Gastritis

freedom_in_4low

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Anybody dealt with it? How?

I went to doc thinking I have an ulcer... Don't take nsaids and negative test for h. Pylori so his official diagnosis is gastritis. Sent me home with scripts for a proton pump inhibitor to reduce acid, and something else to protect my stomach lining, like pepto bismol but "better".

Start reading up on PPIs and some of the side effects are nasty. Things like lupus and dementia. Haven't started taking it yet. I know most of those are long term stuff and he expects me to only need it for a few weeks, but guess what... Coming off has rebound effects which causes many to be stuck on them for much longer than expected.

Think I'm gonna ask him to prescribe an H2 receptor antagonist instead, but hate doing that sort of thing because it feels like telling him how to do the job he went to school for 7 years to learn how to do, and I didn't. Otherwise I'm reading up on how to come at this naturally.
 
I had it in April 2020, woke up one morning nauseous and emptied my stomach, figuring I had eaten something the night before at the neighbors cookout. For the next three days I couldn't keep anything down, not even water. Finally drug myself to the care center, they gave me an anti-nausea pill that dissolved under my tongue (I would have thrown it up otherwise) and some commercial-grade Zantac for 10 days.

I lost about 20 pounds, weighed less than 1984 when I came out of basic training. They told me my gut was producing too much acid and when it was empty, my stomach lining become completely inflamed. Anything touched it it kicked it out.

Looking up main causes of excess acid I had these factors going on-

1. Smoking
2. Drinking
3. Diet
4. Stress
5. NSAIDs
6. Old age

So I was able to quit smoking, stop taking any NSAIDs, shed some stress and change (some of) my diet. No more of my neighbors buddy's moonshine, but that's as far as I'm going with stopping alcohol. Old age I'm kinda stuck with.

I haven't had another incident since.
 
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I had it in April 2020, woke up one morning nauseous and emptied my stomach, figuring I had eaten something the night before at the neighbors cookout. For the next three days I couldn't keep anything down, not even water. Finally drug myself to the care center, they gave me an anti-nausea pill that dissolved under my tongue (I would have thrown it up otherwise) and some commercial-grade Zantac for 10 days.

I lost about 20 pounds, weighed less than 1984 when I came out of basic training. They told me my gut was producing too much acid and when it was empty, my stomach lining become completely inflamed. Anything touched it it kicked it out.

Looking up main causes of excess acid I had these factors going on-

1. Smoking
2. Drinking
3. Diet
4. Stress
5. NSAIDs
6. Old age

So I was able to quit smoking, stop taking any NSAIDs, shed some stress and change (some of) my diet. No more of my neighbors buddy's moonshine, but that's as far as I'm going with stopping alcohol. Old age I'm kinda stuck with.

I haven't had another incident since.

interesting. Mine is more of a mild, long term thing.

Basically since about mid March I've had a burning sensation in my gut start later in the day, like a couple hours after dinner. I've had it before over the years, but it's always resolved on it's own after a couple of weeks. This time it's stuck around.

There has been an instance that might have been an acute episode that I blamed on food poisoning. I had 2 beers spread out over 6 hours at a buddy's retirement party, had to stop on the way home and puke on the side of the road, made it home to do it a couple more times. Wife thought I was drunk but I assure you I was sober enough to fully experience it. The vomiting resolved on it's own after 12 hours but my gut remained sore for a few days...I asked around and no one else got sick.

I can definitely check the stress box, as work is super busy and I'm building a house, which would have been stressful enough in 2019, and now we have skyrocketing material costs and interest rates to go along with it. American Airlines re-assigned my aisle seat last week and stuck me in a window on a regional jet next to a sweaty 350 pound dude that was using half my seat...after a day of running around and short layovers that had me on an empty stomach. That triggered enough stomach acid to start the burning and have me on the very edge of vomiting from takeoff through the 3 hour flight, the ride home, and most of the evening. I went to see the doc the next day.

I don't smoke and I don't take NSAIDs, no hard alcohol but I drink beer probably 5-6 nights of the week, though almost never more than one in a night. It ranges from a Coors Banquet to a craft barrel aged stout at 13+% ABV (but very low carbonation), to the sour types with lots of acidity. We also have a favorite pizza place that we get takeout from about twice a month and I eat leftovers on it until it's gone...which means I'm piling acidic tomato sauce, greasy cheese and pepperoni, gluten-filled deep dish crust into my gut for at least 1 meal for the next 3 days.

So at the very least I'll be cutting out the pizza, tex mex (margaritas, salsa and chili con carne), and beer for a while.

Zantac got pulled from the market in 2020 due to a cancer risk in it's specific formulation but it's an H2 receptor antagonist which I would feel more comfortable with as the side effects of that class in general, though more common, are less severe and are temporary in nature.
 
I have suffered for years with something similar. I've had every test, scope, and even had my gallbladder removed. Most days my main symptoms are just a hallow gnawing/burning feeling that increases and decreases in severity as I eat. Other days I will literally be laid up in bed feeling like I have the stomach flu. When it first started and I didn't know how to manage my diet I could hardly keep a meal down. I'm 6 foot tall and was down to 132lbs. Through years of trail and error I have found certain foods that I can tolerate, which isn't much. Stress and lack sleep will definitely make things worse.
Unfortunately I had the same experience with General practitioners. They either said it was reflux or IBS and prescribed PPI's or Bentyl. Neither did anything and PPI's just make me feel worse. The several GI's that I have been to have just run every test and scan in order to rule out possible issues. In the end I was basically told physically they can't find anything and was diagnosised with Functional Dyspepsia. As best as anyone can figure it is just nerves that are not functioning correctly. Hopefully you can find a treatment and resolve your issues. If you haven't already I would meet with a GI as the digestive system is very complex and beyond the scope of family practice.
 
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We went to my parents for dinner tonight. My mom made tacos and kept a small batch of beef unseasoned for me...I'm nearly 40 and she still goes overboard with that stuff. :ROFLMAO:

Anyway...she brought up a friend from church who swears by apple cider vinegar for her reflux and inflamed stomach issues. It sounded ass backwards to me to add acid to an overly acidic situation, but apparently symptoms of too much acid and not enough are almost identical. Either too much acid irritates your stomach, or too little and your hiatal sphincter relaxes a little too much (because it squeezes based on stomach pH) and lets a bit less acidic, but still acidic stuff into the bottom of your esophagus. End result is the same, burny burny in the tummy tummy.

So then I start thinking...I burp a lot, but my burps don't have that vomity acidic flavor to them. And some of the other symptoms, like heavy meals sitting on me like a brick and taking seemingly forever to digest. I found someplace saying that with low stomach acid, you aren't able to digest protein as well, showing up as a high total protein and high globulin in bloodwork. My last bloodwork was in December and those values were within the given standard range, but on the site I stumbled into, the ranges given were tighter, and I was elevated according to those. I haven't worked out why not digesting protein would make my blood total protein high (I would think low) and I haven't decided how much stock I put in the blog of a naturopath/chiropractor, but....there's that.