James did you have an endoscopy and what did your consultant say, not your doctor ? Did they give you any results that's the most important thing. Also now you have been on this diet change do you feel any better ?

Hi Anita, The endoscopy gp said he didn't find any inflamation and everything seemed normal. I do feel better after being on the diet change i must admit, however I would hate it to be a life long diet and if I had the chance to get off it I would. The problem I have now is dealing with conflicting information, what do you do when one doctor tells you that you have gastritis and then your gp says theres nothing to suggest i do. I do know that this pain is very real during the 4 or 5 attacks that i have had. My choices that i have now are either carry on with the special diet or go back to normal and be sensible. You can't treat some thing if you don't know what your treating.

Which gp did you see as your not being very clear , I assume you went to hospital and had a tube put down your stomach were you awake or sedated ? Then did you see any other consultant at the hospital as I tend to disregard anything my normal gp says to me. To be perfectly frank with you normal gp don't have a clue about gastro issues that's why they refer you onto consultants at the hospital. Did you go to hospital today to see a consultant or a normal gp. ?

James, very confusing isn't it? I actually had the same doctor, my GI, mention both gastritis and functional dyspepsia....gastritis in the recovery room after the endoscope and dyspepsia, later in discussion in an email conversation. Is there a difference in the treatment? They both recommend smaller meals and avoiding the trigger foods. Ugh...it so bothers me when doctors say things like "your anxious" or "its in your head". Of course we're going to be upset as we're the ones that walk away and have to deal with this constantly.

Hi Anita, ok when I had the tummy camera or endoscope at the hospital they told me everything was normal and they didn't see any problems at all. Then after the forth bad attack I went to hospital and a general doctor told me it was gastritis but she didnt know me from Adam. Then today I went to my normal gp doctor not the hospital and I told her all about my new diet and that was when she told me all my test including blood, endoscopy and everything else were all negative. She said I had to come off the diet, reduce my ppi intake and learn to live with what body is telling me. She then wanted me to see a therapist because I was so anxious and she said I couldn't keep thinking about this all of the time ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Hi lu, gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach lining that's clearly visible during an endoscopy, the treatments are ppi's to stop acid irritating the inflammation also a controlled diet is needed to let the tummy heal and repair itself. Gastritis is more of a life long illness where it may come and go depending on how you control it. Functional dyspepsia is what doctors refer to when all the tests are negative or when the cant see any inflammation. It's basically extreme indigestion and you tend to get attacks of it every now and again after large meals or when spicy foods irritate your stomach, dyspepsia doesn't need as much control it just means year tummy is a bit more sensitive than it should be also with dyspepsia in most people there's a much longer delay in the stomach emptying which can cause discomfort. My problem is which one do I have and do I just be careful and not eat late at night or do I stay on a very bland and controlled diet. Your right it is confusing and when it starts to affect your family and work life it starts to become more serious hence why the doctor is trying to tell me I am crazy and need help, unfortunately she is wrong I am not crazy but just desperate to get some answers and get to the bottom of this. What are your symptoms and are you from the UK.

Well then James seeing that your actual endoscopy guy said you were all clear then yes you probably do have functional dyspepsia and it is an issue of diet no matter which way you look at it . I don't know what you have been actually eating but I don't see anything wrong with eating porridge in the morning , have tuna jacket potatoe for lunch and chicken and rice for dinner . Normal people eat this combination anyway including salads etc, there is a man who sells jacket potatoes on a stall ?What does she want you to eat a full English breakfast , fish and chips for dinner and an Indian for tea . If you do, you're just going to be either in pain or eat yourself into an early grave or be morbidly obese . Anyway, you know your body the best and you have now been given all the information so it's up to you how you deal with it. At the end of the day it's you in pain and not the doctor. There is one condition though I just thought you should be aware of you have a lower spincter which allows food to pass through after you swallow, some people's are naturally weak and some don't function at all and some people suffer a lot of heartburn and reflux due to its weakness after eating heavy meals but I am not sure what pain you suffer, if you have heartburn or dyspepsia . This cannot be diagnosed by endoscopy, only a barium swallow or manometry testing . Again if it is controlled by drugs and diet this is the first course of action same as gastritis . Hope you will be less confused.

