Omeprazole not working

i have been on omeprazole for three years 20mg daily due to arthritis medication. The first time i took 1 within an hour i had pins and needles in my head, arms and legs followed by blurred vision and dizziness to the point of passing out. After that episode i rarely took them, only when i had really bad heartburn. 9 months ago my arthritis medication was increased and Dr told me i MUST take my omeprazole daily, within a 2 months i had daily bouts of pain at the top of my stomach and more dizzy spells. Dr assured me dizziness was down to my other medication and omeprazole was upped to 40mg to stop stomach discomfort. Since then dizziness to the point of fainting lasts up to three hours a day every day along with pins and needles, chest pain and severe full body tremors, severe pressure feeling at top of neck or base of skull and cant cope with noise. Was sent for ct and mri scans all came back clear :? Last week i discovered this forum and dicided to stop taking and the last 3 days have been brilliant :D until today when i took 1 to see wot would happen . Hopefully my 9 months of scans, visits to casualty and numerous Dr appointments is over.

Hi shaun31

I am also getting body tremors especially during the night, its so bad that it wakes me up. Has your Dr confirmed this is due to Acid Reflux as my Dr is completely baffled!

I have now stopped taking Omeprazole as they were not really doing anything and not impressed with all the side effects. I dont know if its wishfull thinking, but for the past week I have been drinking Cloudy Apple Juice throughout the day and I feel so much better. Would love to hear if anyone has tried this and the results.

Hi Indie, Dr seemed to think the tremours were due to other medication which he stopped, this made no improvement so i was sent for mri scan to see if the tremours were related to pressure feeling at the base of the skull, this came back clear. I have an appointment with Dr on tuesday and will question him over the omeprazole.

I was given omeprazole a year or so ago and it did work after a few weeks but I started having it quite badly again. I have had an endoscopy which found polyps in my stomach and also the muscle at the top of the stomach was slightly open so it meant acid could come up. I was told to raise the end of my bed so my head was higher than my feet but I very rarely get heartburn at night. Lately, within a few minutes of getting up the heartburn starts. Some days are worse than others. I haven't been taking the omeprazole every day because I have read of the side effects and I don't see why taking something that causes those effects and doesn't work anyway is a bit pointless.

I read a long time ago that vinegar will immediately stop the heartburn because, apparently it causes the muscle at the top of the stomach to close. The dose that was recommended was one tablespoon but I thought that I'd try a teaspoon first and it worked. I did try it a couple of times and it was miraculous but when I told the doctor her eyebrows went sky high! One thing I do know that also works and there is quite a lot of information about it is CHEWING GUM. Chew for at least 30 minutes and it will either cure the heartburn or stop it coming, all to do with creating more saliva which dilutes the acid. Doesn't work for everyone but worth a try and I have been using it for a long time and it's far more effective than the omeprazole.

I went to my gp because I was getting heartburn and indigestion every day and it was getting no better after taking gaviscon. I was prescribed omeprazole and found it wasnt working at all after taking it for a couple of weeks. My gp then prescribed ranitidine which I took for two weeks and found that wasnt working either. Another gp suggested I take both ranitidine and omeprazole which I found helped a bit - although it still hasnt worked completely. I'm now concerned that I have something seriously wrong as every day I have a pain in my chest, indigestion or some form of heartburn. Has anyone else had similar symptoms? and if so, what was the outcome?

Could it be Kidney Stones?

Hi Indie,

I'm going to have an endescopy on Friday to see if they can find out what it is. I was told by the hospital to stop taking the omeprazole two weeks before the endescopy which I have done. Although I'm dreading the endescopy, I'm looking forward to having it done to find out whats wrong.

christina27, please don't worry about the endoscopy, I'm sure it won't be half as bad as you think it's going to be. I am a born worrier and when I knew I had to have one for my heartburn I was looking up messageboards and looking at videos of people having them which made me feel even worse. One woman said that she felt that she had been violated! I practised sticking my fingers as near to the back of my throat as I could so that I got used to the feeling and to help stop the gagging reflex. On the day I was remarkably calm, after having spent a horrendous night and it certainly helped that the doctor who did the endoscopy was calm and explained everything he was about to do and what he was doing. He sprayed some stuff on the back of my throat to numb it and it was horrible and turned out to be worse than the endoscopy! The room was fairly dark and I caught a glimpse of the light on the end of the endoscope and wondered how I would manage to swallow it but the doctor put it very slowly in and asked me to swallow which I did and it was down. Oh, by the way, I didn't have a sedative before because it would have meant having to hang around longer after. Anyway, the whole thing only took about five minutes and the doctor explained everything he was seeing and how far he had got then told me he would be slowly pulling it out and it was over. He was very impressed with how calm I had been and in fact said that I was a model patient and he could use me as a teaching aid, all that after me worrying myself to death the night before! He explained what he had found which were a few polyps in my stomach, something that they don't do anything about but will do if they are in the gut, also the muscle that keeps the stomach closed was partly open and he showed me on the screen. I was given a print out of his findings and told I could go home. I couldn't believe how much I had worried when there was no need.

I'm sure you know that stress can cause all sorts of stomach problems and perhaps when you've had the endoscopy and you're told the results your heartburn will miraculously disappear! Good luck for Friday.

Spindles - thank you so much for your message. It has made me feel a whole lot better about the endescopy. I dont think I will be as brave as you and have the endescopy without sedation (although I'm worrying about being sedated too!).

Thanks again - and I will let you know how I get on!

Hi Everybody, I'm also on Omeprazole 30mg and one day I think they are working then the next they aren't. I don't seem to have pain in the abdomen much but it's as though something is stuck in my throat near where an Adams apple would be and it feels horrible.

I'm thinking of coming off them as they don't seem to be working and might persevere with some Apple Cider vinegar tablets which I've heard are good.

Has anybody else taken any or the Licorice tablets as I have both.

Funny you should mention the awful headaches at the back of the skull/head. I also get them and had them for about 6 weeks everyday and it felt like a vice clamping round my head. I'm wondering now if it is a side effect of taking the tablets.

I'm having Bowen Therapy to see if that helps too.

I haven't had the camera down as I'm terrible at gagging relexes and petrified. I can't even have X-rays at the dentist...

Hi Binnie, How long have you been taking Omeprazole for? I started taking Omeprazole about six months ago and I was the same as you at first. One day I felt better and thought they were working but the next day I feel unwell again and thought they were not doing anything at all.

My GP then put me on omeprazole and ranitidine at the same time and finally after six months I have started feeling much better. I dont have the same symptoms as you though. I had indigestion, heartburn and pains across my chest. I did occasionally feel like I had something stuck in my throat but that seems to have gone away now.

I had an endescopy done and was found to have a mild hiatus hernia and mild gastritis.Try and have an endescopy done - it is worth it. I was the same as you absolutely petrified at the thought of it but it took literally about five minutes and it was worth it to find out what was wrong.