That acid reflux pill may be causing your health problems

[Mort81]

Raw ginger to chew. I've had the worst Nausea ever and this cured it. I felt I was gonna Hurl over 100x but 1 inch slice of ginger raw,peel the skin and slowly chew. Very spicy but what a powerful remedy for the stomach

[Mort81]

Not spicy like causes heart burn. Actually it receives heartburn on top of everything else it does. Its dirt cheap to pick up at the grocery store

[Mort81]

I meant to say it provides Relief for Heartburn. Man I hate these autocorrect smartphonea.

[Frogie]

I meant to say it provides Relief for Heartburn. Man I hate these autocorrect smartphonea.

I've tried ginger capsules and they made me sicker.

[Mort81]

Wow interesting. No sure if the fresh kind is different. I can say having a ginger tea does nothing compared to to the fresh kind. But maybe won't work for u

[Frogie]

Wow interesting. No sure if the fresh kind is different. I can say having a ginger tea does nothing compared to to the fresh kind. But maybe won't work for u

Might try it. Maybe the fresh wouldn't make me sick?

 

Thanks.

 

Take care,

Frogie xx

[Mort81]

Maybe not. I mean I was ready to vomit many times and ginger would completely resolve that feeling.

[Frogie]

Maybe not. I mean I was ready to vomit many times and ginger would completely resolve that feeling.

Worth a try.

Thanks.

 

Take care,

Elaine xx

[Mort81]

Np

[tryingtosurvive]

No b12 defiency but after 3 months on ranitadine I have panic attacks also breathlessness and sore troath (still) and feel again that a drugged feeling in my head as when I was having WD after fluoxetine. ... anyone experienced effects like this from H2 blockers? ?

 

also still burping having issues swallowing (which seems to get worse when I miss a dose )

Very grateful to your responses!

[ChessieCat]

Member SeriouslyScared has made a post here mentioning:  "I always got more agitated still when taking the PPI in the past on top of the Paroxetine"

[brassmonkey]

There has been some talk on SeriouslyScared's thread about PPIs lately.  One of his comments caused me to do some research and here is a reposting of what I found out:

 

Hi SS-- your recent statement "P.S. I always hated taking the Omeprazole. It seemed to almost have a psychoactive effect on me, always making me even more agitated, more argumentative than I already was for all the years I was on the Paroxetine." started me researching.

 

First off SA does not recommend the use of PPI medications because of their side effects and the trouble people have getting off of them Please read the following thread and related links. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2533-that-acid-reflux-pill-may-be-causing-your-health-problems/&

 

 

Secondly recent studies, as in the past two years, have shown that there is a link between taking SSRIs and PPIs at the same time and a significant increase of contracting Serotonin Syndrome, highly increased risk of stroke or heart attack and a laundry list of other side effects.

 

Although PPIs are not SSRIs they have a profound affect on neurotransmitters.  They are metabolized by the same enzymes. Those enzymes show a preference for the PPIs causing the blood concentrations of the SSRIs to shot up.  So in a backhanded way PPIs strongly affect the reuptake of neurotransmitters.  Causing, as you noted, an increase of psychoactive symptoms.

 

It should also be noted that similar findings were listed for benzos.

 

So the conclusion is, if your are currently taking any SSRI, SNRI or Benzo do not take a PPI.

[peng]

Fair enough.

However, I can only reiterate that over several decades, I did not suspect any bad side effects from omeprazole - only positive.

Also, when I weaned myself off them last year, any discomfort caused by the SNRI was not reduced - I did not feel better mentally on stopping the PPI.

Of course I accept that at 72 I should not be taking them because of their suspected B vitamin malabsorption side-effect, that is why I stopped them.

Stomach upsets did return on being off them, but I have tackled and hopefuly solved that snag using a probiotic and avoiding, most of the time, food and drink that tended to produce gastritis.

Clearly, with any medication or a combination of them, the mantra is "we are all different", but I thought my experience might be helpful or interesting, that's all.

[JenJen]

I am learning so much here.  I have been on Omeprazole for about 3 years.  I started because I had painful heartburn and occasional projectile vomiting.  I think it was caused by the Lexapro I was taking.  I haven't had the SSRI in almost 2 weeks but still on Omeprazole.  I hope to end that as well.  I only need to Omep on certain days.  Before I took the Omep, I would have serious mid-afternoon pain.  I couldn't for instance do a. plank at the gym without wanting to throw up.  I hope to end this drug as well.

