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Reflux, ouch!!! Trying to get off PPI, omeprazole is not easy

Posted , 8 users are following.

Dreaming
Dreaming

Oh my, PPI are addictive.

I have been off and on PPI for 2 years never realizing they had a rebound effect. It seems when the body begins producing acid after stopping them it over shoots.

I took PPI ( omeprazole ) again, this time, for 11 days after being off for a few months. After 11 days my symptoms were improved so I thought I could come off of them and do healthy suggestions for healing my reflux which I didn't do before. I took my last 20mg of omeprazole on Saturday morning and today Wednesday my symptoms returned.

Coming off may have worked, however, I went to the doctor on Monday for urinary incontinience and was diagnosis with a urinary tract infection then placed on 5 days of antibiotics. Bad timing, right?

I was placed on Cipro 250mg twice a day for 5 days which will end on Saturday evening.  Cipro gives directions to take antacids 6 hours before  or 2 hours after taking it. What a mess. Also take Cipro on on an empty stomach. I attempted to take Rantidine 150mg once a day since stopping Omeprazole, but when? I am having to write down when to eat, take Cipro and all my healthly stuff to do. I tell you, what a mess right now and until Saturday evenin when this ends. Givine thanks 2 days are done and only 3 to go.

So as I am sleeping tonight I feel the acid coming up my throat. I tried Gavison earlier. It helped a little around 1030pm, but at 3am when it woke me up, I grabbed the Omeprazole 20mg and took one.I truly desire to breath easliy and the acid does accumulate in my chest oppose to the throat like most of you describe, however I can see looking at myself where my throat on the right side is sunken in  probably from having reflux for 20 years, coughing, and didn't know it.  I also have lung invlovement probably secondary from this prolonged acid exposure.When the acid gets begins to come up I can tell before I cough and bring up phelgm due to the promixisty of the organs. 

   

I am alive and can live at my current capacity of lung involvement and be happy, so that's not an issue, even though I am somewhat compremised, I also know how important the HCL for the nutrients to be absorbed.

Guess it will behoove me to try to ween off of omeprazole after antibiotic treatment ends on Sunday. As it stands now, 6 hours since my last omeprazole will be at 9am, so that puts me on a 9am and 9pm schedule for my

I am thinking back at my mother who always had heartburn, lived to be 79 years old treating her heartburn with tum. She never knew GERD. As she got older the heartburn was better. When she died tums where under her walker. She never complained of heartburn or showed ant signs. She knew when to take tums to keep it under control. I am willing to do the same. Wished I had never ever started this cylce of PPI, but I cant live life backward. Right?

What I have read is that low HCL is what caused the reflux in the beginning. It happens with age. It was when my mother was about 45 she began having this what she called gas.

I am wondering if when stopping Omeprazole, which I will attempt next week, if  replacing the HCL with meals counter act how much HCL the body produces on it on?

I did read a study where giving patients HCL cured the acid reflux. The researchers started giving them a small dosage and worked upward. It was sited that to get the acid relux under controll took large does for some. 70 something %, not sure of the exact number, were cured. 

How does one fool the body to product it's orginal amount of HCL before Omeprazole? Is the question.

So we had a few bouts of heartburn that we did not know how to treat in a healthy manner that got us, me, here in the situation of PPI, right?

There has to be a way out and a healthy way of treating heartburn which has been renamed acid reflux and given the disease status.

Maybe I do have a valve that opens, or did open at one time. Does that mean will always be open and  can't be healed? Something triggered it to be open. Maybe the cause can be eliminated? What you think?

I don't, we don't like discomfort and will do Anything to get relief.

Thus, that why PPI are among the top sellng prescription.

 

I am grateful to medicines, especially PPI, so there is no hating coming from me, however, I do beleive the body can and will remember it's orginial function if given the right directions.

Antibioctics,  I have taken so many over my life time which is partly what has me in this situation, not to mention, I have been coughing off and on chroincally for the past 18 years, but not as much now.

So coughing and the pressure would definitely cause reflux, but forever?

I am appreciating the time and skills of doctors have in treating me/us. However, they really are not allowed the time with each patient to treat this condition or any others condition naturally. To make money they have to see a volume of patient. They only have a few minutes to talk and Iittle time to counsel or teach.

I welcome your comments

Some familiar names from previous discussun are definitely welcomed.

I really appreciate this forum and all your comments.

This forum has informed me about DGL, cabbage juice, bone broth, manuka honey, digestive enzymes, small meals, propping when I sleep, alkaline water, Pepzin GI, and many more tips.

Help!!!! Yes, I asked the creator of us all and the planet for help too.

Surely, with all the big problems going on around me/us in the world, this acid production problem is easy :-)

Dreaming

1 like, 38 replies

38 Replies

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  • amarvishnu
    amarvishnu Dreaming

    Posted

    Hi Dreaming,

    It is thought that GERD affects up to around 20 million people in the U.S.

    If it truly is a disease of the West then it would make some sense to find out which parts of the world are relatively free from this painful and potentially dangerous condition, before it can develop in the longer term.

    It seems prevalent worldwide, but Black people (both in S. Africa and N. America) and some Asians have lower reported cases of GERD than White people,

    They also seem to produce less acid and have less hiatus hernia problems.

    Currently, the literature does not support PPI dose adjustment according to ethnic groups.

    The question remains whether the GERD conditions are environmental or genetically inclined.

    Obesity is now a world-wide problem affecting all classes and cultural types and may have a part in all this.

    There is a massive potential for the Drug Companies to cash in on the problem by inventing (or tweaking) medicines to treat the condition.

    Western life-style involving fast-food and coffee chains can't exactly help the situation and I suspect as these spread world-wide they will contribute to exacerbate the problem.

