Yes, it can, says Supriya Rao, MD, a gastroenterology, internal medicine, obesity medicine, and lifestyle medicine physician and a professor of gastroenterology at Tufts University in Massachusetts, where she treats people with digestive health issues, including gastritis.
“If you’ve had gastritis before, pregnancy can make it flare,” Dr. Rao says. “This is due to hormonal shifts, slower motility and the pressure of your growing uterus on your GI tract. Even stress can make symptoms worse.”
That said, pregnancy may not affect gastritis severity at all for some people, says the obstetrician/gynecologist Sarah Običan, MD, an associate professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of South Florida and medical director of MotherToBaby Florida, nonprofit providing evidence-based information on the benefit or risk of medications to pregnant and breastfeeding women.
If you’ve already been working with a gastroenterologist or a registered dietitian to manage your gastrointestinal symptoms through medication and lifestyle intervention, this could help lessen any symptoms you have, she says.
“In general, I warn [patients] that it may worsen during pregnancy, but sometimes the medication and adjustments they’re currently on will help them transition where it won’t be that bad in pregnancy at all,” Dr. Običan says.
This is different from a true gastritis diagnosis, which is tied to inflammation in the stomach lining. “What most pregnant women are feeling is more likely due to reflux and slowed digestion, not true gastritis,” Rao says. “That being said the symptoms can overlap and it’s easy to confuse them.”