 

I am not anti-drug per se but I think they should be used only when needed.  I have noticed with many people who take long term meds never take just 1.  For me it was Lex and Omep.  I think we are given additional drugs because the first one have side effects or stop working.  Just my opinion of course.  

[Mort81]

I also haven't had any psychoactive effect with raising or lowering my dosage of these crap drugs. They are terribly addictive and tough to taper when not in WD.  Let alone being in WD they are much tougher.  Short term usage is okay when needed,  they have value that way especially when there is damage to the esphogus  or bleeding.  but other than that  I'd avoid this class of drug if you can due to the addicting properties.

 

If you try everything and acid reflux is still horrible then I'd shoot for occasional use of Zantac , PPIs are much more difficult to come off and usually have to be taken everyday or rebound acid occurs.  If your stuck on PPIs for now  try not to worry. One baby step at a time .  Most of us on here are polydrugged . And PPIs although not a good drug is nowhere close to as dangerous as SSRIs or SNRI. Which in my opinion have 0 reasons to ever be used ,no mater how short the duration.  

[JenJen]

"If your stuck on PPIs for now  try not to worry. One baby step at a time .  Most of us on here are polydrugged . And PPIs although not a good drug is nowhere close to as dangerous as SSRIs or SNRI."

 

Thanks so much.  You don't know how much better I feel.  You are right about PPI v SSRI.  I am going to as best I can with diet and exercise and hold off on the PPI until I am in a better place.  

 

[Mort81]

No prob ! I know how tough it can be to taper off these meds when in SSRI wd . It's very hard considering stress causes acid reflux,  and wd is stress from another planet.  So trying to do it while still in acute WD is a difficult task to say the least.  

[peaceoutofchaos]

I'm not sure whether someone said this already, but my experience with them was that I needed to take them for a week because I needed to take ibuprofen for a week in combination with an antidepressant (which can cause stomach ulsers). It made me feel weird, mentally and I had the feeling like my ADHD meds weren't working at all. I did not like it. 

[peng]

peaceoutofchaos, if you took ibuprofen &, I assume, an acid reflux medication in tandem, how do you know which one to blame?

[apathetic]

I read somewhere that PPI cause cognitive decline. I started using PPIs around a month ago, and my symptoms (GERD symptoms combined with unexplainable upper abdominal pain that is reduced only by acid suppressing drugs) came back so my doctor updosed the med.

 

During the first month of taking it, there was a barely noticeable decline, only I felt it and it wasn't bothering me that much, if at all. I didn't want to stop taking meds because my doctor told me that I will be on them short-term (for that one month). Now that I'm on a higher dose for around 3 days, I'm noticing a significant decline (compared to my normal mental state), and I feel like I am on antipsychotics again. Everything is foggy, but not in a dpdr way, but in a way that I feel lost, like someone who is on their way to develop dementia. There is something very wrong about this feeling and about this group of meds.

 

And not only that my med was updosed, but more meds were added. One of them is H2 blocker that I am supposed to take with PPI. I knew something was going to happen when I updose PPI, so I didn't want to take H2 blocker with it right away. I haven't started taking H2 blocker yet and I'm not sure if I am even going to. If I did, I would probably feel way worse cognitively than I do now. I don't know if I would be able to write this.

The dose slowed me down and made me feel like my personality and psyche are disintegrating and deteriorating, because I have a feeling like I am high on heavy drugs.

It's only been 3 days and I'm planning to do something about it. Feeling like I am on antipsychotic again is traumatizing for me. It reminds me of a feeling I used to have, the hopelessness I used to feel, the powerlessness to do anything because I am drugged... I'm young and I don't know how will this impact my brain development.

 

I'm on pantoprazole, 40mg in the morning and another 40mg in the evening. So, basically, 80mg/day. I haven't been using any psychiatric medications for around 9 months, and my 'withdrawal' started 2 years ago, so many symptoms of it subsided before I completely gave up meds, forever, 9 months ago. My cognition was the worst problem for me at the beginning of withdrawal, but I recovered from that after and my cognition started being better than ever in my life, and now I feel like I'm losing it again. Because of fear, I started taking vitamin B as a supplement, as many people recommend.

 

I know meds for acid reflux aren't as dangerous as psychiatric ones, but still, I don't want to use them. I also don't believe they are going to solve any of my stomach problems... but I gave them a try as my symptoms severely lowered my quality of life.

