Chronic Gastritis Fear

[Presh23]

Hi guys,

i am new to the Forum. I am 27 years old male with a history of stomach issues.

My history... I had gastritis in 2011 due to alcohol consumption. The effects i had was acid reflux and extreme anxiety and was placed on PPI and antidepressants. In 2012 i went for my first endoscope which showed Gastritis which looked like small white ulcers( Erosive) and also diagnosed with IBS. I also went for many other tests but all were clear. This pointed to H pylori. The Doc said i have nothing to worry about and i need to stop stressing and put me on some xanx ,so i ended up doing the triple therapy and i felt better few months later.

The remaining years i never really paid much attention because i felt better and whenever i went to my physicians they use to tell me i have anxiety and i need to stop stressing. I do suffer with panic attacks and anxiety issues and this was very bad as i use to worry about my health alot. Anyways i felt better during those years as i stayed away from alcohol. Then in 2017 i tried alcohol and felt fine. I use to drink occasionally. late 2017 i started to feel acid reflux and IBS came up again. so i went to my doc and he just gave me some PPI after that i use to get flare ups that lasted a few days. In 2018 i felt fine and only late 2018(September) i decide to see a new physician. i told him my history and about my anxiety and about how i worry about my health and fear of getting cancer and diseases so he performed all tests on me. bloods were clear. No iron or b12 issues. Colonoscopy was clear. However endoscopy showed small white gastritis which im sure was erosive. The biopsy showed h pylori and it was unspecified chronic gastritis, So i took the triple therapy again and was on some PPI for a short time like 1 month. i went back for a follow up and the physician told me that there's no point in doing another test to check h pylori as he was confident that it was gone i did ask him a bunch of questions like will this lead to more problems or is it mild and he said its mild and it will heal but i feel like im going to die He gave me another script for nexium(PPI) for 3 months. I didn't take the medication as i felt fine.

So recently my gastritis pain came back after eating some junk food and i started to freak out again worrying about cancer and atrophic as i read google alot . I went back to him yesterday and he sent my bloods to test for h pylori and told me i need to be on the PPI for a few months. He did scold me for not taking me medication before and said that i must take it to heal my gastritis as it is chronic. So i do have some hyperchondria ( Worrying about my health) i started freaking out and asked him if this could lead to atrophic and cancer. He said that atrophic takes years to happen mainly due to untreated gastritis and cancer risks are low. so now im waiting for my h pylori results and im going to start taking nexium in the interim.

can someone tell me if this will heal or im going to die my anxiety is very bad as im worrying that i will get atophic and cancer.

[Helico_expert]

Cancer risk increase exponentially after age 50.

You are still young, so don’t worry about it.

Your doctor gave accurate advice.

However, your first doctor should have done another breath test on you after treatment to ensure your treatment work.

In your next treatment, make sure your doctor give you different set of antibiotics.

You can always repeat PPI, bismuth, and amoxicillin. H. Pylori will not become resistant to it.

[Presh23]

Thank you so much for the quick reply. Helps me feel abit at ease.

Can you tell me if this will lead to Atrophic gastritis? if i do manage and treat my gastritis will i develop atrophic gastritis or does it take many years to get Atrophic gastritis ? i have been reading too much online and saw someone really scary stories so i am kind of worried. i also read that many people get atrophic gastritis if they dont take care of themselves and stop treating their gastritis. is this true ?

Also if i find out that i have h pylori again and i take the treatment, stay on a good clean diet, take my PPI daily, mediate and exercise will this chronic gastritis go away ? I think my main fear is that it will progress to atrophic and cancer.

[Helico_expert]

most people catch H. pylori when they are young, around 2 yrs old.

so it takes decades to your current situation, and will take a few more decades to deteriorate into atrophy or metaplasia

it seems like age 20-35 is the peak for symptoms to appear and people go for treatment.

so you are in good hand. Just make sure you take your time and get rid of this nasty bacteria. it's a very very chronic infection.

[Presh23]

Okay i believe you as my doctors told me the same thing.

so chronic gastritis can heal with the right treatment and wont be live long ?

And in my first biopsy i did it stated chronic gastritis unspecified with h pylori. Any idea what this means ?

Thanks for your time.

[Helico_expert]

Many patients, after eradicated H. pylori, go back to normal.
only a small group of people remain symptomatic and have to take PPI for longer term. It could be weeks, months or years.
The recovery is depending on the severity of the damage done. Usually younger patients heal faster.

your first biopsy did not show any severe abnormality. no atrophy, no metaplasia, no cyst, no tumor. That's all you need to know. gastritis will heal after H. pylori eradication.

[Presh23]

Thank you

[Presh23]

Hi Helico_expert,

Just wanted to ask you the following questions. It is bothering me.

1. My last endoscope was in Sept 2018 and i was diagnosed with chronic gastritis hpylori( Small white spots, Erosive). So i wanted to know if from then till now which is about 5 months , is it possible for chronic gastritis to advance to Atrophic gastritis within this time ? i still have this fear of my chronic gastritis turning into something worse

This reason i'm abit worried is because i read on this forum that some people that had chronic gastritis turned to atrophic. So reading that did give me lots of anxiety.

i also had some milk and it gave me stomach pain and burning. which made me worry that i have something worse like atrophic.

And im still waiting for my blood test to come back so i can start the triple therapy if i have h pylori.

[Helico_expert]

first of all, blood test may not be a choice of test. Because your immune system will have memory of previous infection.. and likely to show positive. So if the result came back positive, please do not panic. Just go back to your doctor and ask for another breath or stool test.

5 months is not long enough to progress from chronic gastritis to atrophic gastritis.
actually, anxiety cause more harm than H. pylori itself.

We have conducted an experiment where we need volunteers to drink H. pylori.
it was a double blind study. So the volunteers and doctors dont know if they were given real H. pylori or placebo.
a few days later, one volunteer end up in hospital emergency because of severe vomit, stomach pain and diarrhea.
He was given strong antibiotics on spot and relief the symptoms.
a few months later, at the end of the experiment, we reveal what the volunteer had. it was a placebo.
we were so relief at that time.
but we had a very important finding. extreme mental stress can cause H. pylori like symptoms to the level that the patient has to be hospitalised.

therefore, try to relax and be positive.

[Presh23]

yes Helico_expert i do worry alot.

Do you think i should force my physician for another endoscope ? when i asked him on Tuesday he said there's no need for one so soon and i should maybe do it in a years time.

Also i never really ask him if i had these small white spots all over my stomach. When he did the endoscope 5 months ago he just said i have some small white spots in my stomach. i'm guessing its erosive ? So do you think i should ask him more about the white spots ? Just read on the internet that white spots can also be intestinal metaplasia. However when i met him on Tuesday he told me not to worry as it is just chronic and prognosis is very good to heal. but he also scared me and said that if i don't take the PPI it could lead to IM and atrophy.

Can you be honest and give me some reassurance.

Regards