Gastritis or Glutening - Slippery Elm

[JosephK116]

  On 10/21/2017 at 5:37 PM, cristiana said:

Its interesting you should say that. I don't normally drink alcohol, I've always felt it tasted like medicine - no idea why! -  but drank some sparkling wine recently out of politeness.  Oh the pain!  At my last appointment my gastroenterologist had asked me if I drank - she never told me why, but if that's what alcohol does to people with gastritis it should be the first thing to avoid I reckon.

Also interesting that you had that as an initial diagnosis.  I too had what I am sure was gastritis pain before I was diagnosed.  I was on omeprazole for a month which took the pain away but omeprazole seems to cause D for me. The strange thing was after I stopped the omeprazole the D did not.  That was why I ended up having the scope.  In a way, I wonder if I would have ever been diagnosed had it not been for the gastritis and the omeprozole. 

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I know for certain gastritis  is one of the main reasons I had the scope. That and my EOE symptoms . If it wasn’t for those I would have never been diagnosed 

[justsayno]

Read thru this whole thread and have a question:

Seems that there is no real cure for Reflux/GERD? Treating the symptoms (diet, medications) seem to be the only things that work? Or did I miss something.

[cyclinglady]

  On 11/9/2017 at 6:44 PM, justsayno said:

Read thru this whole thread and have a question:

Seems that there is no real cure for Reflux/GERD? Treating the symptoms (diet, medications) seem to be the only things that work? Or did I miss something.

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There can be a cure for reflux/GERD.  If celiac disease is the cause, your symptoms should resolve with time and if you maintain a gluten free diet.  It did for me.  

Try to determine the root cause.  In the mean time consider the suggestions given.  For me, not eating well before bedtime or sleeping in a elevated position helped me temporarily.  

[Posterboy]

  On 11/9/2017 at 6:44 PM, justsayno said:

Read thru this whole thread and have a question:

Seems that there is no real cure for Reflux/GERD? Treating the symptoms (diet, medications) seem to be the only things that work? Or did I miss something.

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justsayno,

going low CARB can help the heartburn symptom's. or even Ketogenic which is basically NO carbs or atkins's on steroids for lack of a better term.

here is a great thread that talks about the pro's and con's between me and Ennis_tx that he referenced in this thread but did not cite.

but basically people have "rebound heartburn/acid reflux" when trying to go off PPI's cold turkey.

newer research even indicates that taking PPI's can cause you to be locked into them.

Open Original Shared Link

quoting they say

"Although this radical change in the concept of how acid reflux damages the esophagus of GERD patients (it) will not change our approach to its treatment with acid-suppressing medications in the near future, it could have substantial long-term implications," said senior author Stuart Spechler, M.D., Open Original Shared Link. Dr. Spechler is a professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern and chief of the Department of Gastroenterology at the Dallas VA Medical Center."

no surprise there they even mention in the article Nexium alone generates $2.5 Billion a year by itself.

Even if people don't get better taken their medicine . . . take it anyway because now you are locked on the medicine due to inflammation issues.

because we are not changing our "approach to it's treatment with acid suppressing medications in the near future"

read the whole article for yourself.

but the "acid reflux" is not from acid at all or at least in some cases and probably more than they estimate since this is new research without many years of confirmed research behind it yet.

quoting

"In the new study, Kerry Dunbar, M.D., Ph.D., and her colleagues looked at 12 patients who had Open Original Shared Link (when the esophagus becomes irritated and swollen), a complication that isn't seen in every GERD patient. Each of the patients stopped taking their proton pump inhibitors for 12 weeks. The doctors took biopsies and closely observed what happened both before as well as 1 and 2 weeks after the patients stopped taking their medication.

The patients did end up developing more damage, as the researchers thought they would. But the tissue didn't show a chemical-like burn that might be expected from stomach acid splashing into the esophagus. Instead, they found white blood cells, inflammatory proteins, and signaling molecules (known as cytokines), which are more consistent with what you would find when the body reacts to an injury."

But inflammation is inflammation.

Think more like EoE . .. .

I hope this is helpful.

Justsayno, I also recommend chris kresser's 3 part series on this topic.

Open Original Shared Link

where he highights many of the same points. Justsayno is a good attitude to have to staring PPI's if you have not already started because they are very hard to get off of once they have been started. . . but not impossible.

2 Timothy 2: 7 “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things”

posterboy by the grace of God,

 

[justsayno]

  On 11/9/2017 at 8:00 PM, cyclinglady said:

There can be a cure for reflux/GERD.  If celiac disease is the cause, your symptoms should resolve with time and if you maintain a gluten free diet.  It did for me.  

Try to determine the root cause.  In the mean time consider the suggestions given.  For me, not eating well before bedtime or sleeping in a elevated position helped me temporarily.  

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Thanks Cyclinglady,

Strangely enough, the symptoms of GERD started when I went gluten free. Go figure. As far as the root cause, haven't eaten anything different besides eliminating gluten. Maybe suffering withdrawals from gluten, or allergic somehow to unusual flour mixes?

Thanks also Posterboy for the links.

