How do you manage gastritis, food and drink-wise?

In My Humble Opinion
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1

So yesterday I had my first endoscopy, at 65 yrs old, and discovered that I have gastritis. I basically have no symptoms but my dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in his early 80s.

From what I have read online (I’ll be seeing my doc in the near future about this) I should stop or reduce consuming the following:

alcohol;
Acidic foods (eg tomatoes);
Carbonated drinks; and
Coffee.

Here’s the thing, I love beer, wine and scotch; pizza (with tomato sauce to start); sparkling water, diet coke and diet sprite (all carbonated, and just drinking water thrills me not); and coffee.

I could easily stop all alcohols as long as I could drink coffee or the pop (soda to Americans). And I can ration pizza.

So, gastritis dopers, how do you manage this?

2

My Daddy suffered thru this for a 100 years or something.
Of course he was on acid reducers.
Ate rolaids like candy.
Pepto pink was his favorite color.

When he could not get it calmed down, no matter what he tried, he’d get the Arm and Hammer baking soda. Put a couple heaping spoons in a highball glass. 8 oz water. Down it.
He could get back to sleep.

He suffered mightily with his diet. Everything he liked was on the no-no list. He experimented what he could tolerate and got it whittled down to a working list.
The older he got the more careful he was with the diet.
He always said, pain is big motivation to be selective.

He never worried about the damage or if he could steer a cancer the other way.
He died age 86 of a brain aneurysm.
Had the belly ach everyday of his life.

3

I am 67 and was diagnosed with gastritis in the 1990s. I have not eliminated much from my diet that I love unless it causes pain.

Beer is now causing some issues so I rarely imbibe.
Same with sparkling water.

I have also had to use less tomato sauce (but not eliminate).

I enjoy pop immensely (I never say soda lol) and usually have one in the evening with supper.

I have 2 cups of coffee in the morning but I do use a good bit of flavored creamer.

I take over the counter famotidine or something similar if I do get any of the burning pain from food.

I’ve been recently diagnosed with colitis as well & I also keep immodium handy.

4

I gave up all red sauces, marinara, spaghetti, lasagna, etc. And most bread. So Itallian food with garlic bread was the first to go. That actually solved most issues for me. Red sauce and bread.

5

Thanks for quick response Beck.

This is obviously what I’m going to have to do. Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be), I have no symptoms or pain as an incentive.

6

@Ellecram and @Dallas_Jones, I think that I’ll have to consciously reduce from now on. The tricky thing, as I mentioned to Beck, is that I have no noticeable symptoms or pain or anything, just the incentive of knowing that my dad had esophageal cancer, which I obviously don’t want. Apparently the full-blown treatment is horrendous (my dad died of a heart attack in his second day of radiation treatment so he didn’t get the real deal treatment).

7

@velomont No explanation necessary! You have to do what is best for you. I hope you can find some substitutes that give you pleasure.

Maybe try some acid reduced products if you can find them?

8

Good idea. Additionally I may be prescribed antibiotics as there is a bacterium (Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)) that can cause gastritis.

9

@velomont

Antibiotics sound promising and worth a try. I hope you can get it under control.

10

If you can find it, try a Chinese product called Po Chai pills, try a Chinese market or grocery.

They are magical for digestive issues. It’s a different presentation, a tiny vial filled with tinier round ‘pills’. Don’t be put off, it’s great for anything gut related. Millions of Asians swear by them. And they’re not wrong.

(Also greatly alleviates a hang over!)

11

A Chinese herbal remedy?
What’s in it?

12

Been in use since 1896, and consists of at least 16 herbal ingredients. (Was briefly banned, due to one ingredient being on the CITIES list. They appealed and won, the ingredient was either replaced or clarified, I can’t recall just now. )

Millions of Asians swear by it. And they are not wrong, it works really well for all gut issues, including a hangover.

If you can locate it, it’s worth a try!

13

I’m not endorsing this or any other so-called herbal remedy, but Po Chai pills are available from Amazon. They aren’t exactly hard to locate.

14

Yes, I know, but they’re incredibly expensive on Amazon as compared to any Asian grocery where they cost about $6ish for a box (ten.)