How I cured my gastritis

General health and lifestyle
21

Hi Awe,

For slippery Elm, I use Nature's way. It is the one they had at the store. It works well.

For DGL licorice, I use natural factors. I like the ingredients, they are pretty straighforward. Some other brand had some sugar in -ol in it which is harder to digest according to Dr Robillard (whose diet I don't really follow). The natural factors tabs taste good.

For pepzin GI, I use Swanson ultra. From what I read Swanson has a good reputation. Some other brands suggest you take twice (around 150 mg/day) the dose Swanson suggests (around 75 mg/day) but according to the studies the results are pretty similar if you double the 70 mg/day dose or not. Moreover the 70 mg dose/day is closer to the recommended amount of Zinc/day, so that is what I take. The reviews are good for Doctor's best too, I have not tried it.

I read many reviews on internet and particularly on amazon before chosing these products and I have been happy with them.

Did you try the cabbage cure? How are you feeling?

22

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I haven't yet. I need to.order the juicer. Hopefully ill have everything i need to try and finally help myself heal by the end of the week.

How long do you think i should take these supplements?

How long before you started noticing they helped alot?

Thank you again. Youre honestly making this seem alot more manageable

23

You should take Pepzin GI for two months. I think it is the most important. It helps heal the ulcers and the stomach lining in an acidic environment.

One box of DGL licorice last a month if you take one before each meal, so you can begin with that and see how you feel. I did not take slippery elm regularly, only when my stomach hurt between meals or at night.

Beside the cabbage juice, I did not notice anything helping a lot in a short time. DGL licorice and slippery Elm helped a lot immediately with the pain, but for the recovery it was very slow. It took two months before the pain and excess acid disappeard. Sometimes I was discouraged as from one week to the next I would not notice much improvement. After two months I felt good at last but I still needed the diet for a few more months to stay good and have my stomach get stronger and stronger and tolerate more and more foods.

According to the book "Ulcer Free" you can cure your ulcers in one week with the cabbage juice, but it is really hard to do because of the effect on the thyroid.

Also according the book ulcer free, medication like PPI give quicker results than natural supplements, but they don't always last as well. The acid in the stomach prevents the stomach to heal, so reducing the acid with the PPI is very helpful. PPI cause problems long term, but for a short term like two months the side effects are small. The main problem is rebound when one stops that can be managed with natural supplements, and reducing the medication slowly. If you choose to take some medication like PPI, I still believe the diet is essential for a long term recovery, and the supplements might be helpful after you stop the medication.

 

24

Hi awe,

Please keep in mind that I had gastritis but no ulcer. I believe the treatments are similar but I don't have any experience with ulcers.

I hope you get better soon.

25

Hi Awe,

You could try fresh raw potato juice, only red skined ones, 1/2 a glass three times a day for 3weeks or so.

I am doing it at the moment, I can not drink cabbage juice because of my thyroid gland. You need to drink the first glass on an empty stomach. You can not add anything else to it, it does not taste good but raw potato is rather famous for curing any stomach problems, ulcers, gastrits etc.

Take care,

26

Thank you ines,

I got most of the stuff so far. DGL, the swanson zinc carnosine, and the slippery elm. I dont have a juicer yet tho. I tried the DGL and noticed it does help with pain pretty quickly, which is good since after an irritating meal the pain sets in and I start to feel weak and down. The DGL helps get rid of that unless the meal was really horrible I notice, like junk food, then the DGL doesnt help nearly as much.

The slippery elm feels like it's not doing much of anything. Im thinking maybe I should open the capsules and let it sit in water. I have a blender bottle I take around with me. Maybe I should just dump the slippery elm powder into it and then try it? 

The zinc carnosine I feel immediately after I take it. The sensitive spots I feel in my stomach (ulcers probably) feel really sensitive after I take the zinc carnosine. Im not sure if I should take it so soon in since it feels a lil irritating and I do feel weak after. Maybe I should take a lil bit of it at first and ease into it?

Even tho I don't have a juicer yet I do have a nice enough blender that can puree veggies so I tried blending cabbage with it. I add a lil water and blend. I can't use alot of the cabbage this way tho since there's alot more volume in a blended cabage drink where a juiced cabbage all the volume from the pulp is tossed aside. I basically peel off layers from the cabbage and toss it in the blender. A few layers from a small cabbage (like 1/4 of an entire small cabbage) makes a full glass' worth, like about 470ml. Im trying it tho and its really smooth with my blender. The other night I came home from work after feeling alot of pain in my stomach and weak and down. I avoided eating anything when I got home and just blended cabbage with a lil water and drank it. About 30 minutes after the pain calmed down alot and I didnt feel weak. Im gonna try and manage so I take about 450ml of blended cabbage drink morning, noon, and night each. Or just morning and night when I have work. Since it's blended and not juiced I might have to take it longer im guessing? I can't drink a regular medium sized cabbage in a day since Im blending it tho. Maybe Ill toughen up with the taste and manage but Im worried about the thyroid as well. I did feel weak yesterday morning after I drank the cabbage and went to class to take one of my finals. I feel like it's helping tho but Im not sure yet.

