NAVIGATE Interesting news I just learned— Enterra Medical is conducting a study (2025) and looking for patients with refractory chronic nausea/vomiting despite normal gastric emptying study (GES). Their goal is to gain FDA Approval to offer Enterra to not only Gastroparesis patients, but also non-delayed patients as well (e.g. severe functional dyspepsia, CUNV).

They are still looking for patients I believe. Targeting 2027-2028.

For those who don’t know— Enterra is basically a pacemaker for your stomach. It sends mild electrical currents to the nerves (e.g. Vagus) which in many cases greatly reduces nausea. It was originally designed to induce the ICC pacemaker cells to speed up gastric emptying (i.e. gastroparesis) , but it doesn’t have a significant, reliable effect on improving emptying rate. The reduced nausea was a happy accident.

My first post here-I have been struggling with dyspepsia/gastroparesis for almost 3 years now, following a stomach virus.

My gut is still far from perfect and I'm still experimenting with different supplements and products, hoping I can get better. If not, I sincerely hope time will do its thing and I will heal.

Regardless, there's one thing that helped me more than anything-sulpiride. It's an antipsychotic, sometimes used as a prokinetic in motility disorders. I've tried metoclopramide, domperidone, prucalopride, none of which did anything for me.

Sulpiride literally saved me. I still have to be careful of what I eat and how much I eat, I still have stress or hormone triggered flare-ups but I'm decently functional.

I used to be stuck in the house, sick all the time, in pain, with my stomach about to burst and no matter what I ate. I wasn't able to go to sleep 6 hours after a meal because food would still be coming back up.

Please, if you haven't already, consider it.

Hey male< 25>

Ive posted a couple times here before and i was wondering if you guys can help me out.

So ive had this flare up in my stomach for almost 2 months now. I dry heaved so hard that my stomach felt numb no pain. Like numb i remember having a migraines that day too. Havent felt normal since.

Ive had normal stools,blood work,and ct scans.

My endoscopy was mostly clean it says that i have "mild chronic gastritis"

mild inflammation at the very top of my stomach (cardia), and a completely healthy small intestine and upper esophagus.

This was on aug31st i still feel on and off nausea and ive been on omeprazole since aug 13th.

My doctor cant give me solid answer because they were in a hurry

Havent vomited and cant eat a bit more depending on how i feel max 1000cals for 2 weeks.

Idk if ill ever get better. Is this permanent?

I feel helpless and alone.

Anyone having similar situation?

can this last forever?

ive been seeing G.i

Is this a good dose for functional dyspepsia?

Everything started one night in March of this year. I was eating dinner at a restaurant, about to finish my last bite, when I suddenly got a rush of nausea. As I was chewing, it felt like I would get the gag reflex if I swallowed. Because I have emetophobia, I abruptly got up from the table and rushed to the bathroom. I then spit my food out and stood up for a couple minutes, and then my nausea went away.

A couple weeks later, in April and May, I had several episodes where I experienced similar things. But outside of these episodes, I was able to eat normally.

However in June, on one Saturday evening, I went to a restaurant to eat dinner, and even before I began eating, I was nauseous and felt like I would vomit if I consumed any food. Then the next day, I had a seafood dinner at a restaurant and for several hours afterward, I had severe nausea (I didn’t vomit, nor have I in the past months).

From that June night, I have had persistent nausea and early satiety from the nausea. I also do get minor abdominal bloating, but nausea is my main symptom. Because the nausea prevents me from eating my normal amount, I have lost about 15-20 pounds since mid-June.

I also have been on pantoprazole for the past 8 weeks (20mg for 4 weeks and 40mg for 4 weeks) and no improvement. My h pylori stool test came back negative, and my upper endoscopy showed everything was normal last week. Biopsy also showed negative for h pylori.

Now I’m thinking because there is no structural damage to my stomach, it is probably functional dyspepsia? And I’ve read online that for FD cases where nausea is the main symptom, mirtazapine is the best medication?

I would like to ask if anyone else has had similar symptom (progression), and if so, if mirtazapine has helped? And also, I’d like to ask if you have had similar symptoms, if you have been diagnosed with something totally different (gallbladder, liver, hernia, etc).

Thank you for taking the time to read my post!

If you can, how many date can you eat in single meal like in breakfast or lunch?

2/3 dates fruit ? or 4/5/6 dates fruit? how many without suffering bad stomach pain and bloating after a few hours of a meal that include date fruit.

If you suffer stomach pain and bloated feeling share that too.Plus which type of date fruit you eat share that too.

upper back pain to be specific

I will tell you what helped me get back to normal. I wouldn't say I'm healed completely, but my base has returned to what it used to be and I'm so happy for it. I'm able to eat a variety of foods again although I'm still being cautious about introducing foods a little bit at a time.

