reading my information and offering experiences, information and support. My situation started about a month ago. I got bit by some weird bug in the middle of my back. Odd, painful bite. Was put on Doxycycline for 7 days. Felt pretty darn good during those 7 days. Finished July 3. On July 4th, I was out of sorts. Tired, drained. Hard to describe. Felt the same on Sunday and Monday, where I missed work (VERY unusual for me). Tuesday my stomach started to hurt. Sort of a gnawing/hungry like feeling right in the pit of my stomach. I started taking a probiotic I got from a pharmacy (non-refrigerated type) once a day.
Those first few days I could tell I felt better when I would lie down or stand...sitting seemed to make it hurt. Couldn't really see much of a difference between eating or not eating. About day 5, I got a little sick to my stomach, went to the bathroom and shortly after started feeling a little better. This would last most of the day, but then come back at night. Called my doctor who told me to take Prilosec. That just seemed to make my stomach hurt all day. Two days of that and I stopped. Stomach actually felt better for two days, but then started hurting again. Moved to Zantac now, 350 2x a day and a good refrigerated probiotic twice a day. It's been holding in there, with good and bad points during the day. Started feeling a little constipated (TMI) so I tried Citrucel...that just seemed to cause a whole new set of problems.
I did have the doctor test my blood for H-Pylori and it was negative. Also checked for Lyme for the heck of it, because this all started with that bite, but it was at a number that was "normal" I guess. Doctor seems content to wait this out.
I get the stomach ache, again like really bad hunger pains. It feels better lying down on my back and hugging a pillow. When/if it gurgles, it always feels somewhat better. I feel bloated somewhat. Not much of an appetite, but that might be the fear of the pain coming back. I burp a lot after eating.
So, I'm at a loss. Not having the H-Pylori threw me for a loss as to what this might be. I read it could be too much acid, not enough acid, can't be gastritis or ulcer without H-Pylori, should take Citrucel, shouldn't take it. I'm at a loss.
Those first few days I could tell I felt better when I would lie down or stand...sitting seemed to make it hurt. Couldn't really see much of a difference between eating or not eating. About day 5, I got a little sick to my stomach, went to the bathroom and shortly after started feeling a little better. This would last most of the day, but then come back at night. Called my doctor who told me to take Prilosec. That just seemed to make my stomach hurt all day. Two days of that and I stopped. Stomach actually felt better for two days, but then started hurting again. Moved to Zantac now, 350 2x a day and a good refrigerated probiotic twice a day. It's been holding in there, with good and bad points during the day. Started feeling a little constipated (TMI) so I tried Citrucel...that just seemed to cause a whole new set of problems.
I did have the doctor test my blood for H-Pylori and it was negative. Also checked for Lyme for the heck of it, because this all started with that bite, but it was at a number that was "normal" I guess. Doctor seems content to wait this out.
I get the stomach ache, again like really bad hunger pains. It feels better lying down on my back and hugging a pillow. When/if it gurgles, it always feels somewhat better. I feel bloated somewhat. Not much of an appetite, but that might be the fear of the pain coming back. I burp a lot after eating.
So, I'm at a loss. Not having the H-Pylori threw me for a loss as to what this might be. I read it could be too much acid, not enough acid, can't be gastritis or ulcer without H-Pylori, should take Citrucel, shouldn't take it. I'm at a loss.
In my case, that dose was insufficient since the beginning, and I quickly had to switch to 150mg every 8 hours, which was far more helpful for me. Some people may experience mind-fog, however. You may want to try starting with 225mg 2x a day (150+75mg pill), and if that doesn't work, shift to 150mg every 8 hours.
You have to have small bland meals every 3 hours. Zantac by itself, even in correct dosage, won't heal you.
Zantac gives me constipation too. This thing is very gentle and effective, but you shouldn't take it for more than a month.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Z96V4U/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1438117498&sr=1
However if you do things right, a month should be enough to get you better to the point where you can take Swiss Kriss laxative, which is more feasible for long-term use. It should be taken after the last meal in the evening.