I talked to a friend about ulcers and she told me she had to take nexium for an entire year before it finally healed. So im worried about going that route but Im so tired of feeling this way and managing this. My bmi is about 16.6 and with this pain and weakness it's really hard.

Im wondering if this is the exact juicer you got

http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BJE200XL-Fountain-700-Watt-Extractor/dp/B000MDHH06/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400821653&sr=8-1&keywords=breville+compact

You mentioned it was the compact one in your cabbage cure post.

Thank you again ines. You're really helpful and Im very grateful.

27

Hi Daniela,

I just typed a really long post about the supplements that ines recommended and that Im trying the cabbage (blended right now since I dont have a juicer yet) but it looks like it has to be moderated first before it posts.

How are you feeling from juicing the raw red potatoes? What juicer are you using?

Hope you're doing well

28

I am fine, thanks! If you can do have cabbage, give it a try! Raw potaoto juce is bad in taste, but I drink it and think of England! I read a book recently, and in both wars, the first and second one, soldiers ate raw potatoes and those who had and digestive problems cured themselves.

I know about the long list Ines recommeds!

You need to try things for yourself, see what suits you and what can cause pain. If it hurts you, then stop take it!

I have three juicers and use them all, and blender too.

Take care,

 

29

Hi awe,

This the juicer I use. There is basically two major families of juicer, one much more expensive that crush the vegetable and let you juice leaves better (they look more annoying to clean) and one family containing the breville that rotate fast. This model is small and let you make a big glass at the time, I don't have much space so it is good for me, I think they have a bigger model if you prefer.

You can buy a cheese clothe, put the pulp of cabbage in it and twist the clothe to extract the juice while waiting for your juicer.

If you have exams, it is not the right time to do the cabbage juice, it will make you feel tired. Also you should not take it for too long either, the longest I read was a week-10 days. I did it every now and then for two to three days.

The tingling in your stomach with pepzin GI is the ulcers healing from what I read. You should take it with your meal: one at breakfast, one at dinner. It is the most important supplement since it is the one that heals you. If you feel something, it is working.

Have you tried slippery elm 2 caps between meals with one or two big glasses of lukewarm water? Not everything works for everyone. On the bottle they recommend 4 caps, but for some reason that was not working for me, only 2 caps worked well. Also I did not take it at first, I took DGL for a month than it was not working as well anymore and I started slippery elm which seems to work better then, so I took both.

Whatever you do, medication or natural supplements, it is going to take a while. But you are going to feel slowly better and better. I have not had pain or excess acid for a while but I feel my stomach is still recovering slowly as with time I tolerate more and more types of foods. I started trying to cure myself at the beginning of the year.

Medication might be easier for you now. By preventing your stomach to produce acid, it will heal more easily. I really don't like medication, it makes me anxious to take it because I am afraid of sides effect but sometimes it is the best way to go. As long as you don't stay on it forever, it should be fine. If you do that, the diet is important anyway to speed up things and stay well. Have you seen a doctor? If you don't take the medication, pepzin gi is the only thing that really helps cure your stomach in an acidic environment.

30

Hi Awe,

I have three juicers, centrifugal one which I use a lot, then I have a masticating juicer, works on a lower speed and I also have twin gear(triturating) juicer, it extracts not only the juice but all the enzimes and nutrients.

I did not buy them all at once, I got them as I found them and acording to my needs. They can be pricey, but you need to shop around, there are pleanty of them on the market.

 

31

OMG  I found you finally! I will try everything you posted! Olga

32

Hi Muftovaya,

I am glad if it can help.

I wanted to post an update though. I thought I was cured after three months of the regimen I described as I was feeling good, had no pain, no excess acid. So I stopped taking everything and I felt fine for a while, still sensitive to what I ate though, so I stayed on the diet. Then I was invited to a big dinner with garlic, acidic food, fried food, ... and I ate a little bit of everything. I got so sick afterward! For a week I was in pain. So I decided to give another try to mastic gum as the reviews are so good on amazon. I took it for 4 days and it made me worse, it really increased my stomach pain, gave me cramps, ... Then I did two days of cabbage juice, and while it was soothing it made me feel so tired (the effect on the thyroid I suppose), I just don't think cabbage juice is worth it anymore.

So I am back on my old regimen with the few supplements I can feel really work: pepzin GI, DGL licorice, evamore water and slippery elm from time to time. The diet is the most important even though I relaxed some of my rules: I seem to tolerate a reasonable amount of healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, nuts. Herbs seem ok too in small quantities like thyme, rosemary, ... I actually found a website where they describe which spices/herbs are irritating, if you type: "Things Used in Food that May Eat You Up, By Milton G. Crane, M.D. and Barbara G. Crane, R.D. of Weimar Institute" in google you will find it. I feel better already but I must say I am a bit distressed at the time it is taking to recover completely. It is hard to stick to the diet and every mistake leads to pain for more or less a week. I wonder if I should give the PPI another try or just be patient. I asked my GI doctor and he advised to be patient for now. Apparently it is not uncommon for stomach problems to take a long time to get better.