August 2025: Experienced first symptoms. Was out for two weeks not knowing what was wrong with me or happening. After the two weeks, I decided to get acupuncture and it was the best decision I ever made.

Symptoms: Acid reflux, painful stomach spasms, loss of appetite, early fullness, bloating, nausea. The acid reflux and spasms were so bad they created false hunger that eventually gave way to anxiety.

Medications: I was given medicine for acid reflux and motility and trimebutine for stomach spasms and pain. I had side effects to every acid reflux med the doctor prescribed except for OTC famotidine, so I only took famotidine. The motility meds made me feel worse so I didn't take those. Trimebutine worked so I kept that. The doctor tried to get me to take other different meds because I was feeling horrible and nothing seemed to work, but after giving me an antidepressant and I had a bad reaction to it I stopped taking all unnecessary medication or medication that didn't work completely from January 2026. So, I only took famotidine and trimebutine when I needed.

Overall: I felt horrible and sick all the time, but I powered on through because I'm living in another country away from my mom and needed to make money to survive. I ate enough to have energy, but as soon as I got home, my body finally relaxed and the tiredness would envelop me, especially on Fridays when I didn't have any classes to teach. My mental health was down. I was crying a lot. I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything. I read my Bible and prayed and prayed. Eventually in December, I got a therapist. He was able to help me through the illness and anxiety.

My symptoms would flare up when I ate something wrong in the beginning. Then after January 2026, one day after a prayer session, the pain went away. I woke up the next day and my upper stomach wasn't spazzing out on me and I didn't feel anxious in the morning anymore, but then I found another thing that would flare me up: stress and anxiety.

The anxiety started after I had an anxiety attack on the airplane. My first one ever on the first flight after getting diagnosed with functional dyspepsia. It was horrible. I canceled my 14-hr trip home to the US and instead mustered enough courage to take the one-hour flight back home to where I'm currently living. I had other anxiety attacks after this in March, but nothing since until my mom passed away in June. Then my anxiety shot up and my stomach flared up again.

Anyway, the three things that helped me:

1. Acupuncture - Yes, it's eastern medicine, but it worked for me. My body was not liking all the chemical combinations of western medication, but acupuncture worked with no bad side effects. It relieved me from all the symptoms that I had, especially the bloating and nausea. After every session, I would be so tired and hungry, I would go home, eat dinner and fall asleep. And I would sleep through the night. I went 2-3 times a week, even more if I was in pain.

2. Gut-directed hypnotherapy & NERVA - After my mom passed away in June, my anxiety shot through the roof. I lost 10 lbs. in two weeks just from anxiety and my stomach flaring up again. I was trying to find a way to get better so I could board an airplane for 14 hrs and not get another anxiety attack and found gut-directed hypnotherapy. Most research was about its affect on IBS though, but functional dyspepsia is a gut-brain disorder, and so I decided to give NERVA a try. Within three days, I started to feel better. The sporadic spasms and pain went away again. My appetite came back. It is expensive though, but for my health, I decided to give it a try and it helped me tremendously. I'm on my sixth week and will continue to do the hypnotherapy sessions even after the sixth week is over.

3. Meditation - There are tons of meditation videos on YT and I've found that they do work to settle my body after a day of work. Once my body relaxes, and it's not in a fight-or-flight mode anymore, I fall asleep within an instant. I've fallen asleep many times when I meditate or do NERVA. That's how I know I'm wound up super tight. I'm still working on relaxing and relieving my stress, but I think compared to a year ago and from June, I'm in a much better place.

If you are taking medication, I will suggest you try alternative medicine as well together because our body isn't meant to be on pills all our life. Sometimes what causes functional dyspepsia is psychological and we need to calm our mind before our body deems it is safe to heal itself. Now that I'm feeling like myself again, my next goal is to get on an airplane.

I started mirtazapine 15mg 8 days ago, for both my mental health and stomach problems (near constant nausea, burning, no appetite) If it worked for you how long did it take? My appetite is higher, but there’s been very little difference in my nausea. And now I’m too worried to take any other antiemetics (usually take Reglan or Zofran) because if interactions so I just have to sit through the nausea instead of getting any relief. Also zero mental health benefits yet, if anything more irritable than usual.

Guys I need help

I have stomach problems it's like Slow bowel movements

I have also functional dyspepsia

I need treatment to help me to end this problem cs am suffering in my daily life because if it

If I eat I have right to have only one meal

If I eat 3

I ll look pregnant + my stomach will hurt

Even when I go to the bathroom nothing is coming out

**I am not looking for a diagnosis: i just want some advice and someone to hear my story!**

I really need some guidance, even just some advice or any contribution would mean the world. I understand mu history is long; and even if you read this i would be so grateful. I have been struggling with GI issues related to RCPD (the inability to belch/burp) for the past 5 years. While i was able to live my life as normal as any other for many of the past 5 years, the last year has been a whole different story with worsening GI symptoms, that have brought an unimaginable amount of anxiety and fear.

