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Posted 9/10/2015 4:45 PM (GMT 0)
Hello,

I am new to this forum and would like some advice/help. A little background:

I'm a 36 year old female who recently gave up drinking. I'm a recovering alcoholic and have been drinking on and off (mostly on) for about 10 years. I also ate a very unhealthy diet and have been plagued by extreme anxiety and depression. I always feel stressed and nervous which has added to my pain.

I have had every test done, most recently an endoscopy. I had put off the endoscopy for years due to my fear of anesthesia and my diagnosis. I finally had the most excruciating pain of my life after yet another bout of stress, eating bad, and drinking which landed me in the ER for two nights in a row which forced me to have the scope done a few days later. I had my endoscopy about a month ago and started my new diet then as well.

I was relieved to be diagnosed with gastritis and mild reflux because I seriously thought I had cancer or something else very serious. I could not believe gastritis could cause so much pain.

Right now I am on carafate, protonix, bentyl, and pepcid. I have also been drinking coconut water with aloe. I have been on a small dose of xanax for some time for the stomach spasms and my anxiety. I felt a bit better over the past few weeks but the attacks still come on and I feel the bloating, burning, and tightness in my stomach is really bad this week. I was having chest tightness too, but thankfully that has gotten a bit better. I have been eating everything bland for the most part but I am so confused on what makes my symptoms worse. I feel like no matter what I eat, the pain keeps coming back. Maybe I'm not being patient enough.

Does anyone know how long this takes to heal and any advice on any supplements/vitamins to take and/or what to eat? I feel like I'm going crazy with this chronic pain. It's bad enough to not be able to eat what I want but worse that I feel I am eating right and still not getting the relief I want yet.

This progressively got worse over the years, so I know I can't expect it to go away over night. The doctor said it can heal but feels like it's not happening, or maybe just not at the rate I'd like. Any experience with this and/or advice would be helpful. Thank you for reading.

Post Edited (LotusLove) : 9/10/2015 10:52:47 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/10/2015 5:41 PM (GMT 0)
Hi and welcome to the forum. I am a bit of a gastritis expert unfortunately through bad experience so can help you with this. You probably got diagnosed with 'mild gastritis' but believe me mild is certainly not a description of the symptoms which can be absolutely horrific. I had burning in my stomach after every meal, horrible heartburn when I refluxed and more.

Firstly giving up alcohol will be a huge help, you should also give up chocolate, caffeine, acidic foods like tomatoes, onions garlic, peppers, anything spicy. Basically if something has a lot of flavour it is best to avoid it for now lol. Your stomach will react to anything that you put in it so stick to bland foods like boiled potatoes and some boiled fish or chicken and well cooked veggies. I tend to avoid all fruits and raw veg when I have an attack of gastritis, and only drink water, no soda or even tea. Also I never drink water on an empty stomach as it seems to irritate it, but everyones different so make a note of what you're eating and how you feel afterwards.

I would stay away from supplements for now, Aloe Vera is acidic and burns my stomach, and probably 80% of the supplements I tried actually made my gastritis worse. It's difficult but the best way to heal is really to just be patient and not keep trying quick fixes. One of these supplements actually caused me stomach pain for 9 months before I figured out that it was actually causing my stomach pain! So please be careful with supplements and if you do try something keep a detailed log of when you take it and how you feel.

Once your diet is in check then my next advice would be to make sure you're taking your medication properly. Your protonix is the most important drug you are on so prioritise taking it right. That means take it first thing in a morning, 30 mins before breakfast and eat some protein with the meal afterwards. Do not take Carafate or pepcid or any other indigestion remedy within at least a few hours of Protonix. In fact you would be better off stopping Pepcid completely as it interferes with Protonix if not done correctly and acid suppression will be much higher on Protonix alone most likely. I've tried combinations of PPIs and H2 blockers myself and I always feel better on the PPI alone.

In terms of how long it will take to feel better, if you do all of the above correctly it will still take a while. For some people it can take 2-3 months to be healed, but the burning in the stomach should subside within a couple of weeks. The biggest problem in recovering from gastritis is feeling ok and eating/drinking bad things and setting it off again. Just remember that when you start to feel better, your stomach is not healed so don't change your diet. Only when you have been feeling perfect for a couple of weeks should you then gradually ween off protonix (dont stop cold turkey) and I would keep your diet clean while you do this otherwise you may get some burning returning. If burning does return then get straight back on Protonix for another few weeks as you arent healed.

