Hi Mikey,Welcome to Healing Well! Glad you've stopped by. First, I can tell you that I have also suffered from severe gatritis and esophagitis brought on by an antibiotic. My stomach is extremely sensitive, and I don't need huge doses of antibiotic to get it going. Since I have asthma, whenever I'd get into these issues, my asthma would be out of control as well.
First, even though you don't see any improvement with a PPI, I wouldn't recommend giving them up when you're struggling like this. You have been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia, you're likely getting some reflux. If you're dealing with inflammation, which is likely causing your pain, you don't want any acid migrating up into your esophagus.
Right now is not the time to worry about being a slave to a medication. You want to get things healed and get back to feeling like you did before the antibiotic messed up your upper GI tract.
Everybody's body reacts to things differently. Many could have taken that antibiotic dose without a problem. Your hiatal hernia is probably the culprit, as it let the excess acid produced by the introduction of the offending antibiotic into your esophagus, thus creating your problem. If it had all stayed in your stomach you would have probably been just fine.
Next, I know you've said you tried a bland diet, no fried foods, etc. How long did you stick to that diet? When I had my issues it took several MONTHS of eating very carefully to get things straightened around. Also, the biggest key is to eat only SMOOTH foods, which won't further irritate your esophagus and stomach during healing.
This is a long term project, and jumping around from one thing to the next only inhibits healing. You need a long term approach...no alcohol, coffee, scratchy foods, spicy foods, acidic foods. And you have to continue this, as my GI doc said, "until 2 weeks after you feel perfect". Then you can try introducing regular foods back into your diet. Not fun, but if you want to get feeling better, it'll be a necessity.
One more thing that has helped me. Maalox was always comforting, but short-acting. It coats, but the coating doesn't last. If you have good prescription coverage, see if you can get a script for Carafate suspension. You can take it up to 4 times a day (the tricky part is the dosing rules--2hrs before or after meds (although a pharmacist told me that if I take meds before Carafate, I can shorten that time a bit because it is likely out of the stomach long before the 2 hour mark), 1 hour before eating and 2 hours after eating. That makes it hard to take, BUT...it coats your esophagus and stomach and protects them for up to 6 hours. You won't notice a difference immediately, but over time it will help with the healing. Since my stomach is sensitive, I always keep it on hand, and it's a real help.
Have you tried elevating the head of your bed? You can put cinder blocks under the legs at the head of the bed...they sell bed risers, too. Anything that gets your upper body elevated (not pillows, though, because they can cause your body to bend at the middle and push more on your stomach, thus sending more acid up into your esophagus). Some people use old books, others blocks of wood. You want gravity to keep any irritants from your stomach from entering your esophagus.
Hang in there. This is a long process and it will take patience and perseverence on your part. You can do this, and you can get better again.
Best wishes,
Denise