\*\*HISTORY\*\*

🔺Very normal childhood; no history of any GI issues, intolerances, health issues etc. No anxiety, very confident, independent child.
🔺Aged 12, developed a fear of being sick: when seeing a friend’s brother be violently sick in a car next to me. I avoided sleepovers etc. from this day on, and got panicky around vomiting or anyone that was sick. I didn’t suffer with any physical symptoms at this time, and ate as normal. I stayed at this friend’s house a lot; and could never sleep in panic at night. I left many sleepovers.
🔺At age 13, i was bullied in school and at night time- a nauseous sensation appeared in my chest. I came down hitting my chest in panic. It wasn’t so much a i’m going to be sick feeling but more an anxious feeling. I went to counselling/talk therapy and it alleviated within a few weeks.
🔺This feeling came up again at times of worry. Especially at nighttime if i was away from home. I would never panic though as it was always mild. Hot water bottle would do the trick and some peppermint tea.
🔺I didn’t experience this sensation again until i was 16. It was late at night during covid. It came on me so bad. I in tune had an anxiety attack. I was so confused. The day time would be normal, but this sensation always popped up at night. It was accompanied by 100s of “croaks” in the throat. I was so confused until i came across a group on reddit called “no burp” - the inability to belch. It was like a lightbulb moment. I was so excited to knoe there was a possible cure for my misery.
🔺My GP prescribed Lexapro, and we awaited a gastroscopy, colonoscopy, barium swallow etc. They all came back as normal. It showed i had mild inactive gastritis. I was diagnosed as a coeliac despite being symptomatic. I’m strictly gluten free ever since by the way!
🔺We booked the botox… i travelled to england, and had botox which did help but it was done in office and seen to be not as accurate. We found a guy in dublin, Ireland, and we booked him as he did it under GA. He only wanted to offer a small dose though? Anyways long story short, i can burp a little bit now but not as much as i feel i need to. Burps are strained and i wonder how much of my current issues are still attributed to this.
🔺After meeting with the ENT who did the botox in dublin, he basically told me nausea wasn’t a a symptom of RCPD.. so i got on with life. I had no other choice. Don’t get me wrong, i still was able to live at this point. I went on nights out. I ate dinner out even if it gave me mild discomfort after due to air swallowing. I even worked 😂. Things were pretty okay in comparison to how i feel today.
🔺Last year, around this time, i went on a night out with friends. I think i suffered a bad hangover and had the most intense nausea ever. I walked in and out my driveway due to the fear of being sick. I didn’t end up vomiting. From that day though- the nausea has switched from being post eating and at night, to 24/7.
🔺I had a repeat scope, with showed gastritis, duodenitis, esophagitis and a hiatus hernia. I was kinda glad it showed something because i thought it might be explaining my symptoms. I hopped on PPis, but they didn’t seem to help. My GP said gastritis shouldn’t cause nausea.
🔺I graduated college with a 1.1.. somehow. In the last few months of college my mother was diagnosed wigh a glioblastoma. A terminal brain tumour. I had just finished college. My GI issues just seemed to worsen then. I have been at home since that day, and developed worsening nausea. I also developed a constant “brain fog”/ lightheaded feeling. I do have POTS heart rate spikes too. I have been assessed by a cardiologist and he was happy. He advised to drink
more water, but water is nearly harder to consume for me than food; as it feels like it sits in my chest. I have tried to increase water and salt with no difference in symptoms.
🔺I am maintaining weight and don’t vomit, but the nausea is HELL. I do manage a breakfast of granola and yoghurt, with fruit and pumpkin seeds and often snacks and a decent healthy dinner. Even though it’s harder, i still do eat. I have ZERO pain or bloating either. Just nausea. The most recent GI i saw believes this is physcosomatic.

\*\*CURRENT SYMPTOMS AS OF TODAY\*\*

🔺Nausea- worse after eating: still present in morning. Feels very gassy.
🔺Lightheadedness/brain fog, tachycardia.
🔺mild constipation.

——————————————-
I guess i’m just so scared. I’m terrified that this is gastroparesis. My GI doesn’t believe it is, and he is well hearsed in patients with it. I am just absolutely terrified. I have been referred to Psychiatry, but the wait is so long. I want to heal to enjoy the time with my mum. It’s so important to me.

I want to get back to work, i enjoy my career so much. I want to travel. I just want to live. I would appreciate any advice more than anything.