Patience is the biggest problem in healing with gastritis, as a fellow anxiety sufferer I know how hard it is, but dont lose hope, once you get your medication right the burning should be gone within a week or two. You wont feel perfect but you wont have the constant pain. It will then take a couple of months of a careful diet to get back to 100%.

If you need help with the anxiety and depression have you considered antidepressants? I also do progressive muscle relaxation for my anxiety and it helps a lot, especially when I'm feeling unwell.

Hope you feel better soon, please dont make the same mistake I did and take about 20 different supplements to try and speed up recovery because one of them is bound to irritate your poor stomach! The safest I have tried are PepzinGI and DGL licorice but on medication you shouldnt need them.
Posted 9/10/2015 6:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Andy, thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply to my post.

You are exactly right, he diagnosed me with "mild gastritis" but feels ANYTHING BUT MILD. You know my pain! I have also had the discomfort with drinking water on an empty stomach too. I feel hopeless but your post is comforting. Patiently waiting and hoping this condition goes away is totally anxiety provoking. I have no choice but to stop drinking. I wish I was able to at least eat a few things I want. It seems like I never will be able to again. Feels hopeless.

I am going to call the doctor and see if I should discontinue the Pepcid. I am also on Miralax for constipation and wonder if that is irritating my stomach, although it's helping me go to the bathroom. I thought the aloe was helpful but looks like I'm wrong here. I had no idea that it's acidic. I have been taking the carafate about an hour before the protonix, then I take the protonix, wait another half hour and eat and I am sure I don't even always follow that as religiously as I should.

I always have the burning whether it comes in short doses or lasts most of the day. Today is awful, but I also had a lot of stress this past birthday weekend of mine and I did go off my diet. I thought I could get away with having a nice birthday dinner since I had some relief. Boy, was I wrong. I guess I'm paying for it now. This is one tricky and horribly annoying condition. I am still grateful it is nothing worse but only someone who has it can really understand the pain and frustration it brings.

I am calling some psychiatrists today to make an appointment to try to get on some meds but where I live it seems very hard to get a hold of one for some reason. I have been on anti-depressants before and had both good and bad experiences.

As a matter of fact, I have a muscle relaxation cd but I never have the patience to listen to the whole thing lol.

So, I want to try to get this straight. You're saying take the protonix in the morning a half hour before a meal. When should I take the carafate? On the bottle it says take one our before meals or atleast 2-3 hours after. I feel so confused!

Thank you.

Post Edited (LotusLove) : 9/10/2015 12:30:35 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/10/2015 8:49 PM (GMT 0)
LotusLove:

I agree with Andy in taking the Protonix a 1/2 hour before breakfast. You can take the Carafate 2-3 hours after your meals. Carafate provides great relief for a lot of people - it did absolutely nothing for me. One thing about Gastritis is that stress definitely is a factor and so is alcohol. Another thing would be to avoid taking NSAIDS (Advil), because it can cause or make gastritis worse. It's a good idea to keep a food journal to try and track what your trigger foods are and try and stay on a fairly bland diet as Andy has mentioned.

Good Luck,
Sharon
Posted 9/10/2015 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
Stress + alcohol= Story of my life.

I haven't had a drink in over 30 days and don't plan on it. I know it would be detrimental. I am hoping staying away from the alcohol will play a big part in healing this.

Thank you as well for the info Sharon. I will take my meds like that from now on. Doctor hasn't called me back yet regarding whether or not I should discontinue pepcid.

