Recovering From Gastritis?

Nutrition
1

Short and sweet.

I have gastritis. Or so the doctor says.

The doctor wasn’t very helpful in giving me more information on said gastritis; she only gave me a vague set of instructions on what foods to avoid and a prescription for a month’s worth of Nexium.

Great.

I’m currently trying to find some more natural methods to heal my poor stomach and am hoping people here might have some ideas.

I’m starting on aloe and probiotics. I heard good things about aloe and probiotics seemed to help for other GI-related problems in the past.

If anyone has any ideas or experience with this, please chime in?

Here’s what’s going on:

There’s major discomfort and pressure in the stomach area and it’s almost like a heartburn but isn’t. It’s worse when I first eat something and it just sorta… continues. This morning, before I even ate anything, the pressure/pain started on its own.

Here’s the longer story:

I think I made one heck of a no-no back in mid January that I suspect has catalyzed my current GI problems.

I got the stomach flu after going skiing. Because of the fever (because of a blood condition, it is particularly dangerous for me to allow fevers to run for long or for too high) and body aches, I took some ibuprofen. I’ve always been told to take meds with food unless the meds specifically say otherwise and I tried taking them with some crackers, but well… Stomach flu involves vomiting and so I more or less took the ibuprofen on an empty stomach.

I went to the doctor to follow up on the stomach flu and he said my stomach lining was all inflamed and prescribed Nexium and told me that this was the course of the stomach flu and that it would get better in a week.

And well, it did.

And then 2 weeks ago, that familiar pressure and burn and mild ache and general discomfort that I had when my stomach lining was inflamed started again.

It wasn’t/isn’t quite so bad as it was when I had the stomach flu, but it’s pretty bad nonetheless.

Like I said earlier:

There’s major discomfort and pressure in the stomach area and it’s almost like a heartburn but isn’t. It’s worse when I first eat something and it just sorta… continues. This morning, before I even ate anything, the pressure/pain started on its own.

It’s been going on for 2-3 weeks now.

I very seldom have GI issues unless I’ve been on heavy antibiotics, which I haven’t been on recently.

The worst case of GI problems I’ve had besides this one was when, about 4 years ago, I hit an extremely stressful point in my life and my eating and sleeping habits went out of whack and my stress levels shot through the roof.

I had similar symptoms, but they were stronger and more like heartburn and were relieved by heartburn medication and plain yogurt.

This current incident isn’t quite the same and where plain yogurt soothes a bit, it doesn’t take care of it like it would a heartburn.

So yeah.

Gastritis. I think.

Help?

2

Boy, I’m sorry to hear that, Dem-E. My heart goes out to you.

Some things I’d recommend …

Do a search on the Internet for kefir + gastritis. It’s a poor man’s probiotic, and one I often recommend for people with digestive issues. Make sure you get kefir grains and make it yourself, rather than store-bought kefir. Put it in the blender with fruit and your favorite low/no-calorie sweetener. If you’re drinking kefir on a daily basis, you don’t need probiotics. Have some 2 or 3 times a day. If you get up in the middle of the night (empty stomach), have a few sips.

I don’t like Nexium real well. What Nexium is doing is turning off the acid pumps in your stomach. Doing so causes assimilation/absorption problems down the line. I like DGL better. DGL is used by people with acid reflux. It heals and soothes. Take some immediately before eating.

I like the aloe! Drink 4 ounces 15-20 minutes before every meal. You can mix it with fruit, too.

For the time being, avoid anything that sits heavy on your stomach. Listen to your body. Forget body comp diets. Health comes first.

Avoid pro-inflammatory fatty acids. Read up on Omega 6 fatty acids (pro-inflammatory) and Omega 3 fatty acids (anti-inflammatory). You should be avoiding corn, sunflower oil, safflower oil. You should be eating more flaxseed oil and fish oil (like in Flameout!) This one isn’t a quick fix. It can take 3 or 4 months to alter the ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids in cellular membranes, responsible for pro-inflammatory chemical production.

Get a broad-spectrum, plant-based digestive enzyme. Broad spectrum means that it helps digest protein, fat and a number of different types of carbs. Plant based means that it will start to work digesting food in the STOMACH, rather than the small intestines. Animal-derived enzymes are enterically coated. They don’t start to work until the hit the alkaline environment of the small intestines. Have one or more with every meal. Experiment with the number you take. Larger meals need more digestive enzymes.

If you’re under stress and feel it in your stomach, carry Bach Flower Rescue Remedy and dose yourself any time your stomach knots up. People carry stress in different parts of their body.

And finally, buy some fresh mint and get some marshmallow tea. You can get it at the health food store like you can a lot of the things I recommended above. Marshmallow is an herb that has a sweet slightly sweet taste and a soothing effect. Marshmallow protects and soothes the mucous membranes. The root counters excess stomach acid, peptic ulceration, and gastritis. Marshmallow is also mildly laxative and beneficial for many intestinal problems, including regional ileitis, colitis, diverticulitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.

If you have questions about anything I recommended, don’t hesitate to ask. Take care!!!

3

[quote]Tampa-Terry wrote:
Boy, I’m sorry to hear that, Dem-E. My heart goes out to you.

Some things I’d recommend …

snip!

If you have questions about anything I recommended, don’t hesitate to ask. Take care!!![/quote]

Oh my goodness, thank you so much for the advice! I’ll look into your suggestions right away.

What concerns me most is the fact that this ‘gastritis’ might, in fact, proceed into being an actual ulcer, at which point… UGH.

I’m headed to the doctor again real soon to make sure this GI problem isn’t progressing any worse and until then and after, I’ll do the research and make the dietary alterations.

Thanks again and I’ll update once I have news of some sort!

4

Yes, please let me know how you’re doing!!!

All the best to you, Dem-E!!!