I use either gummy vitamins or in liquid drops I can take vitamin tablets. Even my probiotic is in a casule, i open it and put in a little water. I take Pepzin GI, doesn't bother my stomach, I'm a year into gastritis and gastroparesis, it's been a hard road to travel, but it's getting better. I do take aniexty meds, soi can cope with this ailment and life in general, that's helped too.
Been going to acupuncture for 9 months, she's has helped me so much.
Hope you get better soon.

Correction, can't take vitamins tablets...

Karolina - first of all, welcome to the board. I'm a newbie as well (been here about a week), and it really is an essential home base for anyone with this awful condition.

I've had "chronic gastritis" going on a year now, with scant progress, but my first 10 months I tried to avoid all heavy meds (PPIs and H2 blockers). That apparently was not a good course of action.

My current regimen is 40mg 1xpd of omeprazole, pepzin 3 to 4xpd. Like you I don't like the PPIs and I want to switch to zantac, and I think me and you have similar questions here. In particular, I want to know from others' experience effective ways to taper off and switch. I'm nervous about just switching straight up, but maybe that's best? Anyway, I'd like to hear opinions on the matter.

Another suggestion I've heard a lot and which I am just about to start trying is DGL licorice. A question I'll pose here is this: since I'm in China, I can only get one kind of DGL, and that's in a capsule (500mg). Is it pointless to take DGL on a capsule? Can it be of any benefit at all? And is it ok to blend it with a PPI (or Zantac) and Pepzin?

The key as I understand it - and as you've probably gathered, Karolina, is two-pronged: acid suppression so your stomach lining has a favorable healing enivironment, and a healing agent. All of this stuff like DGL that I and others ask about is, I guess, just trying pile on more healing.

All the best to you!

I agree,,,

Avoiding taking acid suppression meds can make this issue chronic and very difficult(almost impossible) to heal the stomach.

The key with gastritis is to do whatever it takes to nip it in the bud very quickly! Otherwise you can have it for years and forever. So if Zantac doesnt work for you go back to the PPI quickly.

Once the lining of the stomach is damaged it takes a very long time for it to get back to normal and it may never again. The longer you have had the symptoms the harder it is to eliminate them.

I am not pussy footing around about this issue anymore! Denial and negotiating around this issue is detrimental to your healing! Do whatever it takes right now to stop the burning.

Lesley - perhaps you have some thoughts on a question I've posed a couple of times: at what point during your "feeling better" period do you think you can begin to assume you've started to truly heal?

I have had many periods of "false positive" healing and then slid back to where I was before. Two weeks of feeling ok? Two months? When can you "let go" a little?

I realize it's not a scientific matter - just looking for opinions from people who've gone through it, their own experiences.

I've had chronic gastritis for a year and I hope my putting off PPIs and acid suppressors for that long didn't screw me permanently. Shudder.

Milos it can take up to and longer than 2 years. It took me a year and a half to get really good at this. I mainly have had heartburn but once I had what they would call mild gastritis. it was terrible. I got rid of it quickly as well because I already had had heartburn issues for a year and through my research I knew something about gastritis. I made sure I got rid of it as fast as I could. It took 5 weeks and then for another year I stuck to a very plain diet and didnt have any gastritis at all. I lost about 18 pounds. That is what it takes to do this right. I also went to a chiro about another 5 months later and I think it helped me way more for my occasional heartburn that I still had. I think it can help for gastritis as well. Smile goes to one too.

So it was 2 years since I had gastritis, I had black pepper in something when I went out for lunch and I took a Nexxium to be safe and I got very subtle gastritis again after the black pepper. It had been 2 years since my last issue! It took me 5 weeks to get rid of that very subtle gastritis. Most people wouldnt notice it unless they have had it before.

So there you go. My stomach still has an issue with a certain food and I could have gotten worse gastritis had I not take the PPI. I hardly ever take a PPI at all but it was good that I did that day!

There is hope. This issue takes a ton of discipline!

Thank you everyone for your words of support and encouragement- they are much needed! It has taken me this long to reply as I have had a rough 10 days gastritis-wise. Once again, I made the mistake of thinking I could handle certain foods- and have been suffering the consequences ever since...It is a never ending story and I feel I regularly take one step forward and two steps back. Feeling frustrated and exhausted.

Perhaps someone could give me their two cents. My specialist has explained that I have "mild gastritis"- however my symptoms seem anything but mild! Extreme nausea, stomach cramps, gurgling and pain followed by bathroom runs and exhaustion...The specialist told me that nausea is not really a common symptom of gastritis- which confuses me to no end?! Is it possible to have such severe symptoms with "mild gastritis"? Has anyone on this forum experienced the onset of gastritis after cancer treatment such as radioactive iodine or radiation? Finally, I have one last question regarding zantac. I've read Shihonage's posts regarding PPI's, Pepzin, etc and have decided to switch from my PPI to zantac. I will also be taking pepzin as he suggested. My question is, "what is the normal dosage of zantac considering my symptoms are quite severe?" I know Shihonage mentioned150mg of Zantac but I wasn't sure if it's 150mg every 12 hours or not. If anyone could be so kind as to point me in the right direction, I would be very grateful indeed.

I am in the middle of trying to find a new GI doc who is more knowledgeable on the subject- I can't say I've had much luck...Would anyone here recommend I see another specialist? Should I be taking a closer look at the intestines/ have a colonscopy? Any feeback is extremely valuable to me. Thank you all so very much for your support- without which I would be feeling extremely alone...Much strength to everyone and my apologies for the long post...

Karolina