New Outlook On My Symptoms

After about a month of this ordeal, I felt like I needed to do more research on my symptoms and why I was still feeling miserable. It became an every day affair for me of not being able to eat well and still experience symptoms. 

My physician was not providing me the relief and comfort that I needed, so I had to seek answers else where. She advised me that I had to eliminate many foods from my diet, especially avoiding any GERD triggers. The obvious ones:

• Spicy Foods
• Chocolate
• Fried food
• Carbonated beverages
• Citrus fruits
• Tomato and tomato-based foods
• Garlic
• Onions
• Mint

I had long been avoiding these foods, but I felt that I needed to dig deeper to find answers on why I was still feeling this way. 

It was already September just a few days before my birthday and my mom was in town to celebrate it with me. We went to Hibachi grill, a chinese buffet that we really enjoyed going to.

We indulged in all kinds of delicious Chinese cuisine. Only I couldn’t really enjoy any of it. I really wanted for the rest of my family to enjoy themselves so we ended up going there. All you can eat. Why not?

Even though I was trying to limit the amount of meds I was taking, I did take pepcid that day to make sure my afternoon doesn’t get ruined by annoying symptoms. 

I felt ok and I enjoyed some good food there. Even a small amount of chocolate cake. I mean it’s been months!!

We went back home to enjoy the rest of the festivities with some more red velvet cake in the evening. I felt ok to eat so I enjoyed a piece, but later it came with a price. 

By Tuesday, I started feeling the effects of the weekend. 

I tell you it hit me hard! There were days when I felt completely fine and without symptoms and then there were other days where I felt completely miserable.

My issues continued with tightening of the neck and the narrowing feeling in my throat. It felt like food was stuck in my throat for awhile. And that sensation would last for hours. There was no end to that feeling, whatever I tried to do. 

I did continue with the pepcid for couple of days cause it was just so unbearable. I’ve lost more weight and am now down to 120 pounds. 

Managing My Symptoms

During this time I’ve been trying so hard to limit the amount of medications, because I knew it was not resolving the issue. I felt I was doing ok for two weeks after weaning off of the pepcid and omeprazole. 

There were days when I did get symptoms, but was able to manage them. By that point, I probably still had the effects of the meds in my system so I was able to tolerate a lot of food.

However, I think I hadn’t quite figured out the right diet plan. I kept looking online for answers to try to mainly treat the H.Pylori and gastritis. 

I was also waiting to take the H.Pylori breath test after six weeks. By the way, if you don’t know how H.Pylori is finally detected, the doctor’s office will send you a kit that will contain two bags to blow into. 

In one bag you will blow into it for about 5 seconds. And in the other bag you will have to mix a citrica powder solution and a urea pill that they supply for you to dissolve into water.

Then once you drink the solution, you will have to wait 15 minutes after you drink it to finally blow into the other bag. 

Also, when you do take this test you have to be completely off the h2 blockers and PPIs for 2 weeks; and anti-acids for at least 4 weeks or the tests won’t come out accurate.

Then you have to send the two bags back into a paid address Fedex package to the laboratory where they’ll get the test results. I immediately, got my test results that same week.

And when I finally did, I was surprised to learn that they didn’t detect H.Pylori in my system. That was such a relief as I had one less problem to worry about, but was still getting symptoms. 

So managing my triggers was challenging, but slowly started learning what I needed to stay away from.

I found that eggs, gluten, and dairy I definitely needed to avoid all together. I had been eating eggs on a regular basis and was probably why I was not feeling well most days. 

And if I do consider eating egg, it will just be just the egg whites and usually eat them in moderation.

Also, I around that time, I would make myself a fruit smoothie, but realized most of it was pretty acidic. I mean I didn’t know that strawberries, blueberries, apples, and grapes are all pretty acidic foods which affected me.

In September was definitely a time to get my symptoms under control and was learning how to treat the gastritis. 

I found that it’s safer to eat foods that are less acidic with a p.h. levels of 5 and greater. Here’s a list of foods with different p.h. levels to give you an idea.

Herbal Supplements and Vitamins 

I started looking for natural ways to treat my condition of GERD and gastritis. And found natural herbal supplements. Many sufferers taking DGL licorice root, which naturally helps alleviate heart burn and acid reflux.

It also contains antibacterial properties to help heal your gut. 

I went to the Vitamin Shoppe and found it there. It came in two flavors and preferred the chocolate over the licorice flavor. 

It was bearable, even though they say chocolate is not good to take, it didn’t have any adverse effects on my symptoms so I took some of it and it helped me pretty quickly. 

You can also buy it on Amazon or in another flavor that says DLG licorice root. 

It’s definitely safer to take long term and make sure you read the correct dosage to take in a day.

It is up to 2-3 tablets a day depending on your symptoms and would take one after your meals. 

I do have to note that, you have to be on a 2000 calorie diet to get its full effects or you might run into side effects.  

Mastic Gum by Jarrow: I continued looking at other ways to heal my gut. I started taking Mastic Gum to help with my gastritis.

