PPI's bad for Kidney's????

Hello Dane, it can be a difficult thing to choose between one potential nastiness and a known one, like the pains you've experienced through reflux, etc. Some of us have a very difficult time even thinking of taking a pill - even if it can ease a trouble - which makes it a personal and psychological matter. I suffered a PPI side-effect and persevered without any from then on. And that suits me. But it means making far more effort with diet and so on, so coming off a PPI can result in the same trouble kicking back in or developing again, if it was due to diet, stress and so on in the first place. Those things would have to be worked upon.

Side-effects - minor and major - don't always affect everyone, so there is always that chance that you may or may not experience any. But clearly, it would be better - if possible - for any person with any illness to get along well enough without a med rather than with one.

You have the option to try to improve your trouble via lifestyle and diet - unless you tried that and failed miserably - or to continue as you are with the benefit of the med, and take your chance of whatever trouble may or may not ensue down the line. I have put the measures I go by to help with gastritis below. Even on meds you should still have a try to see if any of them help you further. Best wishes.

Several small/medium meals per day (I have seven medium, one every two hours or so), rather than fewer bigger ones, so you don't overfill your stomach. Eat relaxed, chew well. Be sat upright for and after meals, not bent or reclining, so you don't squash your stomach and press its contents upwards.

Fried foods, high-fat foods/meats, dairy, high-salt foods, spicy-hot foods, tomatoes, onions, peppers, carbonated drinks, caffeine, alcohol and chocolate can all impact on stomach and reflux troubles for some people, so personal experimentation is key. Minty foods relax the lower oesophageal muscle, as do some of the above foods and drinks, which can let acid up easier, so they are bad. I use a fruity toothpaste, and strawberry gaviscon tablets for the now only occasional acid burn.

Wholewheat bread, cereals, bananas, hardboiled eggs are a few of the foods that suit me, but there are pulses, rice, various beans (not kidney beans apparently) and many other things to try. Chicken is one of the best meats due to its lower fat content, though even that can hit me. Trial and error.

Stress, excercise and bending activity that pressure and squeeze the stomach are also to be avoided. Be as calm and stress-free as you can.

Having your last meal a few hours before bed can prevent or lessen reflux at night, but I found that waiting to be too empty caused hunger discomfort, assorted spasms and kept me awake or caused some burning through the spasms. I lie down about an hour and a half to two hours after last meal raised a bit on three pillows, on my right side, though the left side is usually recommended and there were test results to support this as being best for many people. Other people raise the bed-head itself about 6 to 8 inches or use a wedge affair..

Another thing that helps me is to not burp after ten minutes after eating, as this can bring acid up and cause heartburn. I get the swallowed air out gently just after the meal, sittiing a little forward, then don't burp till after the next meal.

Water triggering heartburn is common. It can happen even with non-ill people. I found that the best way to get my daily requirement is to drink around 140 ml or so ml with each meal, which, in my case, is added to by some drinks of a nutrition drink. So generally I don't have to drink between meals. Everyone has to find their routine to get what they need.

In tests there was an indication that some people with reflux suffer heartburn through drinking water in several gulps because their lower oesophageal muscle doesn't open and close correctly when doing this with fluid, and so acid can escape upwards. But just adding water to your stomach between meals, when there is still food and fluids in there, will increase its volume and raise it nearer to the top where the muscle is, the pressure of which, if too much water is drunk, can then cause the muscle to open and let stomach fluid up. Cold water can also cause spasms, so sips of usual water is best.

Some say to drink water only between meals at points when the stomach is empty, but this cannot be done in my case, where I need to eat every couple of hours or will lose more weight by slowing digestion down. So I find that a little drink of water with each bite of food that gets well chewed, then a few more af the end of the meal suits me. I also have water with two cereal meals as I avoid dairy milk, and have yet to try them with the likes of oat, rice, almond or soya milk. But they are good milk substitutes for people who don't/can't have dairy, unless a person has issues with them. But we are all different, so, again, trial and error is the way.

An update is that I have tried a few very low-fat milk-shake style drinks lately, and they have not impacted badly on me compared to how, for example, butter on bread always did.

was your acid regurgitation constant too?

So you are saying just one day without the medications and your chest will be in pain again. You mean heartburn?   You do undersatnd PPI's do help people but does not cure the source of the problem?  Only you by eating better can do this.  Did you check if you have any dificiency like magnesium which could be the source of the problem?  In my personal opinion if PPI's is working for you then just try to reduce the amount, instead of every day go down to every other day or every 3rd day.  If not, again in my personal opinion you need to decide yourself what's more important, because just the anxiety itself can  bring this up to a whole new level if you stick with a daily reutin of PPI's.

I have been taking PPI for almost 10yrs, would I stop, absolutely not!

why? Because they have transformed my life, I suffered for 20yrs before relief was at hand. I can't cure my reflux by diet because my body naturally makes too much acid and I have a hiatus hernia which doesn't help. 

My advice is keeping taking the PPI and if you are worried about side effects then never get in a car because they are mega dangerous and injure and kill people every day, PPI's don't do that's.