If you have chronic gastritis or peptic duodenitis, what helps?

[OneSmallPieceOfCheese]

My 10 year old has been diagnosed with gastritis and peptic duodenitis after years of abdominal pain. She has been prescribed lansoprazole, but it hasn't made much difference so far. She doesn't normally have many symptoms of indigestion. She's already on a gluten free diet, but is there anything else that might help? She hardly ever takes ibuprofen, and it's not h pylori. In fact I'm at a loss as to what can have caused it, as obviously she doesn't drink alcohol either!

Hi, I have had ulcers in my stomach, h pylori and suffer with gastritis a fair bit. What helps is staying away from acidic foods such as tomatoes, fruit juices etc. I also find some oat products give me awful stomach issues so I stay away from granola, oat bars and digestive biscuits etc.
your poor girl. I hope she gets some relief soon.

Thank you @Mumgineer that's interesting about the oats. We've switched to GF oats but maybe the gluten is just part of the problem. With tomatoes, do you find things like ketchup are a problem too? I've heard milk can be a trigger but I'm reluctant to cut that out of her diet unless we really have to.

You prob have to do trial and error with food. Food takes 3 days to go through your system so it’s hard to track what is causing/bothering the issue.
I have gord and on a low acid diet and really trying to pinpoint triggers - it’s not easy as I don’t immediately react to anything that is within the realms of ‘allowed’ food. I had h pylori and was treated for it, also have mild duodenitis of unknown origin - but prob h pylori.
Def steer clear of obviously acidic foods that will irritate.
She def shouldn’t take ibuprofen going forward! Look at specific diets for gastritis.

Thanks. We are waiting on an appointment with the dietician, so I'll see what they suggest.

I don't have a firm diagnosis but I went hardcore 'low FODMAP' (see University of Monash website) which is an elimination and reintroduction diet. For children, under a dietician's guidance, I think that the elimination phase would be 2-3 weeks.

Culprits for me included some really unexpected things like onions and garlic!

I also found out accidentally that I can tolerate very small amounts of wheat if I have Piriton prior to eating, so presumably I must have developed some sort of wheat sensitivity/allergy.

Wishing you and your daughter well

Oh yes onions and garlic here too 🖐🏻 they cause extreme wind and bloating (still doesn’t stop me eating them though 😭)

Thank you, yes FODMAP is something we need to revisit but it's just such hard work with a child. We tried (and failed) in the summer. She barely ate anything.

Oddly enough, I get indigestion from garlic powder. Garlic cloves and onion are fine, but something like a chicken kiev (yum) will give me all the burps!

Interesting about the piriton too @AutumnCrow . When I've looked at what might have caused her this damage, none of the usual factors seem to apply, so I do wonder if it's an allergy, or perhaps an autoimmune disease. I try to learn all I can so I can help her, but it's been years with no real improvement and I'm just exhausted by it all. And so is she.

As someone who suffers with this. (But i also have an hiatus hernia and previously h pylori) I never lie down after eating ie I make sure I am upright for 3 to 4 hours post meal. (Difficult for a child especially as theyre doing cartwheels and standing on their head and the like too) Don't have anything tight around her abdomen and no acidic or fizzy drinks.

High fat relaxes the sphincter at the bottom of the oesophagus into the stomach therefore allowing food back into the oesophagus (and acid) and so irritating the gullet.

Just a few things I do to avoid flare ups. They may or may not help a bit.

What sort of food does your daughter like, @OneSmallPieceOfCheese? I'll have a think about any of the recipes I devised for myself that might suit her. I know what you mean about it being hard work and frankly exhausting at times.

Will she eat white rice, meat and fish? White rice and gluten-free soy sauce with bit of veg/stir fry has been a godsend for me, when I know I have to eat something. Ditto: jacket potatoes.

Thanks @AutumnCrow that's very kind. She is a fussy eater, it coincided with the start of her tummy pain. She really hates sauces (apart from ketchup!) so anything like bolognese is a non starter unfortunately. Which is sad, as it's one of my favourite meals. We've had recent successes with homemade wedges, roast chicken drumsticks, we've tried making a variety of GF puddings with various fruits in them. My aim is to try to increase the diversity of foods to improve her gut flora, even if the foods are a bit strangely presented! Salads are good, both fruit and veg ones. But again, no sauces.

Will her pain ever go away, or is this her life now?

I'm guessing the answer is yes :(