The deprivation of mostly anything tasty is wearing on me but it's not worth the suffering. I just want this thing gone! I guess I had some relief and it was my birthday so I went off my bland diet and let the stress get to me. I need to learn how to cope and manage stress, anxiety, and depression.
Posted 9/11/2015 10:00 AM (GMT 0)
I would definitely not take carafate an hour before Protonix as it can interfere with it. If you wake up in the middle of the night say 3am then take Carafate then, that should help you feel a bit better when you wake in the morning. Stress can definitely cause increased acidity and increase the pain so its important to try and manage it, but that's easy to say and hard to do when you are in so much pain I know. One thing that could help is to have some Tums and if you do get particularly stressed then swallow a couple of them. Again, dont take them within 2 hours of your Protonix, but at any other time of the day is fine and it will hopefully help with that burning pain and neutralise any excess acid.

Not sure what Miralax is either but some laxatives do irritate my stomach, but mine is very sensitive so I react to pretty much anything. If you can cope with the constipation for a while then I'd say its worth stopping for now, the less potentially problematic things you put in your stomach at the moment the better.

Dont worry about eating nice foods again, you will do, just not right now. Chances are in a few weeks you'll be eating some nice foods again. As you heal you'll be able to have some tasty things again and will probably be ok with it as long as it isnt one of the big triggers like onions or a curry. I'd just do what you have to do to get through each day one at a time. Try the muscle relaxation, even if your mind is all over the place, you can still force your body to relax and I find that after about 30 minutes even if I was agitated at first, my mind actually calms down by the end of it. Or perhaps you could try hypnotherapy, I dont really buy into the subconscious stuff but I found it profoundly relaxing. Or maybe get a massage or acupuncture, anything to help you relax really and make you feel a bit better.
Posted 9/11/2015 3:58 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks again Andy...I tried calling doctor again but service keeps picking up.

I want to ask him about the pepcid and any interference it might have with the protonix. I'm glad you brought that to my attention.

I am also on Bentyl and I remember doc saying take as needed but on bottle it says 3 times a day. I also saw that if I take it with an antacid it will interfere. I feel like I need a mathematical formula for all this bs! jeez!

Right now I will just stick to the carafate and protonix. I will try to take less miralax but scared to cut it out altogether because the pain and bloating from the constipation adds to the gastritis pain.

Thank you for giving me the hope that this will heal. It can sure feel discouraging.
Posted 9/11/2015 5:04 PM (GMT 0)

LotusLove said...
Stress + alcohol= Story of my life.

I haven't had a drink in over 30 days and don't plan on it. I know it would be detrimental. I am hoping staying away from the alcohol will play a big part in healing this.

Thank you as well for the info Sharon. I will take my meds like that from now on. Doctor hasn't called me back yet regarding whether or not I should discontinue pepcid.

The deprivation of mostly anything tasty is wearing on me but it's not worth the suffering. I just want this thing gone! I guess I had some relief and it was my birthday so I went off my bland diet and let the stress get to me. I need to learn how to cope and manage stress, anxiety, and depression.

Alcohol was a major contribution to my chronic gastritis and I suspect it made my esophagitis worse.  So yes, staying away from alcohol is definitely a good idea.   I am also on a very stringent diet and I wrote more about it here:

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=45&m=3494236

It can take a long time to heal, and that's the most frustrating part because it can take so long.  It took me a long time to finally get into a routine where I was eating mostly green, leafy vegetables, some lean organic chicken (no skin), fish, and making lots of chicken vegetable soup. 

Posted 9/12/2015 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
There is no interference between pepcid and protonix as such, its just that for protonix to work the stomach has to try and produce acid. There is a narrow window when the drug is in your bloodstream, about 30-60 mins after taking it, and during this window if the stomach tries to produce acid the drug will get into the acid pumps trying to be used and clog them up. Pepcid stops the stomach trying to produce acid, though not as strong, so if its in your system then the protonix can't get into the pumps to block them. Once the window is closed then the drug will no longer block pumps so a few hours later when the pepcid wears off, your stomach will start producing acid again.

Protonix will block the pumps for much longer than pepcid stops acid production and results in a much larger acid decrease which is why you should be fine on that alone. If your not its better to use some tums or gaviscon for the occasions when its really gnawin at you.

If the miralax stops you being in pain then do continue to take it, perhaps try to notice how you feel after having it, unless it makes you feel particularly bad just after then its probably fine. Your stomach will usually let you know pretty quickly if you put something in it that it doesn't like.
Posted 9/12/2015 7:07 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,

thank you both for your informative replies.

