Aa
The nightmare is back. Starting with gastritis.
It's been almost 6 years since I made this initial post.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Gastroenterology/Functional-dyspepsia-or-food-intolerance/show/1231277#post_5632554
I was 21 and in pharmacy school. I remember that year being the worst year of my life. I recommend you read my post and replies before reading the rest of this post.
This will be another lengthy post but I felt the need to tell this story in case anyone else needs someone to relate to, and also as a log for me to look back on.
As an update, I'm 27 now. I feel like I had eventually "cured" myself of my then-issue ("functional dyspepsia") by dropping all medications, and at some point by eating a lot more yogurt, going for walks, getting more sunlight, getting counseling. It took a very long time to feel some semblance of normal. I graduated in 2013 and had trouble finding a job for half the year making me depressed. I eventually got hired at a place that didn't pay as well as I would have liked but paid the student loan bills and I was comfortable at (minimal anxiety). Back last summer (around mid July 2015) I was feeling better than I EVER had. I was getting into regular exercise. Eating more. I weighed 140lbs at my peak (which was more than I had ever weighed in my life). My stomach problems seemed like a distant memory. I could eat just about anything (though I avoided caffeine more). I could drink a few beers no problem. I even could tolerate hard liquor again. Then I screwed everything up..
Work has slowly been becoming increasingly stressful. I've been drinking a lot more tea (I avoid coffee as it has too much caffeine for my stomach). There are some huge projects in the works which will culminate around May-June of this year that would require me to travel overseas. About two weeks ago, I was given another account to work on in addition to what I had already. The week of the 8th was stressful for me and culminated in getting yelled at by the client on Friday. My coworkers told me to let it slide, but it bothered me. So I tried to numb myself with bourbon (something I've been getting into the past several months). I drank the stuff straight and I didn't keep track of how much. In the last few years when I've drank hard liquor, my stomach might feel lousy for a day or two and that was it. This time, however, I went to bed around 10ish and woke up around 12:30AM Saturday violently ill. I thought at that moment I was going to pass out and die. I've never reacted that badly before to alcohol in my life (even compared to my old post). I went back to bed and woke up again somewhere between 4 and 6 AM with the beginnings of acid nausea. I drank water to try to stave it off. Bad decision as I threw up again. When I finally got up later in the morning, I tried nibbling on some crackers. Threw up again before noon. My appetite was pretty shot for the rest of the day. I figured this would be another one of those "sick for a couple days and then back to normal". I ate a little more Sunday and Monday (which I was off from work). Seemed like it would just take a few more days than normal to fully recover. Come Tuesday I went back to work still not 100%. I got through my breakfast and then lunch time I had ham and cheese with a vitamin water. I distinctly recall knowing that this particular one had some caffeine in it. Usually this would only cause me issues on an empty stomach. I should have avoided it but I started drinking it anyway. I barely got through my sandwich or the drink as my appetite was just not there. A couple hours later I felt nauseated to the point where I was afraid I would throw up. I left work early and finished working from home. Whatever this did has completely tipped the scale and thrown me back to how I felt in 2009 after having those few drinks with my friends. There is a constant dull stomach ache (like being punched in the stomach). My appetite is nil. I've been struggling to eat ANYTHING and keep it down. The act of eating seems to make me worse and more nauseated. I belch all the time, especially after eating. I worked the rest of the week from home (luckily I have the ability to do so) but called out on Friday because I was dry heaving all that morning. I went to my primary doc Thursday who diagnosed me with acute gastritis with possible ulcer (which has yet to be ruled out by a GI doc). I told him I was averse to being stuck on PPIs again (which I think caused me my longer term GI symptoms before). Instead, I'm trying to stick to Zantac 150 mg in the morning and 150 mg before bed (but I feel the nighttime dose might need to be raised), and Carafate 4 times per day (although with the crappy dosing schedule and having to separate everything from it by 2 hours, I only manage to fit it in 3 times per day). I've drank nothing but water since Tuesday and all I've managed to down are some soups and some bread (averaging less than 600 calories a day). Any improvement seems extremely slow. I've already gone from 135 lbs to 127 lbs in this time. I managed to get approval to work from home for the next month (because I can't deal with this while in the office). I just hope I can keep working so I have health insurance. I'm worried however in this affecting my ability to work at all and if it will last a long time (again), which would put me in jeopardy of the trips I'm supposed to go on. My office will not be pleased and I'd be worried it might get me fired. As a result, my anxiety is going through the roof (which is also probably making things worse).
I've had theories as to what has been causing my issue (both then and now). I think it's more than likely the slow erosion of my stomach lining over time, due to a number of factors. The first time it happened, I think it was a combination of stress, eating late at night, and alcohol (especially the triggering binge). This time I think it may have been stress, alcohol (obviously), and caffeine. I have this feeling that all this time where I had very little reaction to things like caffeine or alcohol in the past year were slowly "adding up" over time. I didn't feel like they were causing any issues at the time (little or no symptoms), but I was having a net loss in stomach lining. Things like alcohol took the most significant portions away and left me even more sensitive to those other factors. But now the question remains. How do I deal with this in a more effective way than I did last time, and how long will it take?
