Is Omeprazole responsible for my heart / chest pain?
Posted , 5 users are following.
hi
I'm 44 and I've been on Omeprazole for a year now, had 168 20mg tablets in that time, and 56 20mg tablets in the past 7-8 weeks. I was prescribed it for abdominal pain, never had acid reflux in my life, and never even taken a Rennie.
4 weeks ago I started getting a pain in my lower back at the base of my spine. That spread to cover my whole abdomen and my legs / thighs and lasted 24/7 for two whole weeks on an 8/10 scale.
It then subsided but was still there intermittently, but I started getting chest pain over my heart and heart palpitations, as well as pain in my upper spine and upper back. I've currently had chest pain continuously for the past 24 hours. I can't sleep horizontally anymore as I get a racing heart that wakes me up in the night. I have to sleep sitting up. I've also got a pain in my right calf that developed 12 days ago and hasn't gone away.
I'm a non-smoker who doesn't eat red meat, and eats a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, nuts and wholewheat. I feel like I'm having serious cardiovascular problems that I wouldn't expect to have. Looking online and on forums like this it seems other people have experienced the same side effects of Omeprazople.
I've been to A&E twice and had ECG's as well as having one at my GP's. I'm going to request a 24 hour ECG as well as LDL cholesterol and CRP blood tests. Does anyone else think my problems may well stem from Omeprazole. I keep thinking I'm going to have a heart attack, but looking on here it seems others have had the same experience and pulled through. I'm not taking any more Omeprazole but I do wonder if it is to blame has it done any long term damage to my heart and arteries?
0 likes, 11 replies
Tomatom
Posted
forgot to say I'm 180cm tall and weigh 70kg with no family history of heart problems, so really wouldn't expect to be having chest pains / heart palpitations.
marge65643 Tomatom
Posted
One of the problems with Omeprazole is it's ability to limit your iron absorption. If you don't eat red meat you may be low in iron to begin with and Omeprazole just makes it worse. Please have your doctor check your iron levels, especially your ferritin. If they are low, you will need to supplement with a good form of iron (Fumerate in capsules seems to work best for me). My low back and leg pain get much better when my ferritin is at least 40 ng/mL and better when I'm at or above 50. Very hard to get there with this drug. I take 18 mg of fumerate morning and night. Omeprazole is now being used as a treatment for people with iron storage disease because it drops the ferritin level very quickly and keeps it there without supplementation. Again, check with your doc on your iron markers, not just Hgb, before you take any iron!
Tomatom marge65643
Posted
I think my iron levels are ok. I eat plenty of spinach every day and take A-Z multivitamins & minerals. My stools were often pretty dark in colour when I was taking omeprazole so maybe some of it wasn't getting absorbed. They've actually got lighter in colour since I stopped taking it.
marge65643 Tomatom
Posted
Tomatom marge65643
Posted
I'll get my iron levels checked. Also going to get vitamin B12 levels checked as my symptoms might fit pernious anaemia, and my magnesium levels too. Might also try to get my homocystene levels checked as a lack of vitamin B12 would affect them.
Guest Tomatom
Posted
You've been on it for a year so I doubt that it did any damage to you in just one year. That's nearly impossible. Have you had any checkups previously (Heart ultrasound, abdomen ultrasound).
If you have not then do it to. Just so you keep yourself calm.
Why were you taking omeprazole? Do you have a stomach or esophagus condition? If not then there is no reason to be on this drug.
Tomatom Guest
Posted
Thanks for the reassurance. No ultrasound checkups. I'd like them but am in the UK and getting anything other than pills out of my NHS GPs is next to impossible. Are all GPs like that nowadays or am I just at a bad surgery? Unfortunately I don't have private medical insurance but might look into paying for heart ultrasound and abdomen ultrasound out of my savings.
Good question why I was prescribed omeprazole, particularly a fairly high dosage (40mg a day). I went to the GP with intermittent abdominal pains, either side of my navel. I've never had any acid reflux so don't know why i was prescribed it. I've asked one of them and he just shrugged and said 'we only get 10 minutes with each patient to do a diagnosis'.
To be fair it did clear up my abdominal pains for a few months at a time. I'm just concerned about the side effects I've read about it, and how it may inhibit the uptake of nitric oxide by the heart and blood vessels, leading to arterial plaque growth. Hopefully my chest pains might just be costochondritis or something else like that, and my other pains unrelated. I'll just have to push my GP for more tests to see, and eat as many heart healthy foods and supplements as possible in the mean time just in case.
Guest Tomatom
Posted
Look, people have been on this drug on 40mg omeprazole daily for 20 years! So let's say that you need to take this drug on a daily basis which you don't and I doubt that you would ever, still, you would be safe with this drug in the next 5 years or so.
I' m on it for 6 years nearly and didn't have any side effects whatsoever. Just helped tremendously so that I can eat pretty much everything I want.
Omeprazole 20mg is a maintaining dose, 40 mg is indeed a higher dose but still inside the intervals, above 40 mg is considered really high dose.
I don't know why the stupid doctor prescribed 40mg of omeprazole daily. That is insane. If she he doesn't have any evidence of your condition then this is the wrong way to go! She could have given you H2 blockers like Zantac or something (generic: ranitidine). The exact same thing happened to my father, he has also been given this exact same dose because he was just complaining about some chest pain! Ridiculous!
Nevertheless, if it helped, then it could have been something, but maybe it acted as a placebo, who knows.
Try and do some ultrasound even though it’s expensive.
I used to live in London-Wimbledon Village, Belvedere drive, when I was a kid (13 years of age). I went to the GP and she was also limited with time, after that I went to a private hospital to see a neurologist and he charged 150 pounds for 20 minute talk!! Insane.
Unfortunately, it all comes down to cash, once you get your heart checked I believe you’ll be fine.
Sir, take care.
Tomatom Guest
Posted
Thanks for the reassurance and the sage advice. I've had pain constantly in quite a few parts of my body for the past month and it's started to wear me down. Particularly the chest pain over the heart for the past 2.5 weeks. I'm seeing my GP on Friday, I'll speak to him about getting more tests done and maybe referring me for an ultrasound privately. I've got savings and you can't put a price on your health.
rodger1 Tomatom
Posted
The lower back pains and down into the legs rings a bell. I was having all sorts of things diagnosed for my back - the last was surgery. Anyway, I weaned myself off Omeprazole and in a matter of weeks my back pains subsided an now after being off Omep for more than year, my back hardly causes any problems anymore. I have now read that omep depletes magnesium and perhaps calcium and so I have been taking supplements of these, so that may also be helping.
If I was you I would try to stop the Omep and see if the other issues reduce or not. If they are going to reduce it should be noticeable within 2 weeks.
see if you can get something else for abdominal pain - from a different chemical group than Omep.
Tomatom rodger1
Posted
Thanks rodger1
I've stopped taking the omeprazole and won't take it again. Will just have to see if the pains subside as a result. Eating lots of magnesium rich foods to see if it helps.
Will definitely try something different for the abdominal pains. Maybe ranitidine if they are acid related, as that's easily available and cheap, and seems to have less severe side effects than omeprazole.