Pregnancy and gastritis

yvide · October 2015

Anyone else here in the wonderful position of being pregnant while suffering from gastritis?

Mine started in August and is caused by the painkillers I take for one of my other problems - rheumatoid arthritis... In the four weeks before my positive pregnancy test I dropped three kilograms because eating hurt so much and I lost all my appetite. I am now on 40mg of omeprazole and can eat most things again and I don't have any morning sickness, so I have at least stopped losing weight.

I have an endoscopy scheduled in November to see whether there's an ulcer. Not sure whether I'll go ahead with this now.

Anyone else with gastritis? How are you holding up?

cusky · October 2015

Hi! I am having gastritis too, I am quite sure it was caused by a really strong iron+folic acid supplement I am taking, plus a lot of other prenatal vitamins. I am also having acid reflux at night, which is not helping either. Before being pregnant, I took omeprazole whenever I had a gastritis episode, but I now I made a quick research on the internet and learned that omeprazole, ranitidine and other medications for gastritis are not considered safe for use in pregnancy.

I haven't seen my doctor to confirm this, but I decided to stay away from gastritis medication in the meantime... what did wonders for me is a juice or beverage with aloe vera (I think Aloe King is the brand, but there are many others, some more natural and un-processed than others). Some of my relatives with gastritis and acid reflux have also taken aloe vera pills or juice, and it has worked for them. Hope it helps!

yvide · October 2015

I'm confused by your recommendation. Aloe vera is also not recommended for "internal" use during pregnancy. As for omeprazole, a metastudy on omeprazole showed no increased risk in 600 pregnancies, and I am actually not worried (neither are my genealogist and my GP). It's not like the arthritis medication that I used to take, which is used to induce abortions in higher doses. So weighing the benefits against the hypothetical risks, I am perfectly fine with my choice to continue taking it.

cusky · October 2015

Your question was "how are you holding up?", so my response was just a description of what I am using, and in any way I recommended you or anyone to do the same. I just mentioned what has worked for me. My comment about omeprazole was very clear: I did a quick search in the internet, not confirmed by my doctor yet, that probably it was not safe to use in pregnancy, and I refrained from using it in the meantime. I didn't mean to alarm you or cause you concern about this. If your genealogist and GP are fine with that medication, and you are fine with it as well, then I guess that any comment or recommendation posted in any of these boards in response to your "How are you holding up?" doesn't make much sense. Good luck to you!

yvide · October 2015

I think we have gotten our wires very crossed here, which might be because English is not my native language (I of course meant "gynecologist", by the way) and my culture is also a bit... different. As I wrote, I was surprised by you recommending ("hope it helps" reads like a recommendation to me) something that is not recommended for pregnancy over something that is also not recommended for pregnancy. Your comment also didn't alarm me or cause me to worry. I meant what I wrote, so when I write "surprised" I really mean that. I'm sorry it came across as somehow attacking you.

With "how are you holding up?" I wasn't really looking for medication recommendations, though. Or at least not primarily. More... experiences, I guess.

beff12 · October 2015

I don't have experience with gastritis, but for what it's worth my OB upped my dosage of Zantac (ranitidine) during my first pregnancy. Always best to check with your own doctor, but I just wanted to throw that out there!

yvide · October 2015

beff12 said:
I don't have experience with gastritis, but for what it's worth my OB upped my dosage of Zantac (ranitidine) during my first pregnancy. Always best to check with your own doctor, but I just wanted to throw that out there!

If you don't mind me asking, was that for an ulcer? Did you have any pregnancy nausea while on it? Because so far I have none of that, while I did have some with my previous two (unsuccessful) pregnancies and I am wondering if it's because I am basically already taking something against it - which sounds at least a bit logical to me right now ;-)

beff12 · October 2015

@yvide, it wasn't for an ulcer - I had an endoscopy about a year before pregnancy to check for an ulcer, but it turned out to be some damage from severe acid reflux. I was on Aciphex and it wasn't doing much, so I went back to Zantac sometime during the first trimester. It definitely helped lessen the nausea! I still had some but I think when I started taking Zantac regularly it helped. This time I'm just doing ranitidine...it's cheaper! In terms of not having nausea this time when you did before, I'm experiencing the same thing. With dd I was so nauseous from about 3-14 weeks and this time it's just not happening. It's hard to say what's making the difference, except that every pregnancy is different, which is absolutely no help!

CKSunflower · October 2015

I have gastritis, hiatal hernia, ibs and gerd! My fertility doc took me off of the prescription strength omeprazole and told me to take Zantac. That did nothing to touch my stomach issues so I started taking otc Prevacid. When my gastritis flares I take liquid carafate, it's a class B medication that basically coats the lining of your tummy. I would be miserable without it! If I'm at work and don't have it I drink kefir and it soothes my stomach. The carafate helps the most for me though!

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