I'm a male with Hashimotos. Several months ago I suddenly developed gastritis and it keeps reoccuring. I've tested negative for H. Pylori, which seems to be the only likely thing. My doctor wants me to try medication to lower my stomach acid for two weeks and see if it settles down the inflammation. Otherwise, it'll be a trip to the gastro specialist to put the camera in there and also take some biopsies.
Has anyone had this kind of issue and if so was able to resolve it? My personal feeling is that it is still bacterial, but my GP refucese to give me a random antibiotics cocktail, perhaps understandably...
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ak_83
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I had an endoscopy & was diagnosed with gastritis. It was actually the gastroenterologist who first suspected I had a thyroid issue and referred me to an endocrinologist. For me, I found Omeprazole did nothing to help. My gastritis resolved when thyroid meds were optima, by going gluten free & taking probiotics. Taking a daily turmeric supplement also helped reduce my stomach inflammation.Very best wishes to you ak_83.
Very few doctors understand that stomach acid can be too low, rather than too high. I first heard about it from this forum. Many of us have low stomach acid.
I suspect that your doctor is offering you Omeprazole or a similar PPI. Before you try that you need find out whether you have high or low stomach acid.
Yes, Omeprazole is the medicine. Is there a test GPs trust for low stomach acid? I see there are a few alternative and DIY methods, but not sure if GP will trust those. My GP was quite adamant, saying that I won't have low stomach acid as my TSH has been low for a very long time (even though I myself believe I'm still not optimal).
I'm sorry to say that your GP doesn't know what he's talking about. The only way to know if your acid is low or high is to test it. Personally I don't see a connection between your low TSH and low stomach acid. (however I'm not medically trained)
What you don't want to do is to try to lower stomach acid if it is already low - that's why you need to find out what you have and treat accordingly to let your stomach settle down and get nearer to normal. It will take time, so don't rush it.
On the NHS website there is no mention of low stomach acid (I've looked). So your GP isn't going to want to diagnose it. A doctor told me that he couldn't treat low stomach acid even if he wanted to because the NHS only recognises high stomach acid and allows him to prescribe Omeprazole or other PPIs.
Tests - On the link I gave you to Dr Myhill's page she mentions the VEGF test (and a further link to that). I've had that done through a private doctor, but it gave much the same result as my burp test. Have you tried the burp test?
I hope your GP isn't complaining about low TSH. Nothing wrong with that. Many of us have very low / suppressed TSH. See this link about the Myths of Hypothyroidism.
The link I've given is to the first in a series of six articles (which are all worth reading) that explain how the gut actually works and how things can go wrong.
You can download the whole lot in one go by using the download link for the Free ebook part way down the page and I think it was worth doing.
One other symptom to add here - when sleeping at night, around the morning when I sleep on my back I seem to get pain in the upper stomach, just below the rib cage. When I turn around and get up (and have some water/food) it seems to go away. Very unsettling and odd.
Anyone had this? And is it related to stomach acid/bacterial infestation issues?
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