Gastritis means the lining of your stomach is inflamed. It’s one of the most common things we find at a gastroscopy, and it usually settles once the cause is dealt with. This guide explains what causes it, the tests you might be offered, how it’s treated in the UK, and what you can do yourself while it heals.
Key points
- Gastritis is inflammation of the stomach lining. It can cause burning pain, indigestion, nausea or feeling full quickly, but it can also cause no symptoms at all.
- The commonest causes are H. pylori infection, anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen and aspirin, and alcohol.
- Treatment means dealing with the cause, plus medicine to reduce stomach acid while the lining heals.
- Most people get better within weeks. See your GP if indigestion lasts more than a few weeks or keeps coming back.
- Get help urgently if you vomit blood, pass black poo, find it hard to swallow, or are losing weight without trying.
What is gastritis?
Your stomach is lined with a layer that protects it from its own acid. When that lining becomes irritated or damaged, it becomes inflamed, and that’s gastritis.[4]
Doctors sometimes divide it into two types:
- Acute gastritis comes on suddenly, often after a trigger such as a course of anti-inflammatory painkillers or heavy drinking. It usually settles quickly once the trigger is removed.
- Chronic gastritis develops slowly and can last for months or years, most often because of a long-standing H. pylori infection.
If the lining is worn away in places, it’s called erosive gastritis. Erosions can bleed, and if they go deeper they can become a stomach ulcer.
One thing that confuses a lot of people: “gastritis” is often used loosely to describe indigestion. Strictly speaking, it’s something seen on a gastroscopy or confirmed by a biopsy. You can have indigestion without gastritis, and gastritis without indigestion.[3]
Symptoms
Symptoms vary a lot from person to person. The most common are:
- a burning or gnawing pain in the upper middle part of your tummy, just below the ribs
- indigestion, or feeling uncomfortably full soon after starting a meal
- feeling sick (nausea), and sometimes being sick
- bloating and burping
- loss of appetite
Many people with gastritis, particularly from H. pylori, have no symptoms at all. It’s often found by chance during a test for something else.[6]
Get medical help urgently if you have:
- vomited blood, or vomit that looks like coffee grounds
- black, sticky or tarry poo
- severe tummy pain that is getting worse
- difficulty swallowing, or food sticking on the way down
- unexplained weight loss, especially if you are 55 or over[2]
- vomiting that won’t stop
For bleeding, severe pain or feeling faint, call 999 or go to A&E. For the other symptoms, contact your GP the same day or call NHS 111.
What causes gastritis?
H. pylori infection
Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that lives in the stomach lining. It’s very common, often picked up in childhood, and many people carry it for years without knowing. It’s the most common cause of chronic gastritis and of stomach ulcers, which is why testing for it is one of the first things your GP will do.[1,6]
Anti-inflammatory painkillers (NSAIDs)
Ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac and aspirin, including low-dose aspirin taken for the heart, reduce the stomach’s natural protection. The risk is higher if you take them regularly, at higher doses, are older, or also take steroids or blood thinners.[3,5]
Alcohol
Alcohol irritates the stomach lining directly, and heavy drinking is a common cause of acute gastritis.[4]
Less common causes
- Severe physical stress, such as major surgery, serious burns or critical illness. Everyday emotional stress doesn’t cause gastritis, although it can make indigestion feel worse.
- Bile reflux, where bile flows back from the small bowel into the stomach.
- Autoimmune gastritis, where the immune system attacks the stomach lining. It can lead to vitamin B12 deficiency (pernicious anaemia) and sometimes iron deficiency.
- Smoking, which slows healing and makes ulcers more likely.
Tests you may be offered
A test for H. pylori
If you have ongoing indigestion, your GP will usually offer a breath test or a stool (poo) test for H. pylori. These are simple and painless.[1] Our guide to H. pylori tests explains how to prepare so the result can be trusted.
Before an H. pylori test: stop acid-reducing tablets such as omeprazole or lansoprazole for 2 weeks, and don’t have the test within 4 weeks of taking antibiotics. Otherwise the test can give a false negative. Ask your GP or pharmacist what you can take instead in the meantime, such as an antacid.
Blood tests
A full blood count checks for anaemia, which can be a sign of slow bleeding from the stomach. Your GP may also check your iron and vitamin B12 levels.[3,7]
Gastroscopy
A gastroscopy is a camera test that looks directly at the lining of your food pipe, stomach and the first part of your small bowel. Small samples (biopsies) can be taken painlessly at the same time. You’re likely to be referred for one if you have any of the warning signs above, if symptoms don’t settle with treatment, or depending on your age and other symptoms. [2] Our gastroscopy guide explains what happens, and some units offer a thinner transnasal endoscopy instead.
What “gastritis” on your report usually means
I perform endoscopy procedures as a regular part of my work, and “gastritis” is one of the most common words I write on a report. I know it can sound alarming when you read it at home later.
