I have gastritis and I am now on medication, but before the benefits of medication, I relied on Gaviscon, Maalox, etc. This helped me very much. Do you have GERD? When you have gastritis (which is inflammation of the lining of the stomach) you also get acid reflux because of it. If you do have GERD (which is most likely causing the pain) Gaviscon and Maalox really helped even though it felt like I was sometimes guzzling the stuff like water! I don't think there are any side-effects of using them. You can take them with or without food and at anytime of the day. My doctor said I can still take them on bad days even with my medication so I always keep a bottle handy under the bathroom counter!