Severe heartburn, and gallstones!

Welcome to e health forum. ‎

Gastritis pain occurs in the left upper portion of the abdomen and in the back. The pain seems to travel ‎‎‎‎‎from the belly to the back. Other symptoms of gastritis include - Belching, Nausea and vomiting, ‎‎‎‎‎Bloating, Feeling of fullness or burning in the upper part of the belly. ‎

When the pain increases with food, and causes difficulty to eat and is not helped by regular ‎medications, then possibility of ulceration of the gastric or duodenal mucosa and / or chronic H Pylori ‎infection needs to be suspected. ‎

You should consult with a gastroenterologist, who if needed can order barium swallow and / or ‎‎endoscopy which may help to make the proper diagnosis and provide specific treatment. ‎

For the time being, you may need to avoid foods that are spicy and with high fat content. Avoid foods ‎‎like - puddings, breads, bagels and pretzels are usually made with white flour and refined sugar ‎; ‎‎‎vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, all kinds of beans and legumes, full fat milk, onions and green ‎‎‎peas should be avoided. ‎Cured meats and high fat meat products such as sausages, salami, ham, ‎‎bacon, and Red meats like beef and lamb‎ should be reduced in consumption or avoided totally. ‎

Juicy fruits such as pears, oranges, sweet limes, watermelons, cantaloupes etc help a lot to control the ‎‎‎symptoms. ‎

Eat at regular times each day. Divide your food into six small meals unless you have trouble ‎getting ‎enough to eat. Eating too often can increase the acid in your stomach. ‎
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Choose low fat or fat-free dairy foods whenever possible. This will also help control stomach acid ‎‎production. ‎
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I hope this helps.‎

Well...I had my gallbladder removed 11 days ago. Still have heartburn like crazy. I have stayed away from caffeine, fat foods, etc. Eating barely anything, and when I do it's bland like brown rice. I feel horrible My doctor put my on prevacid and pepcid, and is referring me to a gastrologist. Hopefully I can be seen soon!

This is why they wanted to get rid of the heartburn and gastritis before they removed the gallbladder. Many people have gallstones without symptoms and many people have heartburn and gastritis without having gallstones. When they said they didn't know why the stomach was inflamed, most likely they just didn't find H. pylori which is a command and easily treatable cause. Sometimes the heartburn and gastritis may be the result of gallbladder problems such as bile reflux or just general inability to eat a sensible diet with gallstones.

So you may have had surgery for no good reason and you're still sick. Keep with the pills and tests and see if you can cure it or narrow down to a particular cause. PPIs are typically taken for a minimum of a month and sometimes for several months to "cure" gastritis. For that time you are quite likely to have indigestion as a side-effect and might not feel much better until you stop with the pills.