For more details on general regimen, go to website in my profile. I made it to save time typing.
How long does this last...sigh. Today is typical. Stomach pain in the morning. Them n in the evening. Rest of day was bearable. But the bookends make you forget the rest.
Hope you feel better!!
1. How do you know if you have the acid or non-acid type of gastritis?
2. How do you know what is a side effect of the Zantac and what is from the condition?
NOTE: Like this morning. Had a good night. Woke, took my Zantac and then my tummy started hurting.
3. Reading a lot of the posts, although it seems like this gastritis came out of nowhere, I'm going to have it for a very, very long time. That makes me feel a little overwhelmed. Doesn't anyone have it for a month and resume their life?
4. I'm still confused where this came from. My father died a couple months ago and that was traumatic. Then I took that Doxycycline. Otherwise, I'm at a loss what might have been driving this.
5. Baby Aspirin: My doctor told me I'm suppose to take it as I have some marker in my blood that says I'm a candidate for clots. But now they have me off. Can I never take it again? I feel vulnerable not taking it.
6. I read references by shihonage about how you should withdraw from Zantac and I don't understand what it means!
7. Water....how does water drinking factor into all of this?
After a mostly good day and night, my stomach was a bit snappy here this morning. I'm also tired a lot and my muscles don't seem to be recovering from even keeping up walking as an exercise. Thanks for being there everyone.
2. How do you know what is a side effect of the Zantac and what is from the condition?
NOTE: Like this morning. Had a good night. Woke, took my Zantac and then my tummy started hurting."
When you figure out whether Zantac helps or really makes things worse. You're out of touch with your stomach. That's normal in the beginning. But you really have to listen and figure things out for your individual case, because nobody else is you.
Alternatively, a gastrologist could examine you and tell you whether you need to suppress stomach acid or not. Most common scenario is that acid needs to be suppressed so the lining can heal.
Zantac may hurt your stomach for a few minutes if it's still raw and sensitive, and you didn't drink enough water while taking it, but generally that kind of hurt is inconsequential compared to the real hurt it prevents by reducing acid.
"3. Reading a lot of the posts, although it seems like this gastritis came out of nowhere, I'm going to have it for a very, very long time. That makes me feel a little overwhelmed. Doesn't anyone have it for a month and resume their life?"
That's a standard scenario, however it doesn't often play out that way because real people panic and make mistakes. I believe that if I could detect what's happening in very beginning, and knew about PepZin GI, I would not have to go on any acid suppression and could heal early.
However, even despite not 100% healing "forever", one's diet can expand considerably, to the point where taking those Zantacs/PepZins just becomes a habit, and you can eat many things. You can eat even some things which are clearly bad for you, as long as you don't do it every day. I.E. have beer-battered fish when you go with friends to a bar this weekend...
"4. I'm still confused where this came from. My father died a couple months ago and that was traumatic. Then I took that Doxycycline. Otherwise, I'm at a loss what might have been driving this."
Mine started as GERD which I ignored, plus stress of releasing a videogame by myself... I ignored symptoms then too. It was dumb.
"5. Baby Aspirin: My doctor told me I'm suppose to take it as I have some marker in my blood that says I'm a candidate for clots. But now they have me off. Can I never take it again? I feel vulnerable not taking it."
You can take 3000mg of purified fish oil per day. NOW Foods makes a decent version of "Ultra Omega-3" which does not have irritating lemony additives. Taking 1 capsule after food, when you get a bit better, shouldn't irritate the stomach much.
Fish oil is an anti-clotting agent.
"6. I read references by shihonage about how you should withdraw from Zantac and I don't understand what it means!"
Me neither, unless I made a mistype somewhere, or was referring to general liquid titration which should be done at theoretical 'end of treatment' which so far I have not arrived to.
"7. Water....how does water drinking factor into all of this?"
Water is safe.