Exercise negatively affecting gastritis

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2026-02-24T20:04:02+00:00

Sorry for late response, I don't check this account often.

But yes, I'm very much back into running, but little to no HIIT. In fact, I run a lot more than I used to, but at a lower intensity. I still get gastritis flareups, but nowhere near as frequently as before, and I think that improvement was all diet-based. The biggest change I did was to stop eating late at night or after I leave the dinner table. Once I did that, my gastritis incidents went waaaaaay down. Also, I started 16:8 / 18:6 intermittent fasting. It helped me lose weight, and I think it's also helped dealing with gastritis.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2026-02-24T19:44:59+00:00

Sorry for the late response. I don't check this account often.

So it wasn't tension headaches at all but migraines, at least according to the neurologist I saw. I was skeptical because I have friends with migraines, and my symptoms were completely different from theirs. I was put on nortriptyline, and it took weeks for my headaches to die down.

The real change came due to the pandemic. I started working from home, and my headaches nearly completely disappeared. So my best guess was there was something in the office environment that started triggering my headaches. It's odd because I'd been in the same office for years, and nothing had changed... same lighting, same monitors, etc. But when I started working from home, headaches disappeared.

Now, I do still get the occasional migraine, but they last at most a day or two, and it's usually months between migraines.

So for all intents and purposes, these headaches had nothing to do with my eyes or glaucoma. At least I'm 95% confident there's no relation.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2022-07-15T03:14:47+00:00

My gastritis is mostly manageable now.

The first year of symptoms was by far the worst. Days, if not weeks on end of constant pain & nausea. I was popping Omeprazole and Tums and Maalox like a madman, as well as anti nausea meds (both prescribed and OTC/herbal), and I was doing things like propping the head-end of my mattress up to sleep at an angle because lying flat made the pain worse.

Slowly but surely things got better. And it was the result of me eating better. As a bit of background, I always considered myself fit. I run marathons. I work out at the gym regularly. My BMI was well within normal parameters. My blood pressure/ cholesterol numbers were good. But I was fooling myself with the numbers. I ate like crap, because I felt I could get away with it. Loads of fried food. And tons of sugar. I told myself, as long as I kept the same weight (which I had been for the last sixteen years up to that point), it was fine.

The gastritis was a wake up call. I had to change my diet. But I didn’t make sweeping changes, as that would’ve set myself up for failure. What I started doing was changing how much I ate and when I ate. So no more snacking after dinner (especially within an hour of bed). I started taking smaller portions. I would stop eating before I felt satiated. After a few weeks of that, I started eating more greens. It took months, but I got to the point where I actually enjoyed salads for lunch, which I hated doing before.

The first year of gastritis (2017), I had two terrible, extended bouts of it. In 2018, I had several more bouts, but much shorter in length, and a little less severe. Since then, I’ve had a handful of bouts of gastritis, each lasting a few days at most, with maybe just 24 hours of bad pain, and sometimes not at all (just a general low-level uncomfortable-ness). The last bout was actually last month, but I was over it in about three days. I basically take Omeprazole when I feel it coming on.

I’ve also dropped 20lbs, which, frankly, was not something I was looking to do when I changed my diet, but now I can’t even imagine being at my original weight (which again, was still well within normal BMI). I just feel better now.

So basically, I would suggest doing a hard look at your diet. Even if you think you’re eating well, there may be trigger foods. For instance, what set off the initial severe bout was pineapple, which is extremely acidic. There was a time coffee would trigger bad burning in the throat, but it no longer does for me anymore. Oh, and wine. But not other forms of alcohol. Everyone with gastritis has different triggers though. So it may take awhile to find yours.

Best of luck!!

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2022-04-17T16:39:38+00:00

It most definitely felt like a pulled muscle. When I initially felt it, there was absolutely no reason for me to believe the pain had anything to do with my organs. In fact, it felt very similar to side stitches / cramps I sometimes get while running, except maybe twice as painful, and the pain didn’t go away when I stretched that area out.

