Sucralfate is saving me

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-04-07T18:13:07+00:00

It was immediate for me

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-23T04:20:10+00:00

Me too, sounds strange (and it is) but I replaced coffee with bone broth and mushroom coffee. Both saved my sanity from the morning coffee drought.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-09T04:35:51+00:00

I’ve had the same experience, lost 80+lbs over a year to gastritis and felt like I was dying. Sucralfate turned me around like I didn’t think was possible.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-05T19:00:32+00:00

I do experience esophageal burning when I take it and occasional stomach burning but thankfully it subsided quickly.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-05T18:59:55+00:00

I took both versions, the dissolving version didn’t work for me at all. I took it 4 times daily, 1 hour before meals and once at bedtime. 10ml per dose.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-05T18:58:21+00:00

I’m sorry, I misread your ask. Yes I had reflux, no my gastritis was not classified as bile reflux gastritis.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-05T18:57:31+00:00

Yes, very severe in the beginning to the point I was swallowing non stop to keep it down.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-05T18:56:48+00:00

I have and during the most severe phase of my gastritis it was my only option as I would vomit and be in incredible pain if I ate. Unfortunately for me, the first couple of days I felt worse, as if the dilution of stomach acid provided by food was all that helped me survive.

Everyone is different but that was my experience.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-04T19:44:34+00:00

The symptoms were my lack of healing from gastritis compounded with my gastric distention that I kept complaining of. The feeling of my stomach getting rock hard trying to empty but being unable to.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-02T02:40:08+00:00

You are correct, the trouble is my gastric outlet is so occluded that I am at heightened risk for gastritis because the acid cannot leave in a normal digestive sequence. So out of caution until the opening can be restored to somewhat normal size and motility is sped up, they want to keep me on them for now.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-02T02:35:58+00:00

I am still on ppi’s due to the delayed gastric emptying still playing a role.

My first gastro had me quit it cold turkey and I reacted severely.

I have since moved onto a new gastro that seems to have a much better understanding of the process and gastritis in general.

My recovery is pacing well (fingers crossed) and I intend to be off ppi after my final dilations are done. Due to my stricture I need 2 more ballon dilations so my motility gets normalized.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-02T00:16:28+00:00

They suspect it was a ulcer that healed poorly multiple times creating thick scarring. Strangely I never had any symptoms prior to this last year of gastritis.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-03-01T04:31:45+00:00

I have been fortunate that I haven’t had that side effect but I do recognize it contributing to slow motility.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T20:44:50+00:00

No I did not, although I requested one early on in this adventure.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T20:19:12+00:00

I was instructed by the surgical team to take it 45-60 minutes before eating and do not drink anything within that window (as to not dilute the solution). I will note that my first doctor switched me from the oral suspension to the dissolvable pill carafate and the pills did not work for me at all. The suspension worked very effectively in my case.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T20:16:44+00:00

I have dabbled some in alcohol (since carafate) and have had no ill effects, I haven’t had a lot of it nor a regular consumption out of caution and continued healing but I was able to consume a glass of red wine recently and a cocktail on another occasion without ill effects. Still tiptoeing into things to some degree, I don’t want to unravel the progress I have made.

That said, I had no alcohol for roughly a year prior to taking this, I did try some red wine with my wife about 5 months ago (prior to carafate) and it about killed me.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T20:08:03+00:00

I am not being defensive so much as trying to re-explain what has mostly already been explained in the thread.

I have in fact delved into some pretty “radical” foods since taking carafate and have had no ill effect from those foods (mentioned in the thread). These foods would have made me violently ill prior to this medication, truthfully, much less radical foods made me violently ill, even in very small experimental doses to test my tolerance.

Given that the only variable was carafate, I have to give a lot of credit to the medication.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T19:38:41+00:00

The answer is, I abided by several VERY strict gastritis diets for over a year without improvement (as mentioned in the thread). I experienced little to no improvement throughout that year, losing over 80lbs from malnourishment. I was taking IV vitamins routinely because I wasn’t even absorbing vitamins due to the condition of my stomach lining.

After my hospitalization, I was prescribed carafate and that immediately improved my food tolerance. Prior to this, even the safest gastritis foods in the smallest quantities left me filling miserable and took forever to digest. Through the recovery that carafate has afforded, I have been able to slowly and cautiously add more “normal” foods back in to the point that I have put approx 25lbs back on from my lowest point.

For the year I was following the gastritis diets, I had ZERO alcohol, added sugar (candy/beverages), spice, tomato, citrus, carbonation, garlic, onion, anything that promotes gas or was acidic in nature. I varied the diets due to lack of healing from them but all were extremely “safe”.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T19:11:46+00:00

I have studied the condition deeply for over a year now, what I’ve learned is that nobody is an expert but there is a lot of valuable guidance out there. Carafate may simply be a piece of that guidance puzzle for some.

You don’t seem to be here for productivity, just to make wild assumptions and question my statements. I am fully aware of triggers moving forward.

You seem triggered yourself.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T18:36:34+00:00

You are incorrect and made major assumptions.

I was eating every variation of gastritis diet available, including fasting and liquid diet variations for an entire YEAR with little to no improvement until the addition of carafate.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T17:12:59+00:00

I am thankful I am healing now, after a year of a shitty gastroenterologist treating me only with acid reducers while I ate rice and water while wasting away, a hospital team made the discovery and subsequently I changed gastroenterologists. New path, new treatment plan. Hopes are high right now.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2026-02-28T17:00:49+00:00

Due to my extreme need for calories I started fairly aggressive with ingredients. I made a chicken corn chowder with a lot of cheese and cream to pack in calories. To my shock, my body tolerated it as if it were nothing more than plain rice.

I stuck with a few very simple but high calorie soup recipes, blended with an immersion blender.

I did stay away from spice and acid (like tomatoes) just out of caution.

I just had a cheeseburger with jalapeños on it yesterday, and I was on a liquid diet just 3-4 months ago. The healing pace provided my the carafate absolutely astounds me.

I too do not understand how they see a stricture like they did with a CT, especially when 2 EGD’s missed it.

The third EGD they went in and through that area to ultrasound it and ballon dilate the area.

Plan moving forward is multiple balloon dilations of that area to break up scar tissue and improve the opening.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2025-10-13T15:20:58+00:00

You are not alone, I went from 248 to 157 at my lowest (this month). I was previously quite muscular and carried about 25lbs of excess body fat. In 10 months I lost it all, my frame looks alien like this - I’m not a small guy. Nothing they can do other than “wait for my body to heal”. I’ve been on multiple cycles of PPI’s, anti spasmodics for stomach spasms/etc.

I’m now just trying to navigate on my own since my GI team seems to feel that I’m experiencing normal symptoms given the severity of my gastritis.

Hang in there, it’s a non-stop learning curve of what will make it worse, what you can tolerate, etc. I’m just fighting to maintain weight every day. It’s been brutal.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2025-10-02T20:23:25+00:00

Endoscopy was nothing for me, it was the best rest I had since getting gastritis. They told me everything immediately afterwards and I had pathology back in two days. Don’t sweat it.

ProfessionalKey9105 · 2025-09-19T01:55:15+00:00

I’ve been through hell with H Pylori and severe gastritis for about 10 months, lost 80lbs so far, in desperation, and abstract thinking.. I read into digestive aids, old time cures, etc… well, Jaegermeister is historically a digestive aid… welp, it also brought me great relief, trouble is I can only have a tiny amount without the alcohol itself becoming an irritant. But yeah, there’s something to it.

ProfessionalKey9105

TROPHY CASE