Edit: If I am stepping on some toes by diverting the thread on slippery elm, I can start a new thread. Just let me know

[Whitepaw]

Hi justsayno,

I had GERD for a couple years, leading up to my celiac diagnosis.  I had no other symptoms other than low Vit D and anemia.   After starting the gluten-free diet, it took about 8 months or so for GERD to resolve.  I had no problems with GERD until this April (about 4-5 years later).    I had been eating very healthy, but in April started carrying a jar of peanut butter around in my car, and eating more chocolate.   I had mild GI upsets from this.   Everything went downhill after I had a milkshake in early May, and became even worse after trying 2 weeks of probiotics that contained inulin (chicory).  

As you've seen from this thread, I kept eliminating foods ... first dairy, then corn, then went on an acid reflux diet, in addition to starting Prilosec 2x daily.   My GI thought all the GI distress / overproduction of acid, with delayed treatment (from self-treating) may have caused an ulcer.   Priolosec 2x daily is a typical treatment for an ulcer.  

Despite all this, I was still having bloating.   My Dr. finally added in low FODMAP, and this did the trick. I have no heartburn, no more feelings of excess acid sloshing around. 

I just saw my GI today.   He said that this was likely coming on for awhile, and the dietary indiscretions just pushed it over the edge. He said the fact that low FODMAP worked suggests that I'm producing fewer enzymes.    He cleared me to start decreasing Prilosec with a goal of being off it in a couple of weeks, and to start experimenting a bit with foods. 

So ... yes GERD can go away.   Food intolerances might be causing your GERD.  You might start by eliminating specific things that you think are triggers.  I'd also suggest looking at acid reflux diets.   I can't recommend the books by Karen Frazier highly enough.   They are just so clear and give recipes and ideas of what to eat, as well as tips on how to manage GERD.    If you decide to try low FODMAP along the way, she has one book called Flexible FODMAP that is a low FODMAP diet with info on how to modify that diet for acid reflex or IBS.  Once again, everything is laid out very clearly and is very easy to follow.  

Good luck, and keep us posted!

[cristiana]

  On 11/10/2017 at 5:50 PM, Whitepaw said:

Hi justsayno,

I had GERD for a couple years, leading up to my celiac diagnosis.  I had no other symptoms other than low Vit D and anemia.   After starting the gluten-free diet, it took about 8 months or so for GERD to resolve.  I had no problems with GERD until this April (about 4-5 years later).    I had been eating very healthy, but in April started carrying a jar of peanut butter around in my car, and eating more chocolate.   I had mild GI upsets from this.   Everything went downhill after I had a milkshake in early May, and became even worse after trying 2 weeks of probiotics that contained inulin (chicory).  

As you've seen from this thread, I kept eliminating foods ... first dairy, then corn, then went on an acid reflux diet, in addition to starting Prilosec 2x daily.   My GI thought all the GI distress / overproduction of acid, with delayed treatment (from self-treating) may have caused an ulcer.   Priolosec 2x daily is a typical treatment for an ulcer.  

Despite all this, I was still having bloating.   My Dr. finally added in low FODMAP, and this did the trick. I have no heartburn, no more feelings of excess acid sloshing around. 

I just saw my GI today.   He said that this was likely coming on for awhile, and the dietary indiscretions just pushed it over the edge. He said the fact that low FODMAP worked suggests that I'm producing fewer enzymes.    He cleared me to start decreasing Prilosec with a goal of being off it in a couple of weeks, and to start experimenting a bit with foods. 

So ... yes GERD can go away.   Food intolerances might be causing your GERD.  You might start by eliminating specific things that you think are triggers.  I'd also suggest looking at acid reflux diets.   I can't recommend the books by Karen Frazier highly enough.   They are just so clear and give recipes and ideas of what to eat, as well as tips on how to manage GERD.    If you decide to try low FODMAP along the way, she has one book called Flexible FODMAP that is a low FODMAP diet with info on how to modify that diet for acid reflex or IBS.  Once again, everything is laid out very clearly and is very easy to follow.  

Good luck, and keep us posted!

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I'm so glad you are making such good progress.  It sounds like you'd make a good detective - sometimes the cause of symptoms can take so long to work out it is not surprising people give up trying to find the cause.

I thought I'd post a progress report.  I believe I am now in my third week sans Zantac.  I came off my 75mg pretty much cold turkey but it was a small dose.  However, I did get rebound.  For about a couple of weeks I had moments when it felt like things were going downhill fast again with that soreness under the sternum and the pain in my left ribcage (I think it is bloating in my stomach) that all started when this began.

However, I believe I am getting a lot better now and am putting on weight again.  I am still getting the odd twinge etc but manage it with regular antacid/heartburn otc tablets.  I'm still not back on my usual diet which leaned too much towards curry and chocolate...  I find light rice pudding is a very good buffer if I have to eat a meal on the go - it keeps the stomach lined methinks.

I have discovered that I was taking an iron supplement when this all happened that contained the dreaded gluten (Floradix in the UK is not Gluten Free - I should have been taking it's sister product, Floravital).  So I do wonder if this was one of the contributing factors for my continuing pain.