a year in the life of gastritis

Or at least I think it’s gastritis. Since the fall of 2023, I have been struggling with stomach problems. We’re just going to be very candid with each other: lots of nausea and burping after almost every meal. Especially around nighttime, my symptoms (and my anxiety) would get so intense I could not sleep. I would have to walk around on my (luckily quite spacious) terrace outside my home in Genoa, Italy, trying to convince myself not to throw up, pacing back and forth until the symptoms would finally subside. By about 4 in the morning, I could get into bed to sleep.

If this resonates with you at all, 1. I am so sorry and 2. you’re in the right place. I wanted to create this space to share my experience, what works for me, and what doesn’t to help others who are struggling with the same thing. Below I have outlined a timeline of my experience for the past year, between various diagnoses and tests, to now. Today, I’m still struggling with gastritis, but I have learned how to control my diet and manage my symptoms so that I can lead a fairly normal life again.

Here’s my story:

February 2023 - I moved to Italy. I didn’t immediately start noticing symptoms when I moved to Italy, but I feel like it’s important to mention as it’s a big life change that brought on a lot of anxiety. It also caused my diet to change dramatically: lots of wine, coffee, tomato, onions, garlic - all things that will damage the stomach lining.

October 2023 - The morning after a night of drinking with friends, I felt so incredibly nauseous. This is not typical for me even when I’m hungover. Nothing made it better except Dramamine.

November 2023 - Another morning after way too much alcohol, I had the same intense nausea that only got worse with food. I had a tightness in my upper abdomen and I could not stop burping. I dealt with these symptoms for about 2 weeks straight until I finally saw a doctor. At this point, I had cut out alcohol completely.

The doctor diagnosed me with gastritis without running any tests first. I had never heard of gastritis before but it is simply inflammation of the stomach lining.

I did go get a test for Helicobacter pylori, a type of stomach infection. I took a stool test which came back negative. However, it could have been a false negative as I was taking Pantoprazole, a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), which can alter the results of such a test.

The doctor prescribed me Pantoprazole and Levosulpiride for 2 weeks. These definitely helped me but when I stopped taking them, my symptoms came back stronger than before. My doctor did not warn me about weaning off of a PPI, which I now know is imperative.

December 2023 - I was pretty devastated to go through my birthday and Christmas without being able to indulge. I could no longer drink alcohol, eat chocolate, and going out to eat became such a daunting task. I started eating nearly every meal at home. Luckily, my husband is a great cook and didn’t mind.

January 2024 - Taking a PPI for the rest of my life was not the solution I was looking for. I wanted to understand the root cause of the problem. I started reading the Gastritis Healing Book and following the diet word for word, recipe for recipe. It includes a 90-day elimination diet excluding a vast amount of foods including gluten and dairy. It was difficult at first, but around the halfway mark, I was in a routine and able to go about my days without any medication.

April 2024 - I finished my elimination diet and slowly started integrating foods that were not a part of the 90-day diet. A little dairy was okay, some gluten here and there. I even had a glass of wine occasionally. But I noticed I would get a flare up about once a week. I could not pin point the exact food that was irritating me as it was never consistent.

May 2024 - I went to a new doctor. She almost immediately diagnosed me with GERD, not gastritis. I did a full blood panel which came back pretty normal. She put me on a PPI for 5 weeks and said that it would heal me… I was skeptical but desperate. And sure enough, I tried it and felt great for those 5 weeks, but when I came off, I felt worse than ever. I asked her if I should get an endoscopy and she thought it wasn’t worth it.

July 2024 - I got back on a PPI because I was having an engagement party with my family in Turkey and I wanted to enjoy my time! I was on it for a few weeks, but when I returned home, I decided I was done with PPIs and did not want to risk the long-term side effects.

August 2024 - I started taking Pepcid as an alternative to PPIs, as it’s much safer. I was on 40 mg per day, then after a few weeks went down to 30 mg per day, then did 20 mg per day. Today, I’m alternating 10 mg and 20 mg every other day until I can completely come off of them.

September 2024 - I could go out to eat more with the current regimen of Pepcid. If I ever did get a flare-up, I would reach for Gaviscon and Pepto Bismol if it was dire (I try to avoid Pepto Bismol as much as I can).

November 2024 - I’m in the US now, and I finally booked an endoscopy (I felt better doing this in the US - did you know they don’t put you under for an endoscopy in Europe?!) I had the appointment last week, despite a third doctor telling me I didn’t need one (I don’t know why they don’t want me to have one)! The procedure was smooth: they found 2 polyps in my stomach, which they removed; they found gastritis but no sign of inflammation in my esophagus, which doesn’t rule out GERD but changes the narrative a bit; they also found bile from my gallbladder in my stomach (ew, sorry), which implies something is wrong with my gallbladder or my stomach. I will have pathology results coming in next week and another check-up with them in a few months. The doctor also prescribed me Sucralfate to take twice daily and metoclopramide, but I did not like the way it made me feel, so I’m going to tell them I don’t want to continue it.

So that’s where I’m at now! I’m still not drinking caffeine, I consume maybe 2 alcoholic drinks per week, I’m careful with my food choices, and I’m still on Pepcid, Sucralfate, and some natural supplements. But sometimes I mess up and eat something with chocolate, something a bit greasy, have a little caffeine or tomato, and it’s not the end of the world. At worst I feel nauseous, but I now know that one Pepto Bismol chewable tablet makes it go away. My anxiety has gotten much better, and I’m taking care of my body holistically. I’m still patiently awaiting some actual answers to help me uncover why this started happening in the first place and what I can do to solve it for good. Stomach problems are so complicated, and there is not a cookie-cutter solution for everyone.

If you’re struggling, keep asking your doctors all the questions, keep researching, keep tracking your symptoms, until you get closer to some answers. I promise there is an answer for you.