 

There are conflicting opinions on links between PPI usage and dementia, Alzheimer's disease, cognitive decline... Some studies say those two are not connected, some say they increase the risk of developing those diseases, and some say they are connected. I read somewhere that PPIs increase the production of beta amino acid in the brain. Increased production of that amino acid is connected to Alzheimer's disease. Combine that with possible B12, magnesium, calcium etc. deficiency that comes with PPI usage and boom, awesome recipe for (maybe even moderate) decline in cognition. I haven't researched those topics well enough, so take my words with grain of salt.

 

Hopefully someone who knows more about this is going to explain.

 

I need advice on what to do. Was anyone here in a similar situation? What did you do? If you weren't, what would you do if you were in my situation?
Thanks in advance.

[JenJen]

Hi Apathetic - It sounds like you are struggling so I will try to help.  I quit SSRIs (painfully) last year.  Once off the Lexapro I no longer needed the ppi.  There really isn't a strong connection between PPI and cognitive decline.  It does sound like things are bad, are there any other options to explore as a possible cause?  Can you work with a helpful therapist or doctor could help?  You do have symptoms although they may be related to something else.

[Altostrata]

@voyteck wants everyone to know this:

 

Quote

Combining particular PPI and SSRI can increase the concentration of the latter 2-fold!

From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4297217/
 

Quote

 

On the basis of our data, using omeprazole or esomeprazole concomitantly with escitalopram 20 mg/d would cause an escitalopram concentration equivalent to taking an escitalopram dose of close to 40 mg/d, ie, above the recommended maximum daily dose.

....

Conclusions:

The effect of comedication with PPIs on the serum concentration of SSRIs is more pronounced for omeprazole and esomeprazole than for lansoprazole and pantoprazole, and escitalopram is affected to a greater extent than are citalopram and sertraline. When omeprazole or esomeprazole are used in combination with escitalopram, a 50% dose reduction of the latter should be considered.

 

 

[InChristAlone]

Been on nexium since I was about 15, so around 21 years. It’s possible I was on Prilosec instead of Nexium during teenage years, burn Ive been on a PPI for a long time. I Take 40mg Nexium daily. I was born without the flap on top of the esophagus. Had a fundoplication to tighten esophagus. I think i can control my acid reflux with diet. Is it ok to taper Nexium while in withdrawal? 

[Halcyon]

If one has to take an H2 blocker (i.e. Pepcid) nightly despite diet/lifestyle changes, does this hinder/complicate a slow SSRI taper? As long as B-12 levels are maintained is that the most significant issue? Do H2 blockers also increase the concentration/interfere with SSRIs or is this more specific to PPIs?  Thanks for any tips anyone can provide.

[Sicksagittarius]

Hi there! Has anyone had experience trying to taper of the PPI omeprazole (40 mg) since March (5 months) while weaning off of SSRI lexapro? I've been on 2.5 mg of lexapro since April after weaning off way too fast and having extreme withdrawal symptoms. I found research sttting these two specific drugs together can double the amount of lexapro in system. I'm scared I really have 5 mg worth in my system and if I try to wean off of omeprazole I'll go into withdrawal symptoms. Can I prepare my body in any way before trying to lower it? I have SIBO, C diff, and lots of other bacterial overgrowth and its extremely important I get off so I can absorb more nutrients. I am getting back to being strict with my diet of no gluten, dairy, soy, antiinflammatory, low fodmap, GAPS, low histamine, etc. 

[Sicksagittarius]

On 8/13/2021 at 3:06 PM, Sicksagittarius said:

@AltostrataHi there! Has anyone had experience trying to taper of the PPI omeprazole (40 mg) since March (5 months) while weaning off of SSRI lexapro? I've been on 2.5 mg of lexapro since April after weaning off way too fast and having extreme withdrawal symptoms. I found research sttting these two specific drugs together can double the amount of lexapro in system. I'm scared I really have 5 mg worth in my system and if I try to wean off of omeprazole I'll go into withdrawal symptoms. Can I prepare my body in any way before trying to lower it? I have SIBO, C diff, and lots of other bacterial overgrowth and its extremely important I get off so I can absorb more nutrients. I am getting back to being strict with my diet of no gluten, dairy, soy, antiinflammatory, low fodmap, GAPS, low histamine, etc.