Quick update for y'all.
Over the past couple of years I've had persistent, chronic Gastritis. Debilitatingly so. Full-on stomach, oesophageal and sinus inflammation at the slightest provocation (e.g. eating anything, travelling in a car, shouting). It strangles my voice. Makes me dizzy. Makes me feel awful.
My theory is that it is caused by something called Visceral Hypersensitivity (see
http://goo.gl/bssUXO and
http://goo.gl/2XdsuP) - caused by the excess of norephedrine, dopamine and serotonin in my system due to the COMT/MAO issues.
I've tried everything to get the gut healing:
- My diet is now severely restricted (no dairy etc - I eat like a nutritionist), but pretty much everything now results in post-meal dizziness and discomfort
- PPI's gave me a slight improvement then made it worse.
- SSRIs didn't help (thanks NHS GPs for that one - nearly drove me insane)
- Nissen Fundoplication surgery didn't help (!!! what fun that experience was)
- Gaviscon didn't help (and why would it - it only provides a barrier between the contents of the stomach and the oesophagus and that's not what Gastritis is about)
- Mastic Gum didn't help at all
- NAG didn't help
- L-Glutamine didn't help.
- Slippery Elm didn't help.
- Marshmallow Root didn't help.
- Sea buckthorn didn't help.
- Licorice didn't help (and in fact made me feel terrible due to the fact it inhibits COMT activity - v bad for me).
- Probiotics DO help, to reduce bloating, but not the stomach and above.
- Charcoal DOES help, a bit, again to reduce bloating.
Below are the things that are now helping, and giving me my life (and brain) back. And this is why I'm now on here ready to get cracking on the remaining conditions that have been the cause of all this (COMT & methylation):
- Bismuth Subsalicylate, via Pepto Bismol
- Digestive enzymes with meals (standard OTC ones e.g. Lamberts Digestizyme)
That's it! As I have hypersensitivity of the gut lining, I needed something to coat and protect my gut (stomach and above), and something to help me digest food. Pepto Bismol and digestive enzymes do that for me. I can eat freely (and sensibly, obvs) again - it's awesome (apart from the occasional black tongue in the morning, which is an interesting side effect of Pepto Bismol - one I can live with though).
Hopefully my gut will have a chance to heal now. But of course, I need to address the cause or it will return. I'll let you know how that goes. Hope this helps someone out there with mysterious gut issues.
[Maybe I should post this as a new thread - which I might do, but it's part of my treatment story so I thought I'd better put it here.]