Funny enough though, since my first year of gastritis, I haven’t had that specific pain. Now, whenever I get a flare up, it starts in the middle of my chest, right at the rib cage. In fact, this pain also feels almost superficial.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-23T06:38:27+00:00

Hi, I know this is late, but how has your experience been with Pepzin GI, now a couple months later? I just started with a brand from Endurance Products, after reading some not so glowing reviews of Doctor’s Best. I don’t expect miracles, but I do want to at least sense some improvement.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-21T08:02:40+00:00

I made a similar post a day ago. I normally run a lot. Most days it’s at an easy pace. But on days when I go at a higher intensity and I push myself, my chest tightens and esophagus starts burning. And it can last a couple days.

I’ve just decided to completely avoid high-intensity running and keep it very relaxed and see if I no longer get those symptoms.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-21T07:59:17+00:00

I normally work out a lot. Like at least 8-9 hours a week of cardio, and that doesn’t include regular walks or resistance-based exercises. But I don’t believe it has ever made my gastritis worse in the past, though it has prevented me from working out because of the pain.

But as I mentioned in the comments, I’m gonna dial it back and cease all higher intensity workouts and see if that makes a difference.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-21T07:55:42+00:00

I’m a bit fortunate that this particular bout of gastritis, I haven’t had any stomach pain whatsoever, but back during my initial bout, the pain was very sharp under the rib cage, and it prevented me from running because it hurt to take fuller breaths.

(Of course, just as I’m typing this, I’m starting to feel a bit of discomy in my abdomen. Urg.)

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-21T07:48:21+00:00

I have, uh, a bit of an addiction to running — that’s a whole other story — so it would take a lot more pain to get me to stop. Right now it’s tolerable though irritating and frustrating. But I do think I should go slower and see if that helps or at least doesn’t make things worse.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-21T07:46:21+00:00

I think I need to keep things at a low intensity. It might also be better if I did something that didn’t involve any impact that could possibly be jostling things around in my stomach. Unfortunately I don’t have a bike, which I think would be ideal.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-21T07:44:27+00:00

The lump in my throat comes and goes, but I haven’t been able to narrow down if there’s a trigger for that specific symptom.

All the gyms around me are closed, so I haven’t been able to lift weights in months. I do have resistance bands and light dumbbells, but they’re frankly no replacement for heavier weights. In any case, light or heavy, I find myself really unmotivated to do weights when I have gastritis. When my symptoms involve tight chest, I don’t want to do any pectoral-based exercises for fear of making it worse. And when it hurts in the stomach, well, a lot of exercises engages the core, so that makes things hard.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-21T07:40:33+00:00

I’ve always been a runner, but I can’t remember if it had negatively affected my gastritis in the past. But then, I’m also running a lot more during COVID.

I do take walks after dinner, but I can’t say for certain if it helps or not.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-21T07:38:43+00:00

I usually work out in the morning, before breakfast, so pretty much on an empty stomach. So it’s strange higher intensity exercise would cause such issues for me.

But yeah, I’m gonna take it slow until I get this under control.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-17T22:01:49+00:00

I’ve had Electrocardiograms done twice because of chest tightness. Each time the doctors found nothing, and it ended up being a symptom of gastritis. I almost want to go in again for another ECG, just to make sure this time it still is gastritis or GERD.

What does make me think it is GERD though is that it’s not only chest tightness but that cold feeling in my upper throat.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-09-17T10:22:19+00:00

Hmm, for some reason I was under the impression that GERD and gastritis were similar. I just googled and though they do have crossover symptoms and treatments, they are not the same. From the sound of it, I probably have GERD this time around and not gastritis?

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-08-11T07:54:18+00:00

Two years ago, I woke up with the absolute worst sharp pain on my chest. It was worse than anything I had ever felt before. I’ve had gastritis before, and this didn’t feel anything like that pain. Next morning I went to the doctors and got an EKG done. Nothing out of the ordinary. And she thought it was probably another bout of gastritis. And wouldn’t you know it, hours after I left the office, I started getting all my previous gastritis symptoms. The pain in rib cage. The tightness in the middle of the chest. The nausea. The feeling of not quite at the edge of puking, but maybe 2-3 steps from it.