Peabs: I am trying to adjust and adhere to this new diet. It definitely seems to be very limited.I am going to check out your link.

Andy: You should be a G.I. by now with all this knowledge you've acquired. After awhile I won't be too far behind you.

I felt a bit better on my birthday a few days ago after eating very bland...then what did I do?

I said "Hey, it's my birthday and I'm going to treat myself so stomach you better behave.."

Soo ..1 steak with red wine demi-glace, a few fries, 3 onion rings, broccoli, and a shirley temple (because they were my favorite as a kid and I can't drink alcohol, but I will eat a steak and fries! ha that's my thinking for ya!) followed by apple crumble with ice cream, I had to have one scoop of chocolate or vanilla ofcourse, and whipped cream, luckily I didn't eat the birthday candle) proceeded by a day of total stress and aggravation..tada..there you have it!

Back to the drawing board shocked

Post Edited (LotusLove) : 9/12/2015 1:11:54 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/13/2015 10:33 AM (GMT 0)
Wow you sure did overdo it lol.

Some treats are worse than others I find, so for example if you'd had steak and chips you'd probably have been OK but onions, alcohol and chocolate ice cream are among the worst things to eat so not even safe on occasion for now I'm afraid.

Do you take anything for the anxiety or depression?

It's particularly important to stay away from alcohol if you suffer depression as it may give you a short term buzz but long term alcohol is a depressant so will make you feel worse.
Posted 9/14/2015 10:28 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Andy,

I'm not on any antidepressants at the moment. I have been on them in the past. I was put on a small dosage of valium and I notice that helped with the gastritis pain and discomfort. I don't have a refill on those and really want to get on something non addictive. I am currently looking for a psychiatrist and a therapist.

I think if I had alcohol at my birthday dinner I wouldn't even be typing right now..but I had just about everything else! I can't believe how much I am set back now. I was still in pain but had bouts of relief before that birthday meal. Flare up is now in full force 6 days and counting.
Posted 9/15/2015 11:12 AM (GMT 0)
Yes unfortunately once you set it off then it gets all inflamed again and takes a while to settle down. Don't worry though you will be back to where you where eventually. The hardest thing in recovering from gastritis is still being careful even when you feel better and taking it easy. I've been there and done it many times and I still make the same mistakes!
Posted 9/16/2015 12:49 AM (GMT 0)
Andy,

Thank you again for your reply. How long did your gastritis take to heal? And did you feel much better?
Posted 9/16/2015 12:59 AM (GMT 0)
I just re-read your first reply to my original post..

"Just remember that when you start to feel better, your stomach is not healed so don't change your diet."!!!

The fact that certain foods could turn into a long flare up is a scary thought which ofcourse feeds into my anxiety..blah mad sad

Post Edited (LotusLove) : 9/15/2015 7:23:58 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/16/2015 10:35 AM (GMT 0)

LotusLove said...
I just re-read your first reply to my original post..

"Just remember that when you start to feel better, your stomach is not healed so don't change your diet."!!!

The fact that certain foods could turn into a long flare up is a scary thought which ofcourse feeds into my anxiety..blah mad sad

No need to be scared of it for now as you have complete control over what you eat. The trick is when you do reintroduce foods do it very slowly, like once a day and see how you feel. You will be able to notice any worsening of symptoms but it won't turn into a full blown attack. I find there are two stages of set back, the first just makes you a bit queasy and u start feeling off, that's when you need to really start being careful. If during this period you eat another big trigger that's when it can turn into a flare up. Last time it happened to me I ate a huge tub of chocolate ice cream and started getting pains, but it wasn't a huge flare I just started feeling off. Anyway I thought I was being careful but then a week later ate some cucumber and that really hurt, set me off with a full blown attack and everything i ate was painful. So I figured out that cucumber is bad for gastritis :p
Posted 12/10/2016 3:59 AM (GMT 0)
hi LotusLove and Andy, are any of you still active on this forum? i am having a very bad episode of Gastritis/anxiety/depression, would be great if i can talk to any of you, it's been 10 days of horror, not sure what is wrong with me but i have lost more than 15 pounds on 1 month, I'm really worried.
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