I also would mix it with apple sauce and was bearable on my stomach. Be careful with acidity levels in apple sauce with any GERD triggers. I was able to find this brand of Mastic Gum on Amazon as well. 

I had to ease into taking two capsules a day. At the beginning I got the capsules and took a little at a time until I was able to take up to two capsules per day. One in the morning on an empty stomach and another one late in the evening.

This helped to relieve some of the tension built up around my neck whenever I was having symptoms. I felt a little more relief after taking mastic gum.

Zinc: Is another vitamin that many people lack in their diet. When this vitamin is lacking it can stir up more acid secretion in the stomach because there is an imbalance in your body.

Retaining more of this vitamin will improve gastrointestinal acids. However, there is a great video by Dr. Berg, who explains it beautifully. 

Probiotics

Taking probiotics is good in the healing process of your stomach. It is the good bacteria that is going to help heal your gut against the bad bacteria. 

As in my case, I found probiotics, and it was important that it is dairy free, unsweetened, and organic. This will help ensure that it won’t irritate your stomach lining.

You want your gut to heal as fast as possible. This one I found at Whole Foods. It is literally the few things that doesn’t give me symptoms at all. It is a little tangy, but it was good on my taste buds, so I stuck with this one.

Relieving Stress & Anxiety with Meditation

Let me tell you that this has helped me a great deal. I know that I experience anxiety and stress on many occasions and when this happens I feel more symptoms. 

My neck tightening is elevated and feel the stress building up in my body. I did notice this the most when I got some really bad news on a death of a loved one the other day.

As I was receiving the news, I felt my anxiety building up in my body with no end. I was already going through symptoms that night and it was only elevated with this bad news which only magnified my symptoms. 

I had to try to calm down very quickly, so I found meditation as a key to alleviating this problem. Generation calm, has been my go to. 

She has a pleasant soothing voice and has many meditation videos to help with many different conditions that you might be facing. Here’s one video that has helped me a lot and go back to on repeat.

Reading Material on Gastritis

I had been searching high and low on treating the GERD and Gastritis. I’ve been reading this book, and it is already helping me with getting my health back almost to normalcy. 

Although I still have a ways to go, I’ve already found some valuable information on specific foods that I need to stay away from. 

It goes into understanding what gastritis is and how it works when it comes to the digestive process.

What digestive juices can be harmful for your stomach and ways to reduce the inflammation.

It’s pretty easy to digest and it also has meal plans that can work for gastritis.

Furthermore, I found that I couldn’t take every advice in the book because some things worked for me and some things didn’t.

I’ve already been heading in the right direction, just need a little more guidance on eating what I should to minimize the suffering and improve the healing process. 

This book is called The Gastritis Healing Book it can also be found here on Amazon.

Other Things to Consider

If I didn’t mention this before that it is very important that you listen to your body. If there are foods that are slightly giving you symptoms then stay away from it.

Now that I’ve been dealing with these issues, I usually sample something new and wait a little while before eating the whole thing. If I even feel a little discomfort, I don’t eat all of it or don’t eat it at all.

I wait like 10-15 minutes to see if I get any effects. Sometimes, you won’t get any effects until after 1 – 2 hours. Sometimes this happens to me when I’ve had a good day and eat that one thing that makes me feel miserable.

It is a trial an error sometimes. However, I definitely have been sticking to everything organic and gluten free which has been very important to me.

Most of the time, it can be difficult to tell that is why it’s best to keep a journal. For example, by eating 4-5 of the same things every day will allow you to keep track of some of your triggers.

I think the foods that I have been able to tolerate lately are watermelons, half a banana, gluten free organic protein bars, probiotic coconut flavor yogurt drink.

At lunch time, pretty much organic chicken soup with potatoes, carrots, celery and a little bit of rice. I opted for all organic as there’s been improvement when I made that change.

However recently, I’m laying off the chicken and my symptoms have improved even more. I want to just go vegan for sometime just cause it’s easier on my stomach and have been getting less symptoms.

Also, I am still working on maintaining my weight, so I am eating a little more potatoes and rice which has been working for me.

I am sticking to very bland flavoring. I do sprinkle a little bit of chicken bouillon. I sometimes use bone broth to make the soup more nutritious.

My portions are small, usually 1/3 a bowl full of soup. And I wait to eat a little more later.

Everything I eat, I really take my time. I chew very slowly and concentrate on my food, because if I am distracted then I tend to eat too fast which can produce symptoms.

I found that most of the time, I can eat a little more that way without making my symptoms worse.

But I’ve been sticking to the same foods mostly every day and changing it up every so often.

I wouldn’t change too often though as it could be hard to identify which food is affecting you. Most of the time, you won’t be able to change too often anyway because your condition will not allow it. At least for most people.

It’s been a very tough road that I often would feel hopeless to think that this will be my life.

I’ve had very supportive people in my life who always tell me to stay positive and don’t give in to your emotions or it’s going to deplete you even more.

Always be hopeful and spiritual and ask God for help to keep you staying strong and positive. Also joining a support group is also very helpful to let you know that there is an end to this.

You just need to trust the healing journey. We will beat this.