Medications to treat stomach acid

Gastritis can prove to be a real pain for us, but thankfully there are lots of types of medicine to help us fight against its effects and avoid turining it into an ulcers. Although they should usually be combined with a healthy, good diet for gastritis, stomach acid can easily be lowered with medications. Stomach acid irritates inflamed tissue in your stomach, causing pain and further inflammation. That's why, for most types of gastritis, treatment involves taking drugs to reduce or neutralize stomach acid, such as:

• Antacids. Over-the-counter antacids (Maalox, Mylanta, others) in liquid or tablet form are a common treatment for mild gastritis. Antacids neutralize stomach acid and can provide fast pain relief.

• Acid blockers. When antacids don't provide enough relief, your doctor may recommend a medication, such as cimetidine (Tagamet), ranitidine (Zantac), nizatidine (Axid) or famotidine (Pepcid), that helps reduce the amount of acid your stomach produces.

• Medications to shut down acid 'pumps'. Medications called proton pump inhibitors reduce acid by blocking the action of tiny pumps within the acid-secreting cells of your stomach. This class of medications includes omeprazole (Prilosec), lansoprazole (Prevacid), rabeprazole (Aciphex) and esomeprazole (Nexium).

Chew Your Way to a Healthier Life

Keeping your digestive system healthy is much easier than you think it is, as long as you follow a few simple rules and always care about your health. There are indeed more steps to follow to defeat nasty things like the irritable bowel syndrome or some gastritis, but this one I’m going to talk about today is the easiest of them all, is costless and, the most important: you have absolutely nothing to lose by trying it!

I am talking about chewing your food. Yes, that’s right! Experts say that, in order to maintain a healthy digestive system, a mouthful should be chewed 50 times – this way, saliva will mix with the perfectly chewed food and allow for both a better digestion and nutrient absorption.

This is not only good for living a healthy life, but also for helping treatment of gastritis, ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome. And, as I said, it costs you nothing to try it: just chew your food 50 times before swallowing and soon, your digestive system will be very happy. Stay healthy!

What to Eat if You Have Gastritis - 7 Day Plan

I have talked earlier about what you are allowed to eat if you have gastritis, now it's time to get a bit more specific and try to find a seven-day plan to have some varied foods (because you probably know already that having a gastritis doesn’t allow you to eat the most varied things). So, here is my homebrew, tested, personally designed 7 day plan to offer a calming, great diet for your gastritis (with an emphasis on homebrew – it’s based on medical gastritis fact, but it’s not made by dieticians) :

DAY ONE
Breakfast: A glass of milk and five digestive biscuits.
Mid-morning snack: One apple
Lunch: 2 medium-sized steamed potatoes, one slice of cheese, two slices of bread if you can’t without it. Drink a glass of water 30 minutes before lunch.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, eat a yogurt and 2 digestive biscuits.
Dinner: A large bowl of cabbage salad with dressing of lemon juice and olive oil (extra vergin), and two pieces of toasted bread.

DAY TWO
Breakfast: Four digestive biscuits together with one big juicy apple
Mid-morning: One banana
Lunch: Grilled chicken breasts with two steamed carrots and two slices of toasted bread.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, drink a glass of milk and eat 2 digestive biscuits.
Dinner: Fresh home-made cottage cheese with 3 slices of toasted bread.

DAY THREE
Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 slices of bread
Mid-morning: Half a can of pineapple compote
Lunch: A big bowl of Caesar salad, without any spices.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, eat one banana.
Dinner: Steamed vegetables (carrots, broccoli, celery, cabbage) with 2 slices of toast bread

DAY FOUR
Breakfast: One big grape, and three-four digestive biscuits
Mid-morning: One yogurt with dried crackers
Lunch: Pasta alla carbonara, without any spices. You should also use low-fat meat for preparing it.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, eat one big juicy apple
Dinner: Hummus and two-three big slices of toasted bread

DAY FIVE:
Breakfast: One bowl of hot oatmeal porridge
Mid-morning: One banana
Lunch: Vegetable soup with some low fat steamed meat (chicken, low fat pork) and two-three tortillas
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, drink a glass of milk and eat four digestive biscuits
Dinner: Potato salad with hard boiled eggs and toast bread if necessary

DAY SIX:
Breakfast: A glass of milk and five digestive biscuits.
Mid-morning snack: One big grape
Lunch: Tuna fish salad (without any spices) and three slices of toasted bread
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, eat one banana.
Dinner: Hummus and two-three big slices of toasted bread

DAY SEVEN:
Breakfast: Fruit salad (apple, orange, grapes, pineapple).
Mid morning: One yogurt with dried crackers
Lunch: Ravioli with spinach.
Mid-afternoon: Only if you have problems with gastritis symptoms or if you are hungry, drink a glass of milk and eat 2 digestive biscuits.
Dinner: A large bowl of green salad with dressing of lemon juice and olive oil (extra vergin) with feta cheese and two pieces of toasted bread.