Most of the time it means mild redness or inflammation that will settle with treatment. If your report mentions biopsies, they’re usually taken to check for H. pylori or to look at the lining more closely, not because we’re expecting something serious.
We’ll usually go through your report with you before you go home, and explain what we found and what happens next. If anything still worries you afterwards, ask the team who did your test or your GP to go through it again. That’s what we’re there for.
Ben JohnsonAdvanced Clinical Practitioner, Gastroenterology
How gastritis is treated
Treatment has two parts: dealing with the cause, and protecting the stomach lining while it heals.
Treating H. pylori
If you test positive, you’ll be offered “eradication therapy”: a 7-day course of two antibiotics plus an acid-reducing tablet (a proton pump inhibitor, or PPI), taken twice a day. Taking every dose, even if you feel better, gives the best chance of clearing the infection. Side effects such as a metallic taste, loose stools or feeling sick are common and usually mild.[1]
A repeat test isn’t needed routinely afterwards, but your doctor may arrange one if symptoms continue or if you had an ulcer.
Reviewing painkillers
If anti-inflammatory painkillers are the likely cause, your GP will usually suggest stopping them, or switching to paracetamol if that suits you. Don’t stop low-dose aspirin or any blood-thinning medicine prescribed for your heart or circulation without speaking to your doctor first. If you need to keep taking them, a PPI can protect your stomach.[3]
Reducing stomach acid
Acid-reducing medicines give the lining a chance to heal:
- Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as omeprazole and lansoprazole are the most effective. A course usually lasts 4 to 8 weeks.[1]
- H2 blockers such as famotidine are an alternative for some people.
- Antacids and alginates (for example Gaviscon) relieve symptoms quickly but don’t heal the lining. They’re useful as-needed while other treatment starts to work.
Once you’re better, the aim is to use the lowest dose that keeps symptoms away, or to stop altogether. If you’ve been on a PPI for a long time, it’s worth asking for a review. Our acid reflux guide explains how to take a PPI so it works properly.[1]
What you can do yourself
- Eat smaller meals more often, rather than two or three large ones.
- Notice which foods and drinks make your symptoms worse, and cut down on those. Common triggers include spicy, fatty or fried food, coffee, fizzy drinks and citrus, but everyone is different.
- Cut down on alcohol, or stop while your stomach heals.
- If you smoke, stopping helps your stomach heal and lowers your risk of ulcers. Your GP or pharmacist can help.
- Use paracetamol rather than ibuprofen for aches and pains, if that’s suitable for you.
- Leave 2 to 3 hours between your last meal and bedtime if you have night-time symptoms.
There’s no single “gastritis diet” backed by strong evidence. A food and symptom diary for a week or two is often the quickest way to spot your own triggers. You can download a free one here.
How long does gastritis take to heal?
Acute gastritis often settles within days to a few weeks once the trigger is removed. Gastritis caused by H. pylori usually improves over several weeks after successful treatment. If your symptoms haven’t improved after a few weeks of treatment, or they keep coming back, go back to your GP.
Frequently asked questions
Is gastritis serious?
Usually not. Most gastritis settles with treatment. Untreated, long-term gastritis can sometimes lead to ulcers or, rarely, other problems, which is why finding and treating the cause matters.
Can stress cause gastritis?
Severe physical stress, such as major surgery or critical illness, can. Everyday emotional stress doesn’t damage the stomach lining in the same way, but it can make indigestion feel worse, so managing stress can still help.
Can gastritis turn into cancer?
Stomach cancer is uncommon in the UK. Long-term H. pylori infection does increase the risk slightly, and treating the infection reduces it. That’s one reason testing and treatment are recommended. If you have any of the warning signs listed above, see your GP promptly.
Can I drink coffee with gastritis?
Coffee can make symptoms worse for some people. Try cutting down or stopping for a couple of weeks and see whether it makes a difference.
Will I need to take omeprazole for ever?
Most people don’t. A course of 4 to 8 weeks is common, and then the aim is the lowest dose that controls symptoms, or none at all. Speak to your GP before stopping, because stopping suddenly can cause a short-lived rebound in symptoms.
References
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and dyspepsia in adults: investigation and management (CG184). 2014, updated 2019. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg184
- NICE. Suspected cancer: recognition and referral (NG12), section 1.2. Amended 2025. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng12
- NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries. Dyspepsia: unidentified cause. https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/dyspepsia-unidentified-cause/
- nidirect (NHS information for Northern Ireland). Gastritis. https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/conditions/gastritis
- NHS. Stomach ulcer. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stomach-ulcer/
- Malfertheiner P, Megraud F, Rokkas T, et al. Management of Helicobacter pylori infection: the Maastricht VI/Florence consensus report. Gut 2022;71:1724–1762. https://gut.bmj.com/content/71/9/1724
- Snook J, et al. British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines for the management of iron deficiency anaemia in adults. Gut 2021;70:2030–2051. https://gut.bmj.com/content/70/11/2030
