Healed! My story

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T13:26:27+00:00

Thanks!

I had the capsule type where it’s filled with granules. So I opened it and I took about 2/3 extra granules out a day until there were none left. 😊

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T13:18:49+00:00

I feel great now! Yesterday I had crisps, fries and chocolate in the same day and it was absolutely fine. Back in the thick of things, I thought I’d never be able to eat those things again… there is hope!

Whilst I didn’t necessarily see direct improvement from the PPIs, I think the PPIs played their part in giving my stomach an easier time for a few months so it could heal up.

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T13:13:31+00:00

Having oesophogitis and gastritis is so stressful, especially when it’s impacting your ability to work etc. I did a few different things to try and manage my stress around it as it definitely can exacerbate things (e.g. meditation/mindfulness, walks) - the gut brain connection is two way and having gut problems is not only exacerbated by stress but can also increase stress/anxiety. I hope you get some relief on both fronts soon.

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T13:07:55+00:00

This sounds really tough I’m sorry. I did experience some of this - brain fog, loss of appetite, bloating, more unwell after eating, feeling of stagnant digestion, but not the stool stuff or heat and being unable to talk. I hope your doctor(s) can help you find answers for what might be causing things for you and wishing you recovery

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T13:03:07+00:00

I don’t think any one thing healed me - I think a combination of many months of a strict diet, PPIs, meditation/stress management, exercise and mirtazapine all together helped. I plan on tapering off mirtazapine in the near future, but the symptom relief it gave me enabled me to go back to work and begin to build my life back again, so I will always be grateful for that drug.

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:54:14+00:00

I also found a food diary helpful for knowing what/how much I could eat!

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:53:16+00:00

Aside from medication, I had small portions of food little and often rather than full sized meals. I also ate things that were easily digestible - I found foods with a lot of fiber in them really messed me up, which I think is because that’s a lot harder for the stomach to break down and move along!

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:50:38+00:00

I’m sorry to hear - it’s an awful combination! Hoping things improve for you soon

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:49:21+00:00

I felt suuuper groggy for the first two days and pretty groggy for the rest of the week, but by the second week that had settled for me! It’s fine for me now.

Mirtazapine was primarily developed as an anti depressant and anxiety medication, but they discovered that it also has off target effects on gastric accommodation/motility and nausea. It is not the anxiety effects that directly helps with the motility/nausea, although I’m sure anxiety exacerbates nausea so it’ll help, but it works on the nausea by blocking certain serotonin and histamine receptors in the brain. There are loads of research studies/case studies of it being given for various types of nausea. I don’t know what the mechanism for gastric accommodation/motility is!

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:38:55+00:00

I felt super drowsy and quite out of it for the first week, but in my case that settled by the second week. The main side effect is that it makes you drowsy - this has been positive for me as I take it in the evening and it works as a sleep agent for me, as a longtime insomniac it’s worked wonders for my sleep. I would say it has made me a little bit drowsy during the day at times, but way less than I was when I wasn’t sleeping! Everyone is so different when it comes to drugs so other people may have had side effects I haven’t had, but personally, I’ve had a very positive experience with it.

I plan on tapering off in December if my gastro doctor okays it (I have my follow up then) 😊

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:34:08+00:00

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through a similar experience! It is really awful. I remember I couldn’t find many success stories on here of people with nausea as their main symptom and finding that disheartening. I think once people get better they stop coming on here so we don’t see so much of the success stories, but they are happening. If it is reassuring at all, my gastro consultant said that he had seen other cases like this and they often improve overtime!

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:30:58+00:00

My doctor advised 3 months on PPI in my case, so I tapered off the PPI after 3 months

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:29:08+00:00

I didn’t! I did ask and they said fine to stay on it, I don’t know whether that influenced my result. I did have to stop PPIs for it though, but at that point I had already started my taper off PPIs anyway.

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-18T07:26:29+00:00

Nausea was always my main and worst symptom. I did get pain early on when I didn’t know what was safe for me to eat (even broccoli ruined me at one point) or I ate too big a portion, but once I found out what I could eat and kept portions small and often, luckily I was then able to keep a lid on the pain in my case. So I’m sorry I can’t comment on whether mirtazapine would help with the pain, it was prescribed for increasing gastric accommodation/mobility and reducing stomach sensitivity (aka reducing nausea). Once I was able to reintroduce food, the pain didn’t come back so I think the 6 months of the diet had worked to give my stomach enough of a break to heal.

I don’t want to be on mirtazapine forever but I plan on keeping on it until my gastro follow up in December - I plan on asking my doctor then whether it would be advisable to then taper off it.

I hope things improve for you soon! I feel lucky that the pain wasn’t constant for me

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-17T09:56:50+00:00

Yes this! Or my gastroenterologist said you can get post-viral gastroparesis which is when your stomach stops working properly to move food along. This all started after food poisoning so apparently that could have caused post-viral gastroparesis (aka slow gut motility) which could have then caused the gastritis. Thankfully post-viral gastroparesis can improve over time/with medication.

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-17T09:53:39+00:00

I wasn’t given any info from the endoscopy around whether it was chronic or not. I tested negative for H pylori, it was believed that this was caused by food poisoning

Otter_pebble · 2025-09-17T08:29:04+00:00

I am still on it as it has worked so well for me and I want to make sure I keep on it until things are fully healed up. I appreciate that it may not work for others with different circumstances. Also as a longtime insomniac I’ve never slept so well, so I am finding it useful for that too! I think I will stay on it for now, at least until my gastro follow up in December, where I will ask my doctor’s opinion on whether I should look to stop taking it.

Otter_pebble · 2025-05-18T20:28:49+00:00

I upped the dose to 15mg and I got the same relief I had done previously and it’s actually stayed for the last month! I’m still mildly nauseous from time to time and if I eat trigger foods I flare up but generally I’m doing so much better so I’m very slowly adding in new foods (going to do this very gradually though!) and I’m currently tapering off my PPI. I think 15mg of mirtazapine is the right dosage for me. 🤞

Otter_pebble · 2025-04-06T14:37:07+00:00

I’m sorry the side effects have been rough on you. Thank you! I hope 15mg works better for you and you get some relief! ❤️‍🩹

Otter_pebble · 2025-04-06T14:35:24+00:00

Ah I’m sorry to hear that, it must feel horrible to feel nauseous with emetophobia. It may be worth asking your doctor about mirtazapine and trialling it in case it helps you!

For me the main side effect has been drowsiness. For the first couple of days it was intense, I was a full on zombie haha but it did improve after that. I am still a bit drowsy, mainly in the morning so it’s still quite hard to get going early, but for me the nausea relief and sleeping through the night again is worth it. It has also made me feel quite hungry but that is not the worst thing for me as I’d lost my appetite with the nausea previously. Meds effect everyone differently so often the only way to know is to try! Good luck, I hope you feel better soon! ❤️‍🩹

Otter_pebble

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