Re: Need some advice on reflux and gastritis

It is only an idea on what could be causing your problems with stomach acid and gastritis. H. pylori gets all the blame but it is not the only urease positive bacteria that can inhabit the stomach therefore getting a h. pylori negative result could mean that a different bacteria could be responsible.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16780553

Unfortunately I don't think that there are any other tests to determine whether another bacteria is responsible. It's all in the realms of research and if/when someone gets around to looking/testing.

However because you have gastritis, that does tend to go along with h. pylori. How recent was that test? Was it before or after the gastritis began?

BTW Cloves are very good for the stomach and promoting digestion. They warm the stomach which stimulates the digestive fires. Taking some with your food might help a little. I mix some ground cloves when cooking food and also add a drop of clove essential oil to the malic acid/xylitol drink which I have with 6 malic acid capsules and 5 capsules of now foods HCl with a big meal. I was taking 12 HCl capsules before I added malic acid! If you get Clove eo make sure that you get a pure therapeutic grade oil which is not mixed with anything else. Sometimes they do not dec1are that other things have been added to it, instead passing it off as being pure and increasing their profits. I get mine from nhr organics. Clove oil also has anti biofilm activity but not enough on it's own to deal with mine. I warned that it is damn difficult didn't I.

I have been looking for an anti urease herb to try and stop the urease activity in order to prevent stomach acid being neutralized and therefore enable proper digestion. But without knowing the bacteria it's difficult finding something that works because it needs to fool the bacteria into not trying to neutralize the acid. That is what some quorum sensing inhibitors do but they are specific to certain bacteria which means we are back to a dead end. I did read that thyme herb was meant to have anti urease activity against h. pylori, that was when I thought I had h. pylori until a blood test showed I did not have it. Which explains why it did not stop the urease activity.

I am in a similar situation myself, no gastritis but poor digestion and limited acid.

Do you belch when you eat? You mention bloating which could be SIBO which can be caused by lack of acid. An easy test for urease is to consume some acid! On an empty stomach take a glass containing about 100ml/3.5 floz of water and mix either lemon juice, AVC or vinegar, a couple of tblsp.

You have gastritis so it might be worth starting with something weaker if you think it could be uncomfortable.

Drink it and see if you belch. Ignore any belching immediately following drinking, you could of swallowed some air. It can take 20 to 60 seconds to react if urease is present. The urease enzyme produced by bacteria uses urea in saliva and produces ammonia and bicarbonate. That reacts with any acids such as hydrochloric acid, neutralizing them and producing carbon dioxide and hence the burping.

A few other things which might be helpful. They are in that supplement you mentioned but getting the raw ingredients and more of them might work better. You can get these in whole or powdered form so you could try it to see which benefits you:

Liquorice root is meant to help protect the stomach. Be aware that this can raise blood pressure if taken for long periods!
slippery elm powder
mastic gum

Haritaki which is meant to be good against digestive problems and has anti urease activity against h. pylori but whether that will work against other bacteria is hard to say. I have not tried this myself yet but I do intend to get some. Be aware that it has mild laxative effects but can treat diarrhoea. I intend getting it in powdered form so I can adjust the dosage as needed. I don't like capsules, it's paying a lot for very little IMO.