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.

1,485 Members

3,230 Posts

0 Online

blh123 08/20/2015

Feeling pretty down today about my gastritis. I am so scared I am going to develop stomach cancer now. I miss my life. I have been battling gastritis since beginning of 2014. I know they talk about having a good diet and take your meds (I take Omperazole twice a day). I went a good two months being careful with my diet and taking my meds but it still never went away. Their would be days that I really did not feel any discomfort but then days I would feel mild discomfort. My gastritis has never really been very bad or what I would say painful. I have never had any flare up that made me think I have to go to the ER. Just mild discomfort, like a small stomach ache. I have never thrown up from it or had any fevers. My first doctor preached the good diet and meds so I followed that for awhile (I know I was pretty good and strict for at least 2 or 3 months). Still never cured. So I went to a second doctor back in July and he told me to relax, eat more of the foods I want, take my meds and come back in 6 weeks. I sort of took his advice but that was about 4 weeks ago and so far no cure. Stil have it. This doctor made the comment that he does not even know if I have gastritis. Guess he would need an endoscopy to be sure, but just was surprised to hear him say I might not even have gastritis, may just be stomach spasms. LIke I said, I am so scared I am seriously increaing my risk for stomach cancer. I am so scared. Having a bad day and just needed to get this off my mind.

22Lynn 08/20/2015

It's good to get it off your chest. I hope your having a better day. I have a lot of the feelings you have. I just try to go one day at a time. Feel better.

bethelbee 08/20/2015

Have you had an endoscopy in the past? That is the best way to find out what's going on. I had a 3 month follow-up scope last week and it showed I'm healing well. Along with gastritis I had an ulcer, which is now healed.

Andy1986 08/21/2015

Unfortunately for some people this just takes a really long time to heal. Ur stomach is probably very sensitive, which means u feel even minor irritation. Just keep being careful and taking the meds. My stomach is very sensitive too, so much so I would rather they just remove the damp thing. But in the last few years I've had flares but also healed to the point that I could eat chocolate in excess, drink orange juice and coke on an empty stomach and been fine. So there is hope, it just takes unbelievable patience and many months. Don't try introducing danger foods until u have gone at least a few weeks feeling perfect.

Have u ever had an endoscopy? If not u shud ask for one, stomach cancer is extremely unlikely but u need to find out what's actually going on.

Hope u feel better soon.

Andy1986 08/21/2015

Forgot to say, if u get an endoscopy and it shows no gastritis u cud try low dose Elavil, it is good for relieving gastric pain and is used for things like IBM where people are hypersensitive with no obvious physical reason.

blh123 08/21/2015

I had an Endocscopy back on March 2014. I go see my GI doctor on September 8th. I have a way of sending him a message so I may see if we can go ahead and schedule an endoscopy sooner then rather later. Thanks for all the kind words. It truly helped this morning.

prayinglots 08/21/2015

You need to be patient and confident that you will heal. Glad you are so proactive, My husband had gerd/gastritis for about 15 years before it developed into esophageal cancer. He took ppis nearly the entire time, so that did not prevent his disease from progressing. Two doses of oneaprazole seems high do you know what the side effects are? Don't ask your doctor without doing your research. In my opinion your second doctor sounds a lot like my husband's gi, didn't really explain the long term risks, didn't emphasize habit changes, thought medication would be sufficient. It's really no skin off the doctors noise if your disease progresses, so it's easy to blow this all off as just heartburn. Good luck. It took me about five months to heal with pantaprazole. In reality it took me that long to clear up my bad habits.

blh123 08/21/2015

I dont ever seem to have any acid reflux or any sort of discomfort with my throat. Just a lil stomach discomfort. How old was your hubby? Did he pass away?

soretum 08/21/2015

I hate that at some point we all have the pain, doubts and anxiety that come with gastritis. Another member of this group likened gastritis to an explosion in our stomach and it sadly takes time to heal. I got it back in 2010 and was in constant pain for nearly a year despite all my efforts.
It will get better and as Andy said at different time frames for is all. Going out I such a mine field in the early days.
Do you have any relaxation or guided meditation CDs?
Perhaps a gastroscopy could be good to ease your mind.
We are all here for you to help in any way we can.

prayinglots 08/21/2015

no husband is alive and well. He was 51.

blh123 08/21/2015

prayinglots.....very glad to hear your hubby is doing fine. Thinks for the info. I am trying to eat careful and take my meds. Probably the one think that I really hate is the weight lose that is has caused. I use to weigh like 190, but now I am 160. Trying to put on weight is hard. Sometimes I do eat some of the high calorie foods so I can get the calories. I need to buy another weight gainer/protein powder.

I am trying again to get strict in preparation of my Sept 8th appt. I want to see if the doctor will do another endoscopy to see what is going on still. Please keep the replies coming....they are a big help.

22Lynn 08/22/2015

Like everyone else, I think an endoscope is a good idea. After I was dx'd with gastritis and ulcers I had 3 scopes in 5 months to tract my healing. The last scope showed very mild gastritis. The ulcers had healed in the spring. Definitely push for this. I see my GI doc every 3 months because I have so many digestive issues, some genetic. But if you have an ongoing health issue my thinking is you should be seen more than once a year. I probably would change GI doctors if that's the case. Let us know how your appt goes. You might want to start a daily diary to take with you to show your doctor your symptoms. I do that for two of my illnesses.

prayinglots 08/22/2015

It sounds like you are seeing improvements, albeit slow.

mmw73 08/23/2015

I took ppi's for 7 weeks. I was miserable.
I felt bloated, burning in my tummy, and constantly nauseous.
I weened myself off, taking Zantac at night before bed...
and started Pepzin GI, with a probiotic and digestive enzymes.
I also started Gastromend HP.
I am doing ABUNDANTLY better.
I'm still careful about what I eat, but I have tested my limits here and there. I will have a 'bad' day...mild discomfort/slight burning..
if I push it too much (aka I had some fried cheese...no bueno!). But I am SO happy to be off the ppi's.
I really feel I improved because I am no longer taking them.
I would suggest weaning off of them,
not stopping cold turkey, though....
if you were wanting to try this route.
I suggest looking up shihonage's profile,
and view his website.
He was extremely helpful to me
when I felt the most lost and desperate.
Best of luck to you with whatever you should choose to do.

Join the Conversation