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.
Yeah, there’s a line between feeling like a hypochondriac and doing what the football coach says and walk it off. I tend to wait until I have a fever of 104, or I’m bleeding out an orifice before I talk to the doc about it. Hell, one time I was running a temp and holding my side before I called the doc, and found out my gall bladder was about to burst and had to come out. I’d never had anything invasive like that done before, and was more worried about being put under and having someone poking around in there, pulling things out, than I was about the pain. But the weapons-grade bottles of hydrocodone and dilaudid they gave me afterwards made me want to do it again. I couldn’t work due to the nature of my job at the time, so I was out on short-term disability. I was also high as a kite for six weeks. LOL!
Interesting. I’m buying a different brand tomorrow. I have an autoimmune disease that tests show is still in remission. But, I’m sore and tired like I was when it was active or when I was deficient in vitamin D.
I suffer from IBS, diverticulosis, hiatal hernia & ulcers. For some reason, breakfast is the most uncomfortable meal of the day. If I drink Coffee for breakfast, I will be doubled up in pain for a while.
I will take my chances with the Omeprazole.
Bkmk
Ranitidine made me healthy years ago when I suffered from horrible headaches and disabling stomach aches for about two years. Went to every specialist, no one had an answer. Finally the head of internal medicine at UC San Francisco Medical School put me on daily prescription strength Ranitidine for two months. Problem never came back. Shortly afterwards, Ranitidine was approved for over-the-counter use as Zantac.
After two months on Ranitidine, my stomach “learned” not to spout acid when whatever was triggering the acid happened — nerves, food allergies—didn’t matter. .
I like pragmatic doctors who don’t care exactly what the problem is, go straight to the probable solution. And the easiest solution worked.
Glad your arthritis pain is alleviated. My neighbor was given Turmeric by her doctor, so the med profession is catching on.
I take turmeric daily, also Osteo-Biflex, which is very pricey. May I ask how much turmeric you take?
I take 1-2 average sized gel caps per day. I have gone from really bad pain to almost no pain. I have been on forums where people commented that they got off celebrex. Bear in mind I take a very high quality pure tumeric. I can’t vouch for the stuff at the pharmacy. I’ll ask Mr. GG2 where he orders from and PM you with the website.
Now that’s funny. Sounds like you have kept your sense of humor during this healing time. That’s a good sign. Keep on it!
My sister uses that same toothpaste.
She puts some baking soda on top of the toothpaste, and doesn’t have any problems. Me, I wouldn’t go near that Colgate Mexican-manufactured toothpaste for anything. It made my life miserable. Colgate is lucky I didn’t sue them!
In April of 2015, I ended up in the hospital for three days because of a strange irregular heartbeat.
The nurses brought some toiletries into my room for me to use, and low and behold, there was a miniature red and white tube of Colgate toothpaste, made in Mexico!
After breakfast one morning in the hospital, I decided to try an experiment. I stood near the stainless steel sink, and brushed my teeth with that awful toothpaste.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before I had a stomach ache.
I didn’t use it again, and my stomach stopped hurting in less than a day.
Only God knows what’s really in that Mexican-manufactured toothpaste.
Endoscopy =>> Also hiatal hernia, like one other commenter.
I suppose that some suffer much more severe and chronic acid than me and others but I try to go the less intrusive route whenever possible.
Exactly! I suffered from stomach distress for decades, taking acid-reducing drugs daily for more years than I can remember. I underwent quite a few endoscopies and acid tests.
The problem went away completely after I switched to a low-carb high-fat diet. I haven't had any stomach (or esophagus) issues in over 6 years. No more pills. No more anticid.
A Drug, approved by the FDA, has worse side effects than the Symptom. And when the DRUG is proven to be a threat to Americans’ health, we can not sue the FDA...And no one knows what the effects are when they are combined. When was the last time the FDA actually cured a disease? Big Pharma addresses the Symptoms not the causes. EVIL
Good to hear. In my case it’s a lack of discipline. I should weigh less and I wouldn’t need it. A few years ago I had a prolonged case of the flu and lost 20+ pounds: no more GERT. I either need the flu again or some regular exercise.
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