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I’m going to keep the backstory to a minimum because chances are, if you’re reading this, your stomach hurts and you are feeling disabled by it. This is my own story and it’s not clickbait. I am going to tell you exactly how I took my gastritis down from an 11 to a .5 within just a couple of days, using one single ingredient, for less than $15.
Disclaimers: I’m not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Talk to a professional before you take anything new since everyone’s situation is unique. I’ve included affiliate links in this content which supports my writing. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All recommendations are heartfelt and tested on myself as I’m my own personal human guinea pig.
Let’s get right to it.
I’ve had gastritis in the past and cured it using other ways that were, in hindsight, damaging to me in the long run. I’m talking about PPIs, Carafate (aluminum drinks), antacids, etc.
I am one of hundreds of thousands of people who have been injured by medicines prescribed by well meaning doctors and physician’s assistants, and who’ve clawed themselves out of physical despair using natural remedies and foods.
This time I got gastritis after a bout of horrible food poisoning, which was about the hardest and deepest I’ve ever vomited in my life. I was sick for more than a week and I had severe gastritis for more than six months afterward.
I saw doctors and specialists and the only solutions that were offered to me were, you may have guessed it, PPIs and antacids.
So, I took to YouTube, and I mean this without any sarcasm, truly one of the best resources and tools for socially shared health information and remedies available online. I have saved myself a thousand times with excellent information I found there. Of course, you have to listen through hundreds of hours of talking sometimes lol. It’s not actually funny, let me keep going…
I found a lot of home remedy options for gastritis.
The remedies had a large overlap with h pylori cures, things like Manuka honey, mastic gum, olive oil, deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL), turmeric, aloe juice, glycine, zinc, bone broth, l-glutamine, arabinogalactan, vitamin C, slippery elm, matula tea, fresh cabbage juice, probiotics, and more.
For all of about six months I took a drink of a DGL mixture that also had zinc, l-glutamine, and arabinogalactan in it. I drank fresh cabbage juice every morning and afternoon. I chewed on slippery elm lozenges. I bought the most amazing tasteless aloe juice that I still drink occasionally now and have no regrets about having purchased. I took a teaspoon of Manuka honey at night with a tablespoon of olive oil. I swallowed 2 capsules of mastic gum. I took 40mg of Pepcid before bed. I took Natren Probiotics that are supposed to be taken separately at various times of day, morning, noon, and night.
I still had to sleep with two bananas by my bedside which I would have to eat in the middle of the night to keep the acid burn at bay.
Initially my gastritis was so bad that I had to have my mom come stay with me because I couldn’t take care of my toddler by myself anymore. I wasn’t able to sleep at night due to the pain. The pain made my insides convulse and gave me the shakes. I had chronic migraines and could barely function.
The relief I got from the supplements in the above routine after a little while took me to the point that my mom could go home. But I still suffered everyday and night and was not yet completely healed.
There’s something called “acid rebound” that happens when you’re on antacids for a while, which is that once you try to stop them, your acid “rebounds” harder and it turns into this vicious cycle that keeps you on antacids longer. I was having that problem.
After a while I got into oats because I saw a lot of people mention them in gastritis groups I was in on Facebook. I was eating a scoop in my morning smoothie to keep the acid sucked up in a little oat ball in my stomach.
Then I thought it would be great to make my own oat yogurt to “stay away from dairy”.
Well… let me tell you… within one single bite of eating this homemade oat yogurt, I undid 6 months of healing and was completely sick all over again.
The flare was back on in full force and I became ever more depressed and afraid.
I went back to the basics of eating only bland foods and drinking the cabbage juice since that seemed to really be the magic stuff. But I needed more. These remedies were expensive and time consuming. I was already on my second jar of Manuka honey which was about $75.
So, one night I had an intuition to drink the bitter melon tea I had in my cupboard. I had bought it the year before at a Korean market after having read about it in a book called “Chris Beat Cancer”. Excellent book, btw.
It was listed as one of the teas that is considered an anti-cancer tea. Originally my thought for the tea was associated with the fact that all the doctors and literature says that long term gastritis and h pylori can lead to stomach cancer. Also, the literature says that PPIs and antacids can lead to stomach cancer.
To my surprise, I followed the directions and drank the tea and my gastritis immediately cooled down. The first cup was like someone poured cool mint yogurt on my stomach and by the next day my insides weren’t throbbing and punching me anymore. By the second day my stomach and intestines weren’t producing hot jalapeno juice from end to end and I was able to stop taking the antacids altogether. I haven’t been on them since without issue.
You can buy bitter melon fresh at Whole Foods. It is a food item that many cultures make wonderful dishes out of (acquired taste). It is renowned for its effects on keeping blood sugar under control.
You can buy it in capsule form or in a tincture online too. I had already bought the dried slices of bitter melon so that’s what I used. I can’t say whether the other ways will work as well since I didn’t try them. I would probably avoid a tincture if it contains alcohol.
I am still eating a very clean diet because I know I have a lot of deep healing to do.
I will write another story about that at some point soon also. I have found some really tasty recipes and yummy foods that are easy on the digestive system.
But, to that end I read a book called “Wheat Belly”. Actually, I listened to the book on Audible and it’s not the original Wheat Belly book, it’s called “Wheat Belly Total Health” which is a follow-up book and was free to listen to with my Audible Plus subscription.
Side note, I am an avid reader/listener of health books and medicinal foods has been a passion of mine since I cured myself of debilitating chronic illness more than a decade ago. So when I see a book I haven’t read I will usually get into it to see what it’s got to offer.
It’s an absolute gem and before I end this story I have to encourage you to read it if you want to ever get your health back to 100, especially digestive health. Once you read it your life will forever be changed for the better.
I won’t tell you all about it, but I will tell you- I’ll never eat oats again and I don’t recommend them to anyone who has gastritis.
I see evidence of this everyday in the gastritis Facebook groups I’m in. People eating oats, people staying sick.
Also, I started drinking a little blue clay water. I have used it in the past with great success for so many things and I feel that it is helping me heal more. I used it to cure a bad athlete’s foot bout I got from buying a pair of shoes second hand at a thrift store a while back. Never again…
I used it to to cure a mild case of balanitis my son had when he was an infant. It worked like absolute magic just by putting a small scoop in a sits bath and letting my baby sit-soak in it for a little while.
I notice I sleep a lot better at night when I drink a bit before bed and a glass in the morning first thing. The clay I use is called MineCeuticals and it’s made of Oregon blue clay, which is very special and unique.
I’m also going to write another piece on some of the really amazing sugar free and low sugar snacks I’ve found recently which has really helped me get through the hardest parts of eating clean while trying to heal my gut (my desire for snacks). If you’d like to read that and the other stories I have planned be sure to follow or subscribe.
I hope this story brings you comfort and healing. Thanks for reading!
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