Posted on 07/18/2017 4:14:48 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Certain acid blockers in a popular heartburn drug might actually increase the risk of premature death.
As CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez reports, there are three main types of heartburn drugs. Antacids, like Tums and Rolaids, are fine. So are older acid blockers called H-2 blockers, like Pepcid and Zantac.
But the evidence keeps piling up that drugs called PPIs, like Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec, might actually be risky.
They are among the best-selling drugs in the country, with more than $10 billion spent annually on a class of acid blocking medications called Proton Pump Inhibitors, or PPIs. It almost seems that half the country must suffer from acid reflux.
“I couldn’t breathe. My ribs were hurting the cough was so hard and dry,” patient Nilda Rodriguez said.
“I had shortness of breath. I was completely exhausted. I had terrible post-nasal drip,” said fellow patient Francesca Spiotta Loy.
Although their symptoms weren’t like classic heartburn, both women had stomach acid reflux.
“Reflux actually comes in two forms: the heartburn people, the indigestion people, and those that have respiratory reflux, in which there’s asthma, allergies, chronic throat clearing, post-nasal drip,” Dr. Jamie Koufan, of the Voice Institute of New York, explained.
Despite their symptoms, neither Rodriguez nor Spiotta Loy wanted to take the common and powerful acid-blocking PPIs. Which was probably good thing, considering a new study of 350,000 patients in the Veterans Affairs system found that those taking PPIs had a 25 percent greater risk of premature death compared to those taking H-2 blockers.
That’s just the latest of many studies linking PPIs to adverse side effects, including hip fractures, kidney disease, infections, dementia and esophageal cancer.
Rodriguez and Spiotta Loy avoided PPIs by following Dr. Koufman’s program for alternative methods of reflux control, primarily changing their diets and lifestyles.
“We eat too late, we eat too much fatty food, we tend to over eat. You know, miss breakfast and lunch and eat huge dinner,” she explained.
Some patients really do need acid-blocking drugs. For those people, experts are starting to lean more toward the H-2 blockers, which are not as strong and need to be taken more often, but have a 40-year safe history.
Bookmark
I got put on them when I had an ERD attack so severe, my arm went numb and I ended up in the emergency room. The EKG said I’d gone into v-fib before I leveled off and they thought it was a heart attack. My blood work came back negative, so they did an ultrasound and found an esophageal lesion that was about to burn through. They can have my omeprazole when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.
Fortunately ranitidine is enough for me.
Sounds scary and overly sensational! Until you realize your risk of premature death is 0.100% so even a 25% increase would only raise your risk to 0.125%
I take omeprazole to create reduced-acid conditions needed to heal my stomal and duodenal ulcers and my post-gastric-bypass GGF.
The level of abdominal damage and pain I’d have to endure without a good PPI acid-reducer is frightening.
A co-worker was on Prilosec and had an unexplained (to me anyways) heart attack. I’m not saying that was the culprit but this does make me more leery of such medicines.
BTT
“The level of abdominal damage and pain I’d have to endure without a good PPI acid-reducer is frightening.”
I’ve been taking PPIs for decades and have gotten excellent results. Now, however I’m suffering from extreme fatigue, a possible long-term side effect of PPIs.
After reading the article, I did a quick search and found this: how to get off PPIs and back to normal:
I took ranitidine for a number of years because of burning in my stomach, sometimes accompanied with shortness of breath.
Then, one day, the cause of the burning suddenly dawned on me.....the Colgate toothpaste I used, a white tube with red writing that was made in Mexico!
I stopped using that damn toothpaste, and the burning in my stomach went away in less than 24 hours, never to return.
I told my doctor about what I discovered, and he said to only take the ranitidine if the burning returns. It never did, and I stopped taking ranitidine for good.
YMMV.
I totally agree. I take Omperazole every day. And it has stopped my contracting cancer in my esophagus(sp).
I don’t think the problem is so much the drugs themselves, but the medical-reflex of prescribing them on under-diagnosed “acid reflex” when old-fashioned “acid indigestion” is all it is and a Tums or the like would do just fine.
Yes, there are cases where more extreme conditions and more “advanced” medicines are needed. But my take is many people are prescribed and taking the more advanced drugs due to lazy doctors responding to self-diagnosed patient claims that they have “acid reflex” (why? - ‘cause it sounds just like the “Previcid” commercial).
“The level of abdominal damage and pain I’d have to endure without a good PPI acid-reducer is frightening.”
I’m know where you’re at. It influenced me to stop eating such big portions and giving myself time to digest before going to bed. Also, I try to stay away from fatty foods although I love them. I know your misery from many sleepless nights.
Thanks for this link.. I’ll read through.
It was by mere coincidence that a dose of magnesium seemed to noticeably alleviate the heart rate disturbances.
We were at the point we considering further surgery to remedy the irregular heart beats but discovered - by accident - that PPIs inhibit magnesium absorption which explained the immediate relief felt after the dose of Milk of Magnesia. Magnesium is necessary for heart beat regularity.
We discussed this with both our Gastroenterologist and Heart Center physicians and they are following up on this information.
I only take pepcid. As needed. Most of the time baking soda mixed with water works just as well.
I don’t take advil anymore for arthritis as tumeric works even better.
This being said, I eat the 1000 mg tablets pretty regularly, sometimes a half dozen per day. I keep them at home, in my car, my wife's car, and at work.
Fortunately, I've never felt the need to go prescription-strength (I'm surprised Big Pharma still allows Tums on the shelves).
Honestly, just lay off the wheat and you probably won't need any of this stuff. ADM and the pharmaceutical companies are bribing quite a few Senators to keep this quiet.
I suffer from very bad Acid Reflux, take Prilosec and Zantac(And sometimes Tums) without it I would get a very bad sore so there’s no other way around it for me. My Mom suffers from GERD, so does my brother and sister its a family thing
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.