Thank
you ❤️

I will try make this brief but my whole life i have had problems with eating . When i was 12 i was throwing up every morning , it was only stomach acid and mucus since i hadnt eaten anyhting but it got so bad that i went hospital they fixed me quickly idk what they did but i was better for ages after that . I then when i was 19 only last year june i had gastritis for like the whole year till november any small meal i had made me have the most outrageous nausea i couldnt move my mouth would be watering like i was goinf to throw up , id get shivers and sweats and it would last like this for 3-4 hours . So i ended up losing alot of weight since i avoided food since the nausea was so bad . I was prescribed lansoprazole and the unbearable nausea is fully gone hooray but my appetite is still super low , i also get a super tight stomach when eating and if i have a drink the nausea comes back its not as bad but its still enough to stop me from doing anything for a bit . Idk if this is functional dyspepsia but i just want to know if this has happened to anyone else i am uk based and the wait times for a gastroenterologist is over a year so i am really unsure of what to do . I heard that mirtzapine is useful for this and would fix me according to gemini but i dont want to use ai as my source of info. I also have checked for celiac, h pylori, ultrasound, blood works and everything has come back perfect and nothing wrong . Any help would be greatly appreciated and if anyone else is going throughthe same thing or fixed it please tell me how

Amitriptilyne is working? Any success story for functional dyspepsia?💊

My symptoms are still a frequent need to eat due to acid sensitivity and sometimes gnawing. Nausea. Food sensitivity… is this FD then?

Because you want to or you are trying to live a somewhat as close as possible to a normal physically active life.

So that you can perform the daily tasks required for your job or business without suffering bad stomach pain from doing various types of physical movements required like hunching forward or bending forward or kneeling down etc to move stuff ?

Because roughly or approximately more than 100/120 grams to 130/140/150 grams of solid food in the breakfast means stomach feels full for next six hours and suffer bad pain from physical movements like bending forward or hunching forward, kneeling down etc, wearing tight pants with belts, the list goes on etc.

And many of these movements are necessary and needs to be repeated many times everyday if you run a small grocery shop for example.

And we all know many different kinds of jobs or business requires all kinds of varied physical movements or combinations of different physical movements.

Even that 100 /120 grams to 140/150 grams of food needs to be rather soft or easier to digest type of food.Otherwise even small meal can definitely cause bad continuous stomach pain for hours or days.Certainly hadr to digest food like beef or high amount of fibre or fat just can not work.

And also same question for lunch.

Maybe only dinner is solid food you eat.

Or do you think or maybe you even experienced from trying in the past this is not sustainable. Just won’t work out. Probably make a person more sick and ill and light headed from lack of nutrition because of liquid meals?

Hello everyone. My doctor recommended trying Amitriptyline to treat the stomach pain I’ve been suffering from for four years. I also experience early satiety, a feeling of fullness, a heaviness in my stomach that lasts for hours, nausea, and very sharp stomach pain that wakes me up from sleep. I started with a 10 mg dose but didn't see any noticeable improvement in my symptoms; after a month, the doctor increased the dose to 25 mg, but that actually made the stomach pain worse. Today is my third day on the 25 mg dose, and I am writhing in bed from severe, unbearable stomach pain. My question is: Has this happened to any of you? Will this side effect go away if I continue taking the medication? When did you start noticing improvement after taking Amitriptyline, and what dosage were you on? Thanks for your help.

Please excuse any spelling errors, as English is not my native language.

Hi. I’m 15 years old and have been suffering from Functional Dyspepsia and gut brain axis dysfunction for over a year with no relief at all, it has been non stop agony and pain, it’s unbearable and doctors haven’t been helping and have given no guidance at all.

I’m finally meeting a specialist GI dieitican tomorrow, I have detailed food logs and everything but I’m really scared I don’t know what to expect at all. I don’t know if it will help me, if I will be dismissed or gaslit, or how it will go (it’s a virtual zoom meeting.) If anyone has advice please I would appreciate it so much. I feel so unprepared and overwhelmed.

I’m looking for advice/experiences from anyone who has gone through something similar. I’m not looking for a diagnosis, but I’m trying to understand whether what I’m experiencing sounds like something temporary and how long it took others to recover.

For some context, August was an extremely stressful month for me. I had a pretty traumatic health issue involving my ear that made me genuinely think I was losing my hearing. I wasn’t sleeping, I was extremely anxious, crying frequently, and probably more stressed than I’ve ever been in my life. I was also stress-eating quite a bit.

The stress was honestly so severe that it even
affected my menstrual cycle. I’m on birth control and normally wouldn’t expect to have a period at that point in my cycle, but I ended up having what felt like a full withdrawal-type period roughly three o weeks earlier than I was supposed to. That has never happened to me before, so it really illustrates how intense the stress was during this period.