Thanks Anita, so are you saying that its not quite as bad as gastritis and I may have a bit more freedom with my diet, I don't mind being sensible in my day to day eating habits I just hate being tied down to 5 or 6 options every day. Maybe cornflakes for breakfast, ham sandwiches for dinner and then cottage pie for tea that is what I call a fairly sensible proper diet but if it caused me problems . Like many of us say in our posts its eating out that's the major problem and what to eat. If I am on the road with my job its easy to grab a sandwich but not so easy to find a jacket potato stall, if I knew what I was dealing with I could treat it accordingly. After suffering with what I have I would never return to my old ways as I know how bad it was for me but a little freedom to choose different things would be welcomed I think its very much going to be trial and error. I know a lot of people on here are suffering way more than me but I just want what everyone else wants which is a better quality of life.

James, I'm very happy to hear that you don't have G! Now you realize how easy it is to mess up your stomach so be carefull with it.

Hi Steve, I am still not so sure there are still a lot of unexplained symptoms like random painful attacks and acid reflux problems. I hope it's true but I still know some thing is very wrong, I do have a lot of signs of G and one hospital doctor has said its that but I am just going to tread very carefully.

James, don't know then why my gastroenterologist at 2 different times named both. After the endoscope he did say that he saw a bit of inflammation and referenced gastritis. But then later in email, he stated functional dyspepsia. The former makes sense though as I don't eat large meals or spicy foods (sounds like the better one to have though). My main symptoms is nausea and no, I'm from Canada. How about you?

I just did s search on gastritis vs dyspepsia and some sites say they are the same thing e.g. http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/gastritis/hic_gastritis.aspx
talk about confusing...

Hi lu, no I am from the UK, I looked it up on google too and some sites also said it was the same thing. I do know that they just refer back to dyspepsia if they don't see any inflammation during the endoscopy. I just can't see how everything can come back negative but I still suffer terrible pain some days. It could be down to my ibs but its never caused me any problems higher up especially not in my tummy. I think I'll just me very sensible with diet and keep taking my ppi's which I will eventually half and see what happens. With your case lu it sounds like mild/acute gastritis if there was a little bit of inflammation if its in the early stages like yours is you probably have a very good chance of making a full recovery.

Hi James,

My GI was being contradictory. Either he forgot what he saw/said during the endoscope or he considered the amount of inflammation he saw not big enough. Either way, I get nausea when I eat and am better on an empty stomach. Haven't yet tried real food to see the effects of that (e.g. pasta, thai, stir fries, things with strong cheese, etc). From your distinction, it sounds like gastritis. This has been going on since March with some "ok" days but then I go right back to having days with nausea. Sucks....so not really expecting to make a full recovery.

I agree...it's ood that they don't see anything, and yet you get these incredible pains. Can see things being more complicated ofr you also having IBS but still, you'd think they see something. Very frustrating as if you don't know the cause, it's hard to come up with a solution. Sounds like you have the best idea though with taking it easy and see how things go...and take it day by day if you want to take the next step and try a bit of a 'normal' meal.
Keep chatting here. I know myself, it really helps just getting suggestions on here and talking with others.

Hi Lu, I have tried to test myself today with things not included in my daily routine and had no symptoms yet. However my main symptym has always been extreme pain 1st thing in the morning, after that attack it takes days for me settle again and puts me back to square 1 with the anxiety and depression and god knows what else. There is a problem with some people where the stomach doesn't empty very quickly and if you go to bed on it that causes problems. I am switching to a normal diet again to see what happens but keeping it sensible to see if i can weed out the trigger.