 

33

Hi Olga,

I just wanted to give an update. I have been taking pepzin GI for two days and I feel almost normal again. The pain is mostly gone, I can sleep. Of course the diet has a part in it but Pepzin GI seems to make a real difference. If  you have stomach pain and you were to take only one supplement, this is the one I would recommend. I checked the reviews on amazon and it seems to have helped many other people too. After having been constantly in pain for so long, it almost feels like a miracle.

34

Thank you  It helps

 

35

Hi Ines,

Thank you for your information.

They found also mild gastritis and esophagitis. I'm still waiting for the results for the H. Pylori.

I have a question : I would like to use the same rules you followed. I prefer only taking natural products, but do you think it is better during a few weeks to take antiacid medication ?

Thanky you !

36

Hi Benedicte,

I am not sure what to advise you but I can tell you my experience.

Following the recommendation of my GI doctor, I took dexilant (PPI) for two months at the beginning just to give a chance to my oesophagus to heal and make sure I am not on the road to Barrett's oesophagus and risk of cancer. Unfortunately it was not enough for my stomach to heal completely, even though my stomach felt good at the end of the two months taking dexilant. 

As I did not want to continue with the PPI for too long, I switched to natural treatments. I had a little bit of a relapse when I stopped the PPI, probably the rebound and/or the fact that my stomach was not completely healed. The natural treatments help for sure but the progress is very slow, and I had a relapse every time I ate some food that is not recommended. Now I feel ok, my stomach does not really hurt anymore or rarely, but it feels a bit sore and I have a little bit of a sore throat that does not go away. 

To be honest with you, I wonder if I should take the PPI another two months. I tolerated it very well the first time and I hope the lack of acid in the stomach in addition to the diet would heal my stomach more quickly and completely. Also the complete disappearance of symptoms due to the lack of acid felt good the first time. I just worry about the rebound effect when I would stop it. I asked my GI doctor who said to not take the PPI and wait another few months for reevaluation.

I have been reading about SIBO recently, you might have seen the posts on the forum. I am not sure what to think of it or if I have it but as a precaution, and because I have IBS too, I am taking a mix of probiotics and glutamine in addition of the rest now. It seems to help with my digestion as it makes my stools darker and firmer. Sorry for the TMI details.

Whatever you decide, I would love to stay in touch and help each other with our experiences. Don't hesitate to PM me too.

37

To give you a short answer, if I was to do it again, I would take over the counter antacids (zantac if you can tolerate it) or a PPi again first to be safe for my oesophagus. You can start the diet at the same time, I find it essential for the recovery. PPI are more or less safe as long as they are not taken for too long. Two months is completely ok. Beside the low risk of getting a bad bacteria, the problems with absorption of calcium and B12 are problematic only if you take it for a very long time.

38

Hi Ines,

thank you so much for your help and good advice!

39

Hey thanks heaps for all the info on here. I'm only 20, seem to have developed this condition. Had for over 2 months now. Only seems to happen when iv eaten too much, have dairy or beer, or im out in a public place puts stress on my stomach. Have tried probiotics, didnt work, ranitidine didnt work. Now on Omeprazole which seems to be working pretty well at keeping acid down. Though I stupidly had a bowl of yogurt tonight after taking a pill and im back to square one, almost spewing for a few hours with a sore throat.

Trying to adjust my diet as much as I can. Really struggling to make lasting changes as I'm in the student life . Its hard. Been on Omeprazole for a week and been adjusting diet for 3 weeks. Have improved from how bad I was but I keep getting relapses. How long do you reckon it'll take to get back to normal? sad

40

Hi Joelish,

It seems that the diet is important for you, like it is for me. With the diet and the omeprazole, you should feel better very quickly, in a few weeks with constant improvements.

Can you cook at school? I know it is hard to keep the diet. I noticed that I if I get too hungry, I can't controle myself as well so I eat regularly and especially before I go out so I don't get too tempted.

I have the same sensitivity to dairy, I started getting significantly better the day I completely stopped having my daily morning greek yoghourt (which I loved!). I can't stand alcohol either, it makes me so sick.

About the length of a complete recovery, I wish I knew. I wonder the same thing. I guess it depends what you mean about going back to normal. If you mean going back to you can eat whatever you want, I don't know. If there is an obvious cause to your problem you can address, this is one thing. If you are like me and there is no obvious cause, you might have a sensitive stomach and have to do it for a long time, and you might have to be somewhat careful forever. I thought I was cured after two months on the PPI as I felt good, but when I stopped I had a lot of pain and a relapse, then I thought I was cured after three months taking the natural supplemenas as I felt good, but I had a relapse two weeks after I stopped taking all the supplements and had one bad dinner. Now I am back on the supplements and the strict diet, feeling better and planning to stay on it for a long time. I talked to some people taking the pepzin GI on amazon, and some of them stay on it forever. I read about stories of people being treated by Jamie Koufman, their recovery took anywhere between 2 weeks and 18 months on the diet. Some of them relapse when they feel better and start having more and more bad habits (by bad habits I mean eating irritating foods or drinks).

When you get better, please share your experience here to benefit others. There are a lot of sick people on the forums, and not enough sharing what they did to reach a successfull recovery.