Ask a doctor on the topic of General medicine

Gastritis

July 11, 2012 | 20,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Frauke Gehring

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am 20 years old and had gastritis twice when I was 15-16 years old. At that time, blood was taken to find the cause, but nothing was found in the blood. I suspect, as does my psychiatrist, that I get it due to my mental situation. Then I had no complaints for about 2-3 years. About 2 weeks ago, I had gastritis again, I went to the doctor and the doctor prescribed me a medication that reduces stomach acid. After about 7-9 days, I was calm again and could eat normally without pain. Of course, I avoided very fatty foods. I was fine for 6 days and now I have problems again. Normally, with gastritis, I always have normal temperature and never have diarrhea. Yesterday I woke up with intestinal cramps and had very thin diarrhea (but it looks normal, no blood or anything) and a slightly elevated temperature... so I first thought it might be a stomach flu or something, but I still have occasional stabbing pain in the stomach and abdominal area. I really don't know what this is now. Can you have diarrhea and an elevated temperature with gastritis? Tomorrow morning I will go to the doctor, but I also wanted to ask the question here. I will have an endoscopy in August.
I also have no appetite at all, even though I only ate a single scrambled egg today.

Another question would be, is there a painkiller that you can take for severe stomach pain? You always hear that it's not good for stomach problems, but sometimes it's so severe that I can't stand it and even go to the hospital, especially if it's a Sunday for example. I would appreciate it if there was a painkiller for such acute cases (maybe Paracetamol suppositories?? I used to take that, but unfortunately it didn't work back then).

Kind regards

Dr. med. Frauke Gehring

Good evening,

Gastritis does not cause diarrhea or fever, so you likely have a gastrointestinal infection. During this time, you should not eat much, just a little white bread; and drink plenty of tea!
You probably also have gastritis, which you can treat well with acid blocker capsules. The duration of treatment was too short, you should not stop after a good week, but continue for about 4 weeks after the symptoms have ended, so that everything can heal properly! Therefore, you should start the treatment again soon. Inflammation cannot be seen in the blood, but in endoscopy. This is where stomach bacteria (Helicobacter) are found, which some people carry and can cause stomach pain during times of stress. When these bacteria are treated with antibiotics, the pain often stops permanently! That's why endoscopy is important.
Paracetamol does not work against stomach pain, but Novalgin does; however, this is only available by prescription. However, under acid-blocking therapy, you should not experience such severe pain.

I wish you all the best!

Warm regards, Dr. Höllering (Specialist in Internal and General Medicine)