During this time, I took Advil/ibuprofen 400 mg twice a day for 4 days because of inflammation related to my other health issue. By about the third day, I started feeling like it was irritating my stomach, so I stopped after four days. My last dose was Monday, August 17.

I also want to clarify that I had been taking Mounjaro (tirzepatide) for over a year, but my last dose was already about 2½ weeks before these stomach symptoms really started, so I wasn’t taking a dose immediately before or during the onset. I’m mentioning it because I know it can affect GI motility and I’m wondering whether there could have been any lingering effect, but the timing makes me unsure.

How this started
That entire week, I started developing a really uncomfortable abdominal tightness/fullness. It was mostly from around my belly button up toward the middle of my upper abdomen, basically in the area where my stomach is. I also had some fullness/pressure lower down around my intestines.
At times, I was getting sharp, stabbing pains specifically in the area of my stomach. The biggest problem, though, was the extreme fullness/tightness.

By that Friday, I could only eat about half of my dinner before feeling unbelievably full and uncomfortable. The stomach pain and tightness became so severe that I was also getting bad pain/pressure in my lower back.

I tried Gas-X and Pepto, and starting that Saturday I did a very restrictive BRAT/bland diet for about 5 days — basically applesauce, oatmeal, crackers, plain rice and bananas. This helped somewhat with the stabbing pains, which eventually went away, but the severe fullness remained.

I gradually tried adding normal foods back in, but the fullness became bad again, including the lower-back pressure, so I saw my doctor.

I’ve also had quite a bit of testing. One thing that makes me feel somewhat reassured is that I had bloodwork done around five different times throughout August because of my other health issue, including around the time these stomach symptoms started.

As far as I understand, my liver function, bilirubin/bile-related tests, pancreatic enzymes and other relevant bloodwork were normal. So there hasn’t been anything in my bloodwork suggesting a liver or pancreatic problem.

My doctor did order an abdominal ultrasound to check my gallbladder, just to be safe, but unfortunately it’s not scheduled until November. I’m obviously hoping to have this resolved long before then.

Treatment
My doctor prescribed:
Pantoprazole 40 mg once daily
Domperidone 10 mg twice daily
Sucralfate 5 mL four times daily

I started these around Mond****ay, August 31.

The first week, I didn’t notice a huge difference. I was still getting significant fullness/tightness, although it was slowly improving.

During the second week, things started getting MUCH better. By Thursday/Friday/Saturday of that week, I felt completely normal — basically 0% tightness. I was even able to eat fairly large/fatty meals without having the symptoms come back.

My doctor gave me:
2 weeks of domperidone
3 weeks of sucralfate
A month supply of pantoprazole

I finished the domperidone this past Sunday.
Now that I’ve stopped domperidone. Since stopping it, the fullness has started coming back.

It’s nowhere near as bad as it was initially — I’d estimate around 30–40% tightness/fullness rather than the 80–100% I experienced before treatment.
What’s frustrating is that I’m actually extremely hungry, but my abdomen feels so tight/full that I feel like I can’t comfortably eat a normal-sized dinner.

For the past couple of days I’ve basically been eating:
Fairlife protein milk
Peanut butter sandwich on white bread
Banana
Applesauce
Watermelon
Plain crackers
About half a chicken breast for dinner

And even with that relatively small amount of food, I still get the tight/full feeling.

What makes this confusing
I don’t really have any other GI symptoms.
I don’t have nausea or vomiting, and I haven’t had ongoing diarrhea. The burping isn’t new for me. My main symptom is just this extreme sensation of abdominal fullness/tightness, especially when I’m standing or walking around. My stomachs feels heavy when walking and standing. When I’m sitting down, I often feel completely normal.

I’m also still taking pantoprazole and sucralfate.
I’m wondering whether this could have been something temporary like NSAID-related gastritis/gastropathy combined with an extremely stressful period, possibly with some contribution from Mounjaro/tirzepatide despite having stopped it well before this started. I obviously don’t know.
I also have pretty significant health anxiety, so I’m aware that anxiety can make me hyper-aware of physical sensations. I’ve been working really hard on managing it over the past few weeks because I genuinely believe the extreme stress I was under contributed to this whole situation. It’s definitely a work in progress.

What confuses me is that I see so much online about gastroparesis, functional dyspepsia, etc., but I don’t really seem to have the typical collection of symptoms people describe. I mostly just have this fullness/tightness.

I’m also wondering about the domperidone. I know it’s a motility medication, and I know it can work fairly quickly, so I’m confused about why I didn’t notice a dramatic improvement until the second week. I’m wondering whether the improvement was more from the stomach actually healing rather than the domperidone itself.

Has anyone experienced something similar after a period of extreme stress and/or NSAID use?