I'd like to know if anyone has gone through anything similar, what you did to get through it, and how long did it take. My disenfranchisement with the medical world from my results last time has prompted me to look further into alternative therapies. So far I've only adopted adding DGL licorice about 4 times per day (before meals and at bedtime). I've had so-so results. I've read about numerous others but it's hard to find evidence to support their use and I've seen people have conflicting results (they make them better OR worse). I really need to recover from this as fast as possible (though I know it's probably going to take a lengthy amount of time). I don't want to go down the same road I did before. I just can't go through that again. It was one thing that I was still in school before. While school could be stressful, I was good at it and the schedule had its fair share of breaks. I don't have that "luxury" now with a full time job and more responsibilities (like student loan payments). Quite frankly, I'm terrified. I'd sooner kill myself than go through that ordeal again (and it's certainly a lot more tempting this time around).
Sorry for the long post, and thank you for reading.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Gastroenterology/Functional-dyspepsia-or-food-intolerance/show/1231277#post_5632554
I was 21 and in pharmacy school. I remember that year being the worst year of my life. I recommend you read my post and replies before reading the rest of this post.
This will be another lengthy post but I felt the need to tell this story in case anyone else needs someone to relate to, and also as a log for me to look back on.
As an update, I'm 27 now. I feel like I had eventually "cured" myself of my then-issue ("functional dyspepsia") by dropping all medications, and at some point by eating a lot more yogurt, going for walks, getting more sunlight, getting counseling. It took a very long time to feel some semblance of normal. I graduated in 2013 and had trouble finding a job for half the year making me depressed. I eventually got hired at a place that didn't pay as well as I would have liked but paid the student loan bills and I was comfortable at (minimal anxiety). Back last summer (around mid July 2015) I was feeling better than I EVER had. I was getting into regular exercise. Eating more. I weighed 140lbs at my peak (which was more than I had ever weighed in my life). My stomach problems seemed like a distant memory. I could eat just about anything (though I avoided caffeine more). I could drink a few beers no problem. I even could tolerate hard liquor again. Then I screwed everything up..
Work has slowly been becoming increasingly stressful. I've been drinking a lot more tea (I avoid coffee as it has too much caffeine for my stomach). There are some huge projects in the works which will culminate around May-June of this year that would require me to travel overseas. About two weeks ago, I was given another account to work on in addition to what I had already. The week of the 8th was stressful for me and culminated in getting yelled at by the client on Friday. My coworkers told me to let it slide, but it bothered me. So I tried to numb myself with bourbon (something I've been getting into the past several months). I drank the stuff straight and I didn't keep track of how much. In the last few years when I've drank hard liquor, my stomach might feel lousy for a day or two and that was it. This time, however, I went to bed around 10ish and woke up around 12:30AM Saturday violently ill. I thought at that moment I was going to pass out and die. I've never reacted that badly before to alcohol in my life (even compared to my old post). I went back to bed and woke up again somewhere between 4 and 6 AM with the beginnings of acid nausea. I drank water to try to stave it off. Bad decision as I threw up again. When I finally got up later in the morning, I tried nibbling on some crackers. Threw up again before noon. My appetite was pretty shot for the rest of the day. I figured this would be another one of those "sick for a couple days and then back to normal". I ate a little more Sunday and Monday (which I was off from work). Seemed like it would just take a few more days than normal to fully recover. Come Tuesday I went back to work still not 100%. I got through my breakfast and then lunch time I had ham and cheese with a vitamin water. I distinctly recall knowing that this particular one had some caffeine in it. Usually this would only cause me issues on an empty stomach. I should have avoided it but I started drinking it anyway. I barely got through my sandwich or the drink as my appetite was just not there. A couple hours later I felt nauseated to the point where I was afraid I would throw up. I left work early and finished working from home. Whatever this did has completely tipped the scale and thrown me back to how I felt in 2009 after having those few drinks with my friends. There is a constant dull stomach ache (like being punched in the stomach). My appetite is nil. I've been struggling to eat ANYTHING and keep it down. The act of eating seems to make me worse and more nauseated. I belch all the time, especially after eating. I worked the rest of the week from home (luckily I have the ability to do so) but called out on Friday because I was dry heaving all that morning. I went to my primary doc Thursday who diagnosed me with acute gastritis with possible ulcer (which has yet to be ruled out by a GI doc). I told him I was averse to being stuck on PPIs again (which I think caused me my longer term GI symptoms before). Instead, I'm trying to stick to Zantac 150 mg in the morning and 150 mg before bed (but I feel the nighttime dose might need to be raised), and Carafate 4 times per day (although with the crappy dosing schedule and having to separate everything from it by 2 hours, I only manage to fit it in 3 times per day). I've drank nothing but water since Tuesday and all I've managed to down are some soups and some bread (averaging less than 600 calories a day). Any improvement seems extremely slow. I've already gone from 135 lbs to 127 lbs in this time. I managed to get approval to work from home for the next month (because I can't deal with this while in the office). I just hope I can keep working so I have health insurance. I'm worried however in this affecting my ability to work at all and if it will last a long time (again), which would put me in jeopardy of the trips I'm supposed to go on. My office will not be pleased and I'd be worried it might get me fired. As a result, my anxiety is going through the roof (which is also probably making things worse).