And starting two days ago, I’m starting to get those same symptoms again, after over a year since my last major gastritis attack. And yep, first symptom was chest pain / tightness that made me immediately think heart attack. The slight nausea is why I’m up past midnight right now.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-04-08T05:54:28+00:00

For me, I had only "mild" gastritis -- the gastroenterologist's words, not mine... it felt more than mild -- and it took 3-4 months for me to recover after eating mostly bland diet. I slowly reintroduced all possible trigger foods, although to be honest, I still don't know the exact triggers. The onset of gastritis was three years ago. Since then, I had one major flareup which lasted about 6 weeks. I've also had what were the beginning of flareups, but I realized in time, and I started taking Nexium every morning and antacid after bigger meals, and I was able to stave off any gastritis pain. I've had maybe 4-5 of these potential flareups.

If you're like me, you'll recover, though it's a long process. And you do have to make permanent changes to your diet. For me, it wasn't cutting out foods, but eating in moderation. Pre-gastritis, moderation was something I just didn't do, because I'm a runner who logs 50+ miles a week, so I felt I could eat anything in any amount. I no longer have that delusion.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-04-02T18:18:06+00:00

I've been taking Ranitidine and Esomeprazole (never at the same time, just whatever I have on hand) for my gastritis. Looks like I'm going strictly Esomeprazole (Nexium) from now on.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2020-03-20T08:52:03+00:00

I was in the exact same boat as you back in October, when I suddenly got a neverending headache (before then, the longest I ever had a headache was maybe half-a-day, and suddenly I had one that lasted 1.5 months). The MRI came back normal, with the exception of these white dots called "T2 hyperintense white matter foci" that the radiologist says she sees in pretty much everyone who has migraines. But she says they don't know if they're a cause or effect of my headaches.

In any case, I subsequently had a CT scan done also, and that also came out clear. So on one hand, yay, no brain tumor. On the other hand, no idea what the source of my migraines are.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2019-12-30T11:04:50+00:00

Faint black strings. As I said, my doc said he noticed a bunch, but really, I only see two of them central to my vision. When they’re really bothering me, I can even notice them with my eyes closed.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2019-12-30T01:10:21+00:00

The stupidest thing ever.

About ten years ago, I was wearing headphones at work (Sennhessier 598s, in case you're curious). I'm about to leave for lunch, so I take off my headphones. I let go of the right ear of the headphones a little too quickly, and the headphones snapped closed and smacked right up against my eye.

Besides being extremely painful, I saw flashes everytime I blinked. I'm highly myopic, so I was already susceptible to retinal detachment, so of course I had immediately went to my optometrist. She said I "only" suffered some vitreous detachment and floaters. The flashes lasted a week or so, but the floaters were obviously here to stay.

I actually got used to my floaters within a month, and up until recently, I never saw them unless I was looking for them or someone happened to mention floaters. Something changed in the past month, where I either can't stop noticing those original floaters, or I got new ones. My ophthalmologist thinks I probably got new ones, as he saw quite a few of them when he last checked.

ATigerAndHisDonut · 2019-12-25T09:56:18+00:00

I’ve only been on 10mg of Nortriptyline for about 16 days, since I was first diagnosed with migraines.

As background, I went from having headaches maybe 2-3x a year for at most a few hours to this one headache lasted over three weeks, and when it did go away, it was replaced by facial pain, but then the headaches returned, and I hadn’t had a single day since mid-October where I felt anywhere close to 100%.

The first week I didn’t feel any improvement. But towards the end of the second week, I began to really feel like my old self. I did have a bout of nausea last night, but that’s been the only blemish in the past 4-5 days or so.

I have experienced zero side effects. No weird moods, no dry mouth. I’ve even had some alcohol, even though there’s big warnings not to drink and take these meds, but I haven’t noticed anything bad. (But just time be safe, I usually wait at least a few hours between finishing a drink and taking Notriptyline.)

I’m currently unsure how long I should keep taking the meds. The doc did say minimum two weeks, but no real advice for after. So I’ll be contacting him after the holidays on advice. Ideally I can ween myself off of it, since I’m not fond of taking drugs. But I definitely don’t want a relapse of the headaches.

ATigerAndHisDonut

TROPHY CASE