When will this suffering end!

Digestive health
1

Hi everyone, I am new to these forums so please be forgiving of my mistakes.

I'm 17 and this September I was diagnosed with atrophic gastritis. My doctor put me on rantadine and zantac for a while and it seems to be helping somewhat. But every now and again I still get "attacks" where I feel bloated nausea cramping etc. And these usually start in the late night/early morning and on through the morning. It's getting to the point where these attacks are interfering with my attendance at school. I've missed around 13 days due to this illness, and I'm really starting to get sick of it.I hate missing school. So is it normal for this to drag on for this amount of time? Should I go back to the doctor? Any help or tips would be much appreciated.

I also would like to note I have lost about 20 pounds in the last 2 months from not eating as much and cutting back.

2

Hi.

Firstly...ranitidine is Zantac, they are the same thing just one is a brand name. They reduce acid, but aren't as strong as ppi's (omaprezole etc).

Has your doc said why you have atrophic gastritis???

If there is an underlying reason why you have it then you need to deal with that or else you won't heal.

Once any underlying condition is sorted then you should heal over time, BUT...diet is key to healing. Docs aren't particularly good at diet advice.

You need to cut out the following for a few weeks, maybe months:

Alcohol, fizzy drinks, acidic foods and drinks (fruit juices are a no no), high fat foods, dairy, chocolate, pastries and gassy vegetables.

You can eat chicken (not fried), white fish, soft cooked veg (not raw), oats, whole grain cereals (if not celiac), non acid fruits (melon / pears), noodles and rice. Basically healthy whole foods and easy to digest fooods. It takes time to heal (weeks) so don't expect results over night. Good luck

3

Thanks for the reply. I am taking omaprezole don't know why I confused those.

4

No problem. I had gastritis for almost 2 years so know how rubbish it can be !

Yes they don't tend to use Zantac anymore, ppi is the usual prescribed medication. You'll be on it for a few months while you heal.

Like I said...find out if there's any underlying reason why you have gastritis. Then focus on strict diet. If you get it right you'll feel better after a couple of weeks. Make a note of anything that irritates your stomach and cut it out.

I forgot to say that scrambled eggs should be ok.

And when you come off ppi do it slowly, don't come off cold turkey. You will likely get hyper acid secretion for some time which will damage your stomach again.

And try reduce stress! It makes more acid !

5

So since you have had it for much longer than me. Does it ever go away completely or does it lay dormant until aggravated again?

6

Just to make sure:

if you take Omeprazole (PPI) AND Ranitidine (H2 Blocker),

you need to make sure to take them not together at same time.

PPI need a ph of 4.5 and lower, so if you cut the acid down with H2blocker (effect lasts about 12 hours), the taken PPI is useless, not used, doesn't get converted into useful metabolite, you actually don't cut your acid down as prescribed.

e.g. take PPI in the very morning,

H2 in the early evening or other way round.

Space them 12 hours apart if you are adviced to take both.

Maybe you do that anyway.

Just to make sure. You don't get the best PPI effect otherwise.

Maybe you could only take PPI? (and no antacids please, same trouble if taken together at that time, antacids at least do not last as long, so a 4 or 8 hour space is enough, depending when your stomach has emptied the antacid out)

And yes,

coming off is a very, very slow process, over months!

Our gastro doc stopped my daughter cold turkey from PPI, I even shook my head and said 'what?', oh, it's only 2x20mg Esomeprazole (Nexium) she is on. .... No wonder within 3 days she was in sour agony.

Had to go back on PPI asap, and gave every second day half the amount for 2 weeks, then 2 weeks half the amount, asked for the lowest dose or one, that had the split line to be able to cut tablet (otherwise never ever cut PPI, they are coated) and continued another 2 weeks. Then the smallest PPI combined with H2blocker on the other half of day, now on H2blockers only, but twice a day and these will be eased out the same week long process, that covers months in the end.

Never ever stop them quickly and stopping within a week is also quickly.

But for now you need to take them

and find a reason (atrophic? gastritis at your age) and eat as paul so well recommended.

Gastritis is very tricky, takes time, but full with hope to get better.

Best of luck!

7

Great advice Sanya thank you

8

You can recover to a stage where you don't need ppi anymore and have no pain (im at that stage now). However yes your stomach is likely to be sensitive for a long time, maybe forever. You're young, and have your partying days to go through, but you will most likely need to be careful with alcohol.

I find alcohol a major irritant and have to watch how much I have (I tend to stick to flat beers as they seem to be ok).

Red wine and straight spirits are a no no.

You need to find out why you have atrophic gastritis as that is quite uncommon at your age. I had mild gastritis but mine wasn't atrophic.

9

Thanks so much for the reply. The reason I have atrophic gastritis(at least what the doctor says) is a mix between stress and anxiety, and my awful eating habits. I eat really spicy foods constantly, at least 3 times a week, but he said the main cause was stress and anxiety. It's calmed down over the past 3 months(with a diet change)but I still have the occasional flair up when I try to eat spicy/ greasy foods. Thanks again for the reply!!

10

Thanks! My doctor told me it was stress/anxiety plus my awful eating habbits and being "slightly" over weight.

11

Hi  denver i have the same thing it was so bad i had erotions in my throath  I now take prevacid its working well Im Italian and use lots of garlic and still doing fine