I've had theories as to what has been causing my issue (both then and now). I think it's more than likely the slow erosion of my stomach lining over time, due to a number of factors. The first time it happened, I think it was a combination of stress, eating late at night, and alcohol (especially the triggering binge). This time I think it may have been stress, alcohol (obviously), and caffeine. I have this feeling that all this time where I had very little reaction to things like caffeine or alcohol in the past year were slowly "adding up" over time. I didn't feel like they were causing any issues at the time (little or no symptoms), but I was having a net loss in stomach lining. Things like alcohol took the most significant portions away and left me even more sensitive to those other factors. But now the question remains. How do I deal with this in a more effective way than I did last time, and how long will it take?
I'd like to know if anyone has gone through anything similar, what you did to get through it, and how long did it take. My disenfranchisement with the medical world from my results last time has prompted me to look further into alternative therapies. So far I've only adopted adding DGL licorice about 4 times per day (before meals and at bedtime). I've had so-so results. I've read about numerous others but it's hard to find evidence to support their use and I've seen people have conflicting results (they make them better OR worse). I really need to recover from this as fast as possible (though I know it's probably going to take a lengthy amount of time). I don't want to go down the same road I did before. I just can't go through that again. It was one thing that I was still in school before. While school could be stressful, I was good at it and the schedule had its fair share of breaks. I don't have that "luxury" now with a full time job and more responsibilities (like student loan payments). Quite frankly, I'm terrified. I'd sooner kill myself than go through that ordeal again (and it's certainly a lot more tempting this time around).
Sorry for the long post, and thank you for reading.
Hi, my name is Selena and I got gastritis due to taking NSAID's on June 2016. I was wondering when you had gastritis the first time did you FULLY heal? How long did it take you to feel better or completely healed? I'm sorry that you're going through this again. I've spoken to so many people that got better and then got over confident and started drinking heavily again and then it all came back. It ***** to think that you'll have to go through the long process again, but YOU will get better. If you got better the first time there is not reason why you shouldn't get better the second time, I suppose you can see this as a lesson. Just because you are feeling better or you think you're healed your stomach always remains vulnerable in some ways.
1 Comments
Hi Selena. So just a few updates. I had test after test done and everything has looked normal. Apparently I never even had gastritis. No Crohn's. I'm still recovering but I've been on a PPI and Zantac to stave off the worst of it. I think in my situation, a lot of it must be nerve-related. My stomach and GI system is just all out of wack. My stomach is very sensitive (though not as much as before) but I think my weight has finally stabilized. I've had longer spans of time without a relapse as time goes on, but those relapses (which seem to last about a week after they happen) make me feel like I went back in time. I'm still very careful with what I eat. I think stress has played a factor. Or at least it makes things worse. Like my nerves are hypercharged. I honestly don't remember how long it took me to fully recover when this happened last time, but I know I had stopped taking meds long before then. Right now there's no way I could go without them which is a bad sign. I'm hoping though that I'll feel good enough to start weaning myself off them as I don't think I'll ever be 100% again while I'm on them. I feel like it must have been 4 years before I felt comfortable touching liquor, though I seem to remember tolerating beer about a year. It just seems very slow and gradual. I hope it does continue to get better. I would love to eat my favorite foods again, and I don't think I'll ever drink liquor again.
hi pharmboy. stress can basically change the body,s pH.. maybe you should. when my father passed away last 2014, even my menstruation went "i can't describe it!". i have no idea how to get back to my old self again..everybody was concerned because I am overeating / "stress" eating and have always been bloated ever since.. i have difficulty defecating... and I think I have this yeast infection.. i am reading some post and they say that yeast causes the bloating..however i think it is also because of stress and my food intake..i should do liver cleanse, stomach cleanse, and all the cleansing in the world! i have found this fruit Papaya to be very effective and helps a lot in digestion..so i searched through and found products which contains papaya... it also contains other super fibers and natural wound healers for th digestive system..i think we both need to clean our digestive system first..stabilize it and let us forget about stress :) hope you will update..i will posts my update about the progress i am making for my chosen remedy..hope to hear your progress too..
Well didn't you eat a lot more yogurt at one point? It seems like you could just go back to your healthy way of eating. Have you looked at natural remedies for this?
1 Comments
Hi Naturegirl. I did eat more yogurt eventually which I think helped reset my gi system after used of ppis and tricyclic antidepressants. I tried to eat yogurt recently but I think it made me worse this time. Maybe too acidic. I've been trying DGL licorice lately and it seems to help take the edge off but it seems like I'm in for another long road to recovery. Seeing a gi doc next week.
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