    Food, for me, remains a 'Russian-Roulette' scenario, as one day a certain food may be ok but the next it may appear to be a culprit and so it is difficult to say whether it is definitely the food intake or not, but I believe we have to reduce food intake to a bare minimum and treat PPI's with respect and possibly some distrust except when absulutely necessary.

    • Dreaming
      Dreaming amarvishnu

      Posted

      Amarvishnu,

      You have a good point.

      Are you saying that you believe we should eat a small amount of food or consume just what the body needs in food intake and stop eating just to be eating.

      If so, I agree.

      I only eat because it required to live and rarely for just something to do.

      I have found going for long period without eating makes matters worse.

      I usually don't eat since I have been in this flare up until 9:30am. I eat so slowly even though it not much. It usually take me 30 to eat a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and coconut for breakfast. I chew and chew to release digestive enzymes. The small amount of coconut reminds me to chew.

      My last meal is at 6pm. My second snack meal is around 130 or 2 pm

    • amarvishnu
      amarvishnu Dreaming

      Posted

      We are conditioned to eat 3 meals a day and I think that may be a problem as it involves putting a large volume into the stomach, therefore I would think it is probably better to eat much smaller amounts all day but only when feeling quite hungry.

      The stomach gets used to having a large food volume and so it will 'demand' it is filled up, as before, but will soon get used to smaller 'snacks' more frequently, if you persist.

      It's just not advisable to eat large meals - but that doesn't mean you have to starve if you eat little but often.

    • Dreaming
      Dreaming amarvishnu

      Posted

      Yes, Amarvishnu,

      I can not believe the volume of food I use to eat. I would have to unzip my pants and take a nap when I finished. Definitely back then my diet was full of carbs and I wore 168 pounds.

      Now with my inability to eat large volumes of food, I have been under 130 pounds for 5 years weighing 124 pounds now.

      With age and life experiences comes wisdom

  • abc1234
    abc1234 Dreaming

    Posted

    I was diagnosed with AR 7 weeks ago. Took PPI's for 2 days and quit b/c of side effects. Followed a very strict diet, wedge....... Finally, after 7 weeks I feel back to the way I was before AR. It might have taken this long to build the mucosa lining back to normal. For me the PPI's or H2's are for people who either can't follow the correct diet or who have more issues. You see the cable guy (Pepcid) commercial, "eat what you want when you want...".

    As you go through the process you will learn what works for you and what doesn't. DGL, enzymes, honey, did nothing for me. I do have to admit the science states all of us that have this affliction have a weakened LES and that's the culprit. I think there is some merit to believe it may be more than that. Recently, some people with AR have been put on drugs that are designed for those with depression. They do not have depression, but they have found it solved their reflux issues. It's too early to go that route in my opinion, but maybe by accident they will figure it out.

    • amarvishnu
      amarvishnu abc1234

      Posted

      Hello abc123

      ...funny you should mention about being offered drugs for depression.

      One Doctor suggested that I should try 'cipralex' (escitalopram).

      A drug that keeps serotonin working in the brain and lightens the mood, I changed Doctors because I thought he was barking up the wrong tree altogether (he said I was resisting him).smile

      I was not happy at the idea of anti-depressants as they seem like a form of mind-control for pyschopaths, but perhaps I had better drop my prejudices and talk to my doctor again.

    • Dreaming
      Dreaming abc1234

      Posted

      Abc,

      Be happy you resisted taking PPI.

      It takes much time and effort to get the regular amount of acid back.

      Happy for your success

    • amarvishnu
      amarvishnu abc1234

      Posted

      have also heard that anti-depressants like the serotonin altering ones affect the nervous sytem stimulation of the acid-secreting cells of the stomach, and these effects may reduce gastric acid production.

      Also, when people are stressed out they may have increased gastric acid output, and the anti-stress effects of antidepressants may be helpful in reversing this problem.

       

    • abc1234
      abc1234 amarvishnu

      Posted

      Interesting, you might want to Google it to learn more about it. I find once you get educated on something that your dealing with you tend to know more than most docs about a specific disease/issue.....

      I hope I can go through life never needing to take meds more than a couple weeks at a time. So far I have. If you find the the meds work maybe then find out why it works and what else can fix what's wrong.

    • abc1234
      abc1234 Dreaming

      Posted

      Thanks Dreaming, I only wish you the best and hoping to hear about it here. Follow those well known guidlines. For additions to the norm I drink low fat milk for every meal and was taking calcium carbonate an hour after dinner. CC kept me symptom free at night. After a few weeks I took less and less of CC until it was nothing.
  • Dreaming
    Dreaming

    Posted

    I am counting down finishing these antibiotics. I am half way, 5 taken and 5 to go.

    I can taste my healing.

  • william_48053
    william_48053 Dreaming

    Posted

    Hi dreaming and I thought I was having a nightmare I'm going to ask for the operation I can't go through years and years of pill taking I think they make me worse I don't have burning in my throat I have a h hernia and heartburn and some polyps which I'm having removed soon 
    • Dreaming
      Dreaming william_48053

      Posted

      William,

      You know what's best for you.

      Surgery is one option.

      A hiatus hernia is quite different than gastritis or reflux.

      A hernia also showed up on my endoscopy report.

      I did look at a a few videos in Your-tube on eliminating hiatus hernia naturally.

      Have you tried any of those non medication methods yet?

    • william_48053
      william_48053 Dreaming

      Posted

      Hi I haven't tried any other method to be honest I just want to feel normal again I've lived in the hospital and doctors for a few years now and nothing seems to be happening one minute I had barretts now I don't I have a hernia  with a lower intestine inflammation now I have a hyper elastic poloyp which they are going to sort out soon why they couldn't do that when I had my last endos I don't know 

       

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