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,
Just discovered this site and joined the group - happy to see there's a community and hope you're all safe.
I was recently diagnosed with gastritis and functional dyspepsia. The first time I experienced a flare-up was late 2019, but it was more of a one-time thing. I didn't start reexperiencing flare-ups until late January and I began having them once every other week. Usually, it was triggered by very acidic foods or eating too late, but I didn't think much of it. However, once Covid hit, my stress and anxiety increased and I, unfortunately, had a really traumatic experience (outed to my family wooo) during quarantine that made my flare-ups happen nearly three times a week.
At first, I was just afraid to eat. I could only eat bread and maybe some fruit a day after the flare-up. Then it would happen again with a food I thought was safe for me. The flare-ups are so awful... waking up in the middle of the night and I instantly know what's going to happen - three hours of writhing in pain, belching, unable to lay down for more than a minute, and so on. Then nausea in the morning. It always started as a flat pain in the upper abdomen and I felt it go down my stomach with increasing pain. I had a flare-up at the end of June where I thought I was truly going to die.
I had a bunch of tests done - CT scan, blood tests, H pylori - and they all came out fine. But still having the pain. Haven't done an endoscopy yet. With this diagnosis, I'm taking omeprazole four times a day and pepcid occasionally if I feel the pain coming. It's helped reduce the pain significantly, but I'm constantly dealing with gas. Anyone else experiencing this? In terms of my diet, I've eliminated a lot of my favorite foods and it mostly consists of fruit, grains, yogurt, soylent, and the occasional sushi or grilled chicken.
With so much of the world being out of control, I took solace in being able to at least eat what I wanted but it sucks that I can't even do that now. I know my stress and anxiety didn't cause it, but it's definitely making it worse now. It's just so much - I'm dealing with ptsd symptoms, depression, and anxiety along with the gastritis and dyspepsia symptoms. I'm trying to reduce my stress gradually - meditations, walks after eating, journaling, weekly therapy. I just hope one day I can eat with my friends again (in a post-pandemic world). I know there's not that much to do except major lifestyle changes, but happy to hear any advice or simply hear about anyone going through it, too.
All the best,
Alex
