Interactions with levo

[HelenR23]

Hi allI've got chronic gastritis and cannot tolerate any PPIs or anti acid medication. I've looked into natural relief such as as Slippery elm and marshmallow root. I'm not sure if it will interfere with absorption of levo. I don't suppose anyone else has gastritis? If so what do they take.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

posts that mention slippery elm

Sorry not many

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[HelenR23 in reply to SlowDragon]

Great thankyou.

[radd]

HelenR23,

I previously supplemented a powdered blend of slippery elm, marshmallow and glutamine which I would strongly recommend for healing leaky-gut and improved gut absorption.

I can’t find the exact powder I took as was quite a few years back. Now a days blends seem to include liquorice, aloe vera, even probiotics. I think they are all good although a specific form of liquorice is known to raise BP. 

I also used slippery elm after getting dysentery whilst travelling, sprinkled on food or in water sweetened with honey. My sister made little cubes (a bit like jelly) to snack on when gut pain was bad. 

Nowadays I regularly take Betaine HCL with high protein foods to maintain gastric acid levels and gut health but you can’t take this if you are on PPI’s as they do opposite jobs. Be aware that many hypos have low stomach acid as opposed to excess and that symptoms can mimic each condition. 

I would also consider the cause of your gastroenteritis because if it’s a long term infection caused by parasites, etc, slippery elm will help in soothing and healing the GI tract but will not be strong enough to irradiate the infection. Have you done a stool test?

Ensure to take slippery elm away from thyroid meds. Maybe a daily dose with breakfast and then more throughout the day if gut pain is bad. These issues can be really miserable. I hope you feel better soon. 

[HelenR23 in reply to radd]

Thankyou for your advise. Yes I've had an endoscopy and it shows many patches in my stomach and inflammation in the esophagus. No H-Pylori infection. I think I will try slippery elm and marshmallow root. I will keep it well away from the time I take my thyroid meds.

[HowNowWhatNow]

I’ve taken slippery elm and I don’t know if / that it interferes. My thyroid results didn’t change drastically either way.

I reduce my carbs when gastritis is an issue, take laxatives to move things along (Movicol / Laxido), increase my step count and do various other panic on measures. I also take cider apple vinegar to increase stomach acid levels - don’t know how much it helps either, but it’s one of the things I do.

[HelenR23 in reply to HowNowWhatNow]

Ok thankyou.