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.

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Andy1986 04/09/2015

Hi all

The burning in my stomach seems to have abated, but I keep getting this pain on my left hand side just under the rib. It seems to move around a bit, sometimes its in my actual side, other times its a bit more central.

Sometimes I think its my spleen, this picture perfectly describes where the pain is

http://www.healthhype.com/wp-content/uploads/spleen_pain.jpg

Does anyone else get this? It is very distinct from the usual stomach burning, but it does seem to get better just after eating, then slowly comes back. Ant-acids dont do anything for it.

I have told the GI's about this numerous times but they keep telling me its my intestines and to take steroids, but there is just no way it is in my intestines.

Is this just a gastritis pain or could it be something else? Given its location this must surely be either spleen or gastritis, but why would my spleen be painful?

eyesofblue75 04/26/2015

That's exactly how I would describe my pain. I get that sensation more so than actual heartburn-type pain. I have a HH too. My endoscopy is scheduled a week from this Tuesday. I'm nervous but I need answers so I can begin healing.

bethelbee 05/05/2015

Had an endoscopy this am(see my reply under "any more tests..."). One of my symptoms has been the same pain under left ribs. Turns out it's duodenitis. I also have gastritis and a stomach ulcer.

Andy1986 05/06/2015

bethelbee, sorry to hear about the problems. Do you have any signs in your stools from the ulcer, like blood or black? I am starting to think I have a stomach ulcer, as I've never had pain like this before from just gastritis. Gastritis to me felt like my whole stomach was burning/sore, whereas this is a sort of sharp localised pain that radiates, even though I dont really get any burning in my stomach.

I've been taking Carafate for it which seems to help, but if I have too much it makes me feel really nauseous so cant win really.

smilelikeyoumeanit 05/06/2015

Duodenitis & duodenal ulcers are a b1+ch to heal because they get irritated & aggravated by bile from the gallbladder duct as much as gastric acid from the stomach.

Things that coat the lining (like Gaviscon or carafate) or absorb the bile (like psyllium or slippery elm) can helpful somewhat. Also a very low fat diet to avoid overly stimulating bile production.

But it's still a battle...

bethelbee 05/07/2015

Andy, no I didn't have anything in my stool to indicate an ulcer. Did you have an endoscopy? It would definitely show up with that. Have just had stomach pain and the pain under left ribs and generally feeling crappy. No foods aggravated it. I am already on a low-fat diet due to recent heart attack, and have lost almost 40 lbs. My GI doc started me on Protonix, which I just started this am(I guess yesterday am by now.) Hope I start feeling better soon!! Tired of feeling like crap... but at least now I know why. Hope you feel better soon, too!

Andy1986 05/07/2015

I had two endoscopies 3 years ago, one showed mild gastritis, the other was clear, so according to my GI that means there is absolutely nothing wrong....

I've given up seeing them, after all if it is a stomach ulcer its not like they would do anything differently, Im on PPIs, just got to have some patience I think and let whatever it is heal.

But I remember the pain I had from gastritis, and this doesn't really feel the same.

Andy1986 08/03/2015

Just thought i would update this in case anyone comes across it with similar symptoms. I found the cause of this pain, it was slippery elm. In fact if i eat too much fibre of any kind this pain gets worse. Ive stopped taking slippery elm and the pain is gone. It did take a while, at least a few weeks until it wasnt noticeable any more, and it can still come back a bit if i eat too much fibre but very managable now.

dan1967 08/05/2015

hi
im getting same discomfort under ribs im taking pepzin gi and gaviscon tablets but this ache wont go,
any help please

Andy1986 08/06/2015

What are you eating? I find this affects my pain most, as it is caused when I eat too much fibre. I don't know why, but that just seems to be it. So when I eat a lot of potatoes for example, or banana's, or oats, this pain gets progressively worse.

Some safe low fibre things I tend to eat are Rice Krispies with unsweetened soy milk, or plain pasta, or white rice if you can tolerate it (I cant, gives me even worse stomach pains)

dan1967 08/06/2015

hi im eating mash, bananas. chicken,rice all plain stuff which im struggling with, ive been eating wheatabix for breafast with lactos free milk

maiagirl 08/06/2015

I have been dealing with gastritis for the past 3 months. The doctor prescribed me pantoprazole 40 mg twice a day. This however made me feel ill, so I switched to Nexium, which was much more tolerable. Along with this, I use Pepzin GI which I believe makes a huge difference. I also drastically changed my diet. I cut out all fats, sugars etc. I eat rice, potatoes, chicken or fish, vegatables, bread, oats. The only fruits I eat which are soothing to the stomach are papaya and bananas. I drink only lemon/ginger tea and water. With the meds, supplements and diet I felt much better by the end of June. But it's not completely healed yet. I noticed that whenever I lift my 21 month old daughter the pain comes back. So for me it's been trial and error. But what I can say is that it gets better. We just have to hold on and keep pressing on in the name of Jesus. I know I am.

Andy1986 09/17/2015

Dan

I've been researching this a bit more and I don't think it is stomach related. I think I have splenic flexure syndrome and the pain is actually from the bend in the colon right under the left rib. This is hugely affected by what you eat, things like insoluble fibre, potatoes, beans, milk all cause gas in the intestines and this gets trapped at the splenic flexure chasing pain.

My diet is mainly potatoes at the moment and this pain is getting quite bad. It also gets immediately worse after some fat or insoluble fibre. Unfortunately I can't really stomach any alternative to potatoes at the moment but in the past I have eaten things like pasta and it has greatly reduced this pain.

annettekal 09/20/2015

Andy, since the pain seems to be in the bend of the colon, could it be diverticulitis? If so, antibiotics should work.

Andy1986 09/21/2015

I hope not, I had a colonoscopy last year and my colon was ok.

I reintroduced some gluten in the last couple of days and felt awful this morning, I don't know if it's because of the gluten or just a random worsening of symptoms but I think I will try a completely gluten free diet for the next few weeks and see if the nausea improves. I dont think this pain in the ribs is going to improve until I can stop eating potatoes but in order to be able to stomach anything else it seems I have to get rid of the nausea first.

I'm not eating any vegetables at all either but am taking some vitamin drops to get at least some nutrition. I make try gluten free corn flakes with some soy milk and see if that helps, cereal is usually one of my safe foods but had been reacting to it lately. Not sure if its because it wasn't gluten free.

Andy1986 09/21/2015

Also I was on antibiotics a few weeks ago and that was when all hell broke loose with my digestive system so am never going on them again unless its a life or death situation. They didn't seem to do anything for this pain though, it seems mostly diet related.

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