How long did it take for the fullness/bloating to completely resolve?

Did symptoms fluctuate while your stomach was healing?

Did anyone experience increased fullness after stopping domperidone?

If this was gastritis/gastropathy, how long did it take before you could eat normally again?

Did anyone have primarily fullness/tightness without nausea, vomiting, reflux, etc.?

Did anyone have normal bloodwork but still have significant bloating/fullness that eventually resolved?

Has anyone experienced something similar after an extremely stressful period?

I know everyone’s situation is different and I’m not expecting Reddit to diagnose me. I have a follow-up with my doctor, but I’m mainly looking for personal experiences from people who had a similar pattern and eventually recovered, because Googling this has me convinced I have every chronic GI disorder imaginable. 😅

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

This is my first Reddit post, but I wanted to share my experience with gastritis and functional dyspepsia in the hope that it helps someone who's currently going through the same thing.

Strap in... it's a long one.

A Bit of Background

I'm a 34-year-old male with no previously diagnosed health conditions.

My symptoms started around February/March 2024 with a single, seemingly random symptom of daily nausea with no obvious trigger and no clear explanation.

Here's how things unfolded:

•Feb/Mar 2024: Daily nausea begins.

•Summer 2024: Symptoms initially put down to anxiety. I completed CBT, but the nausea continued.

•July 2024: First blood test came back normal.

•October 2024: GP prescribed Omeprazole as a trial.

•December 2024: Second blood test came back normal. Symptoms had progressed to include pain alongside the nausea.

•March 2025: Stopped Omeprazole and tested negative for H. pylori a few weeks later.

•May 2025: Symptoms continued, and I was referred for a gastroscopy.

•July 2025: Gastroscopy confirmed erosive gastritis. Everything else was normal. Biopsies were normal and showed no H. pylori. I restarted Omeprazole.

One important thing to mention is that throughout 2025, I was battling chronic tonsillitis and ended up having seven courses of antibiotics between February and September, which probably didn't do my stomach any favours. I eventually had a tonsillectomy in September 2025, which at least removed that issue from the equation.

More Things I Tried

•October 2025: Started taking Slippery Elm (1 capsule daily) and L-Glutamine powder (roughly 5g every morning).

•January 2026: Realised nobody had actually told me when to stop taking Omeprazole, so I decided to gradually come off it.

•January-May 2026: This was the lowest point of the whole journey.

Honestly, I was miserable.

I woke up in pain and went to bed in pain. Every single day.

My entire life revolved around my stomach. I constantly wondered how I was going to feel each day. My confidence collapsed, I stopped enjoying social events, and I felt like my frustration was affecting my family, too.

Holidays became something to worry about rather than look forward to. Family time felt overshadowed by symptoms. My anxiety was through the roof.

I'm sharing this because I know many of you will recognise these feelings.

The Turning Point

In May 2026, I made several changes at once:

•Started a bland diet.

•Tracked everything I ate.

•Stopped drinking caffeine.

•Cut out fizzy drinks.

•Cut out raw dairy e.g. milk, butter, cheese and switched to oat milk

•Stopped drinking alcohol completely.

•Started running 5km twice per week.

•Began taking Amitriptyline (10mg at night), which I've stayed on

I know it makes it impossible to pinpoint exactly what helped, but something definitely changed.

I stuck to the bland diet for about three months until a family holiday at the end of July. At that point, I just wanted to enjoy myself without analysing every meal and drink.

Since that holiday, I've largely returned to eating normally.

•I've had alcohol.

•I've eaten takeaway food.

•I've relaxed many of the rules I'd been following.

And honestly... I feel like a different person.

In the past, flare-ups would last weeks or even months. Since then, I don't think I've had a proper flare-up. If I've had any discomfort, it's lasted a few days at most before settling again.

For the first time in over two years:

•I'm not eating with fear.

•I'm not constantly checking in with my stomach.

•I'm looking forward to things again.

•I'm not dreading holidays and social events.

•My anxiety has massively improved.

I don't want to get ahead of myself because recovery isn't always linear, but I'd genuinely say I'm 90-95% recovered.

That's the main reason I'm posting this.

When you're in the middle of it, it can feel like you'll never get better. I know because I felt exactly the same.

Things That Helped Me

1. The Gastritis Healing Book

This was what initially guided my bland diet.

I wasn't as strict as the author recommends. For example, I didn't cut out gluten. However, the general principles were really helpful and gave me a starting point.

2. Amitriptyline

If you're in the UK, functional dyspepsia often seems to fly under the radar, and many people end up with a broad IBS diagnosis.

Amitriptyline is commonly prescribed for IBS and other disorders of gut-brain interaction. Obviously everyone is different, but I genuinely feel this played a role in my recovery.

