Unlike a lot of the early criticism, I think having health items being a crafted, expendable resource is a part of the game’s identity and it should not be removed. However, I propose an alternative to win both sides over.
I think that health items used during combat should only be ‘expended’ once one leaves (defeated enemy, fleeing) combat. By ‘expended,’ I mean that the health items used are gone after death. This means that when you are banging your head against the same enemy for 15 deaths, your health items will be that of how they were before combat. It is only after you defeat the enemy, or flee, that the game ‘saves’ that you used those health items.