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.
In the for the people that say you just need vitamin D a vitamin K supplement colonial silver and what are their wacko chiropractic bullshit that cures everything from worts to cancer jump in! Did I make? Scrolling down now.
Me too. I only take a Zantac with the bicarbonate only if the heartburn is too severe but that is rare.
It’s a frightening feeling, isn’t it? It’s not like a little gas pain, or a burrito platter kicking back at you. You know there is something seriously wrong, and an attack can be crippling. I made the mistake of whistling past the graveyard for too long, and it sent me onto a table with tubes and wires protruding all over the place.
“Curcumin 95% (turmeric extract)”
I give that to my 100 YO mother, and take a turmeric/CBD tincture myself. I believe that CBD (cannabidiol) is a mild antispasmodic.
Well, to be fair, I do have a vitamin D deficiency and take a prescription gelcap twice a week. I’ve spent the last three years trying to fully recover from staph infections that almost ate my legs (which left permanent damage - Alabama hates me), so I’ve been cooped up a good bit and didn’t see much sun until recently. I feel like I ought to be hanging upside-down from the rafters with the rest of the bats in the belfry. LOL
“We both described our reaction to PPI’s as ‘depressive’ and it likely had to do with the interaction of the PPI restricting Magnesium absorption”
Hmmm. Two years ago last May I went to ER because I had extreme exhaustion, and my brain wasn’t working properly. I felt like I had taken the purple acid. After a slew of tests, they gave me Mg intravenously. Afterward I asked my primary if I should be taking Mg supplement and he said no.
I had already bought the supplement and still have lots left. I did some online research and Mg deficiency may be more prevalent than most doctors realize. Apparently Mg is hard to measure because most of it hides out in your bones and the standard blood test for it may not be all that useful.
Bfl
And, the belch after drinking it works great to put out fires in the kitchen.
I use Equate Antacid with aluminum hydroxide and magnesium carbonate and 80mg gas relief with simethicone. I take as needed unless I’m having heartburn often and then I take 2 of each after every meal.
My husband takes omeprazole every 3 days.
If you had Venricular Fibrillation reflux was the least of your problems....
Hope your recovery continues. It’s hot out here now so get some morning or late afternoon sun. God bless and keep on clawing!
I don’t know if being made in Mexico has anything to do with it, I figured out 30 years ago that I reacted badly to Colgate.
You in North Bama?
Bookmarking
Man, I have to wear compression stockings on BOTH legs now, and wear long pants when I’m outside because the venous stasis in my legs puts me at high risk of another infection. So, if you think I’m going outside in 95 degree Alabama heat with sweatpants on and doing any brush-hogging, you’re as mad as a March hare. LOL
East Central. The NSA knows where I live.
I had this years ago, I could never explain it to people. Then I found Maalox, back before they went to calcium carbonate. The acid inhibitors just seemed to make it worse and then I realized I was having sensitivity to some foods, chief among them gelatin, duh.
My MIL started having these symptoms, my SILs always said she was faking it and we took her to the hospital several times but they never diagnosed it. If I was around I’d give her the antacid with Aluminum hydroxide, magnesium carbonate and simethicone. She called them “magic” pills.
That's too bad. I am such a baby about pain that never happens. Some of the more stoic people do pay the price. Sounds like you have somewhat more involvement than me (though symptoms sound identical).
BTW, while posting earlier, I was eating at a Mexican restaurant. No problemo. And none tonight as long as I take the PPI (omeprazole 40mg).
Also, my endoscopy didn't show that much. A moderate Schatzki ring is all.
I take both time-release Mg and the ordinary Mg oxide form.
later
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