re: autoimmune gastritis what do you know

Best of luck with your son. I’ve said a prayer for him.

Eosinophil levels high?

Even if not the case here, this is true. A lot of issues start bc the gut is off. No experience with human med., but in the pet world, a holistic vet will look into gut health for certain issues. Even as something such as bad itching vs just injecting meds and sending on.

OP, I hope things settle for your son quickly. And the docs can help him. In addition to any discomfort for him, as a parent, we feel hopeless when our kids suffer.

We are going to try gluten free to see.

He is likely in a "flare" state currently and his immune system is targeting the stomach cells. Prednisone is a steroid commonly used to get things settled temporarily (not a long term solution). Getting him into a maintenance stage of managing they symptoms will be critical. The iron and B12 are treating the symptoms of vitamin deficiency but a long term solution could be through immunosuppressants or H2 blockers. Diet, exercise, and daily vitamin consumption will be a major factor in the overall well being of this fella.


-not a DR

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We are going to try gluten free to see.

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Highly recommend good celiac testing such as antibodies plus genetics that are done at labs like Prometheus. They are expensive but worth it IMO.
Going gluten free is really hard to do correctly especially if you are dealing with true celiac disease which may not be the case.

There's some good leads regarding diet/lifestyle and while you should obviously listen to doctors, you should be careful to assess if the doctor is just trying to put your son on a medication vs trying to understand the cause.

CoachChappy's post about inflammation is largely true... the current damage to the stomach lining is a function of chronic inflammation damaging the tissue due to the chronic underlying condition (whether genetic, dietary, environmental, or otherwise). The condition needs to be identified, but it is likely that something in the diet is exacerbating the inflammation and furthering the damage.

I suspect if you study "anti-inflammatory diet", you will find some overlap with other advice in this thread. But it might run counter to other advice. Until you do figure out what is either causing it or aggravating it, you and your son may have to carefully test different things. Typical anti-inflammatory diets recommend staying away from red meat. Anecdotally, some people claim going on a carnivore diet cured them of similar conditions. Each of us has a unique body chemistry which makes it difficult to point to a one size fits all solution in modern diets.

I'd also consider having him try intermittent fasting to give his stomach a rest, as well as adding probiotics/prebiotics and fermented food.