Question: I have been having stomach issues for over a year. After an endoscopy from my GI specialist, he diagnosed me with severe chronic gastritis in addition to a hiatal hernia. I have taken muiltiple rounds of Prilosec, Pravacid, Protonix, which seems to heal my stomach for a while. Once the treatment is over, my condition begins to return with the burning sensation in my stomach. I have greatly reduced acidic foods and drinks and currently manage my condition with 300 mg of Zantec daily at 4pm. I feel fine until about 1 or 2 pm the following day then the burning begins again. I also take .5 mg of Ativan daily to relax the stomach muscles and assist with my stress level. I have tried natural remedies such as coconut water, DGL licorice, and pro-biotics, which mildly help. Early on, I was also diagnosed with C-diff, which was treated shortly thereafter. I have re-checked for this bacteria and I remain negative. My stool is also negative of any parasites, bacteria and blood. My blood work has also been normal. Prior to my stomach issues beginning, I also developed a staph infection with boils inside my nose, which kept reoccurring every few months. I have not had any boils for a while after a round of antibiotics. I also tested positive for many food allergies which my allergist explained I may or may not have any reactions. I have never reacted to any food in terms of hives or rashes. Nevertheless I avoid most of those foods. I also suspected that I was suffering from a lack of stomach acid. I experimented by drinking water with a little raw distilled XXXXXXX cider vinegar. My stomach seemed to feel better within a half hour but my stomach felt worse the following day. It almost appears my stomach was lacking acid on the short-term but then became irritated long-term with the vinegar. At this point I am at a lost of my next step. I do not want to continue taking Zantac daily to manage my stomach issues. Thank you for any insight you could provide.

Thank you for your response. I was negative for hpylori and gastric cancer. I am trying to avoid PPIs for long term use because of the side effects, anxiety, headaches, etc. Is there anything else I can check for to explain the overproduction of stomach acid. Prior to this condition, I was under a tremendous amount of stress and drinking a lot of alcohol which I am convinced triggered my condition. However, shouldn't my stomach heal completely and revert to the condition it once was? Also, would you recommend I try a different PPI such as Nexium, which is probably the only PPI I have not tried. Thanks again.