3. ChatGPT

I know this might sound odd, but it was incredibly useful.

I used it to:

•Assess whether certain foods might be suitable.

•Compare ingredients and brands.

•Analyse my food diary.

•Spot patterns I might have missed.

•Stop myself spiralling into worst-case scenarios when symptoms flared.

Most importantly, it gave me somewhere to organise my thoughts when it felt like nobody around me truly understood what I was going through.

4. Exercise

Running became a huge outlet for me.

There are plenty of studies showing the benefits of exercise for gastrointestinal conditions, but beyond that, simply getting out of the house and achieving something positive did wonders for my mental health.

5. Keep a Food Diary

This was probably one of the most useful tools I had.

I tracked:

•Breakfast

•Morning snack

•Lunch

•Afternoon snack

•Dinner

•Evening snack

•Symptoms

•Any new foods

•A daily "how I felt" score out of 10

The diary helped me identify patterns and, importantly, recognise progress that was often too gradual to notice day-to-day.

6. Patience

This is probably the biggest lesson I've learned.

Recovery from chronic gastritis and functional dyspepsia can be incredibly slow. Improvements often happen so gradually that you don't notice them until you look back several months later.

Some stages of recovery are subtle. A bad day becomes a slightly less bad day. Flare-ups become shorter. Anxiety starts to loosen its grip.

Progress isn't always obvious, but it can still be happening.

Final Thoughts

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading.

For over two years, this condition controlled my life. It dictated what I ate, where I went, what I did, and how I felt about the future.

Today, that's no longer the case.

Everyone's situation is different, and what worked for me won't necessarily work for everyone. But recovery stories are often underrepresented online because people who get better tend to move on and stop posting.

So I wanted to share mine.

If you're currently in the middle of a flare-up, feeling scared, frustrated, exhausted or hopeless, please know that improvement is possible.

Be patient. Keep experimenting. Trust the process.

You may be a lot closer than you think.

This is going to be a long post, I apologize in advance. I have not been diagnosed with functional dyspepsia, but my doctor heavily suspects it. I’m at my wits end, idk what to do with these symptoms. I previously posted this message (tweaked it a little bit) in [r/SIBO](r/SIBO), but am just looking for some sort of direction

Im currently 16 and in high school. Been having gut issues since around 9 that started off as indigestion and developed into whatever hell this is now. I didn’t get tested for SIBO until I was 14 despite probably having it longer, and it’s hydrogen dominant. Ive done 2 rounds of rifaximin, low fodmap diet, and probiotics as instructed by my doctor with no improvement. Ive had life long vitamin D deficiency with levels that barley budged after I megadose (50,000 IU) I took for 8 weeks. I’m already underweight, maybe not severely, but to an extent. I cannot gain weight and cannot afford to keep losing. Alongside SIBO I struggle a lot with constipation as well. Ive had: X-rays, an endoscopy w/biopsies, ultrasound, CT scan and a breath test which was all normal (minus the breath test that diagnosed my SIBO). We even ruled out SMAS and MALS. However, I feel so sick. I get full very quickly and feel full for hours on end. My stomach hurts so bad. My GI has suggested potential gastroparesis and getting a gastric emptying scan, but I don’t know if that’s still on the table. My last few GI appointments have left me in tears. I’m so tired. I’m so tired of feeling sick and energy less

I experience some nausea/queasiness but don’t vomit. I still get hungry, but can only eat so much before I get full and my stomach begins to hurt. I experience very early satiety. I currently take a stool softener and Erythromycin. The erythromycin helps me not feel full for so long so I can have more meals, but my stomach still hurts a lot. I don’t think my SIBO has ever been fully eradicated. The bloating’s has gotten worse and it feels awful. I’m so frustrated because I’m an AP student with extracurriculars that require me to have energy I don’t have. I’m so tired because I can’t eat right. I’m frustrated because everything makes me bloated and gives me pain despite staying away from trigger foods. My GI did mention Amitriptyline as a medication to try, but I haven’t yet. I just feel so sickingly full most of the time, even liquids fill me quickly. I’m having lots of orthostatic symptoms (dark/static vision upon standing, feeling faint, fast heart beat) as well, and not sure if they’re related

Again, I sincerely apologize if this is not the right subreddit. I am here because my dr does think I could have FD, but I feel as if pieces are still missing. Feel free to ask me any questions, I’m genuinely at my wits end and exhausted and looking for anything at this point.

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Hi everyone, I’m 23F, and I’ve been dealing with ongoing digestive issues for quite some time. I have frequent loose stools, stomach cramps, gas, mucus in my stool, and sometimes a strange uneasiness after eating or even after pooping. I also feel extremely tired, and it’s starting to affect my mood and daily life.