Please note: As soon as you wake up, you can (and should) drink a glass of water with a few drops of squeezed lemon and a spoonful of honey. Also, before going to bed (at least 30 minutes before) you can drink a glass of fresh milk and eat an apple, as they will calm down your abdominal pains and gastritis symptoms. Of course, the dinner should be consumed at least 2 hours before going to sleep, or else your digestive system might not have time to digest and will not help your gastritis problems.

Also note: This is not a lose-weight diet! This is a suggestion of what one person should eat for gastritis problems, in order to have as varied meals as possible. When I had gastritis and ulcers problems, I used to eat something like that and it calmed me down. If any of the foods in this diet will make your abdominal pains more intense, DO NOT eat them again until you have cured your gastritis. Of course, you can use other foods if you don’t like any of those posted here, with a focus on hummus, spinach and green/cabbage salad. Good luck with your gastritis recovery!

If you are interested, you can also read my general post “What Should You Eat if You Have Gastritis”.

What Should You Eat if You Have Gastritis

I have generally talked only about irritable bowel syndrome until today and I think we should take a break from it and focus on other abdominal problems. We’re keeping in the same area and today are talking about gastritis.

There are two types of gastritis – low acidity and high acidity and obviously the treatment and diet for each is completely different. Since my gastritis is caused by high acidity, that’s what we are going to talk about right now – diet and permitted foods, to be more specific.

Unlike diets for colon related problems, diets for gastritis are pretty permissive. There is a general rule of thumb here, though, which is usually ignored by the busiest doctors: there are different types of food which could do wonders for some patients, while others might feel sick after consuming them. So the basic idea is that if you feel that your pain is getting worse after eating a specific product, don’t eat that anymore until your gastritis is gone, even if your doctor told you it could be a good thing to eat.

For example, I ate milk and other milk-based products and had no problems (they even calmed my abdomen), but other people I know having gastritis have a bad reaction to milk consumption. So always test before you stock and be ready to listen to your body.

However, there are some things (just like milk) which generally are good for fighting against gastritis. As I said, just to make things clear: these types of food should NOT be used in fighting against the irritable bowel syndrome!

You can usually eat any of the following: tea, milk, dry biscuits (digestive ones are even better), a little butter, egg yolk (very, very healthy), steam vegetables or meat, different kinds of soups, pasta, all sorts of purees (excluding spinach). Coffee drinking is, but no more than one cup a day.

You should try to avoid eating fresh bread, cakes shaped, oily meat, cabbage, prunes, strong tea, cocoa, spices, salt, grapes and other citric fruits or things like French fries, hamburgers or other junk food, peas, beans or other things that lead to constipation. Cabbage could also harm you and alcohol is a big No-No.

When you have problems with gastritis, the best thing to do would be to always carry dry biscuits with you and whenever you start feeling the burning down your throat or inside the stomach, eat no more than 2-3 pieces. That should calm you down and help reducing the acidity in your stomach. And also be prepared for seasonal pain: I have bigger problems during spring and autumn. Stay healthy!

Note: If you are interested in a seven-day diet plan for gastritis, please check my Gastritis Food Program.

My Quest to Be Healthy

I have decided to tell you about my personal fight against my abdomen related problems. I have had lots of problems during the past years, even though I am apparently too young to have all these problems (I’m 24).

I have had problems with gastritis, duodenal ulcer – these two kind of managed to get away following countless nights of pain and lack of sleeping and a healthy dose of diet, exercise and medical treatment. However, I now have another abdominal-related problem which also very hard to come by: I have incredible pains and discomfort because of an irritable bowel syndrome which is bugging me for quite a while and, because I kind of lost interest in my health for a while, started to get worse.

But I began to take care of my IBS and, thinking about the fact that I’m too young for unnecessary complications, I started to follow a diet, kind-of detox programs, get medicine and hope for the best. My quest is not an easy one, but I will keep everybody updated with the things I do. Let’s hope for the best and let’s stay healthy!

Premise

There are more reasons behind my decision to start this blog. First, it is because I am an egoistical creature who wants to find out tips and tricks and as many ways as possible to keep my body healthy (because, unfortunately, it is not!). Second, because I unfortunately have a lot of experience when it comes to abdominal diseases. So I might have a few tricks myself to share with the world. Third - because I am only 25 and I'm already struggling with irritable bowel syndrome, gastritis, haemorrhoids and duodenal ulcer. Hopefully, just that :)

Why do I have all these problems? Because the 21st century human beings have an absolutely random, noxious and, in the long run DEADLY lifestyle. We have to change that. We have to change that just to be sure that our kids will have a better life and won't live on medication, pain, hospitals and ambulances forever. We need to change our lives in order to change theirs. We need to keep our minds and souls healthy, of course, but we also need a healthy abdomen.

Of course, the best thing to do would be to visit a doctor. However, a few advices on keeping a happy stomach, a clean colon and some generally good intestinal traffic - advices on these are always welcomed. So let's try and use this blog both as a way of learning about our abdominal health, as well as sharing with the world our knowledge.