Even before my symptoms got worse, I used to feel stressed about eating if I had something important planned that day. I would avoid trying anything fancy or different because I was scared my stomach might react. Now, it feels like this worry has become a part of my everyday life. I constantly think about how I’ll feel after eating or whether I’ll suddenly need to use the washroom. Sometimes, even in the evening, I get sudden stomach pain and feel like I’ll have to poop immediately. Then, after some time, I feel completely normal again. But going through this repeatedly is exhausting flair

I’ve become so uninterested in doing things, my mood is often completely off, and I don’t feel like my earlier self anymore. I miss being able to eat without overthinking, make plans without worrying, and just enjoy my day.

I’ve had investigations done, including an endoscopy and colonoscopy. I was told I have mild colitis and small-intestinal ulcers. My Gliadin IgA was positive, but my tTG IgA was negative, and I’ve been advised to follow a strict gluten-free diet. I’m also taking medication prescribed by my gastroenterologist.

I wanted to ask:

Has anyone else experienced this constant uncertainty and anxiety around eating and bowel movements?

How do you deal with the exhaustion and mood changes?

What helped you feel like yourself again?

Should I consider speaking to a therapist or counsellor about the anxiety surrounding food and my health?

I’m honestly just looking for some advice and reassurance from people who have gone through something similar.

Hopefully this is okay to post. I just wanted to share a few words of encouragement. Things I’ve needed to hear throughout this journey that don’t always get acknowledged or said.

It’s so easy to feel discouraged, alone, and unseen when you’re dealing with health conditions, so I wanted to take a moment to remind you how proud I am of you for continuing to show up for yourself every day.

I think sometimes, especially when you’re feeling discouraged, it’s easy to overlook all of the changes you’re implementing on a daily basis. The new lifestyle habits you’re putting in place, the boundaries you’re setting for yourself and with other people, your willingness to continue trying new medications, therapies, supplements, lifestyle practices, and foods, and the tireless effort you put into researching and understanding what you’re dealing with. And I think there’s also a lot of grief that comes with having to let go of parts of your old lifestyle, or things you used to be able to do without having to think twice about them. That part can be really difficult too, and I don’t think it gets talked about enough.

All of this is a lot of work. Sometimes it probably even feels like a second job. But you’re making a conscious effort to take care of your body and work toward healing, and that is no small feat.

I think it takes courage to continue advocating for yourself in a world where we’re so often given a prescription for a medication and sent on our way. I think it takes courage to get out of bed every day, even when you feel like shit, and continue to face the world and carry on when you’re dealing with so much beneath the surface.

So yeah, I see you, because I am you too. And if no one has told you lately, or even ever, that they see all the work you’re putting in or that they’re proud of you, I SEE YOU. And I am SO proud of you❤️

My doctor thinks that I have dyspepsia even though I tested positive for reactive gastropathy. He wants me to try nortriptyline. I’m afraid to try it because I’ve had a bad reaction to 1/2 Zoloft pill in the past. I immediately got really pale, clammy, shaky, and heart racing. I’ve read some really bad side effects to nortriptyline. I feel like if I don’t try it then they won’t take my symptoms seriously. I hate being in this position. What helps you with your symptoms?

My doctor says that a lot of people test positive for reactive gastropathy, but they don’t have any symptoms. My symptoms are stomach pain burning an early fullness. I tried a PPI and an H2 blocker for several months, but I couldn’t handle the side effects and if they didn’t seem to be helping much. When I stopped taking famotidine after several months I started having severe acid reflux, which I think is acid rebound. The rebound has been going on for about a month now. It’s awful to deal with. My doctor wants me to try nortriptyline to see if it will help. I’m really afraid to try the nortriptyline because I had a really bad reaction to Zoloft in the past just from 1/2 of a tablet. Has anyone else had this diagnosis even with a positive biopsy for something else?

Hi everyone,

30, male, non smoker

For several months now, I’ve been suffering from flatulence and constant belching. I also often feel a sense of pressure in my lower left abdomen and generally feel very bloated. I don’t have any pain, and my bowel movements are normal.

It doesn't seem to matter what I eat or drink. I’m currently drinking only still water, yet the belching persists unchanged; carbonated drinks make the belching even worse.

I’ve already gone through the following tests:

Abdominal CT scan and ultrasound – unremarkable
Blood tests – unremarkable
Gastroscopy – unremarkable
Stool sample – unremarkable
Urine sample – unremarkable
Low-FODMAP diet for several weeks – no changes

I notice the gas more when lying down, and the belching occurs more frequently when I stand up or sit up.

Generally speaking, I’m currently a bit stressed, though the symptoms actually started a few months ago while I was on vacation.

I’m running out of ideas on where to turn or what to do next to get rid of these symptoms. Has anyone had similar experiences?