I need help getting off of 80mg omeprazole

Posted by jazzgirl @jazzgirl, Feb 23 9:30am

Has anyone weaned off of 80mg ? I take 40mg in the morning and 40mg with dinner. My doctor wants me to stop taking the evening 40mg every other day and use pepcid instead on those days . and then stop evening dose completely after two weeks. I'm concerned that's too fast I stoped cold turkey with only 20mg and had severe acid reflux that's why My gi doctor put me on 80mg.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Digestive Health Support Group.

pb50 | @pb50 | Feb 23 7:05pm

In reply to @jazzgirl "How high was you dose?Did your rebound acid last long? Thank you so much for everyones..." + (show)

There’s a strong collection of experiences here that should help you decide on a taper path. Good luck!!

farmersmith | @farmersmith | Feb 24 7:31am

I use OptiMag 125 and K+2Potassium in the evening. Medication is a foreign substance in our bodies and if you read the labels of most laxatives they say not to take for more than a week. Consider adding a Naturopath to your health team. Good luck, @farmersmith

baguette | @baguette | Feb 24 9:12am

Check with your pharmacist as to whether you can cut your pills in half. If you can, you can go for example from 20 mgs to 10 mgs. I could cut my pills and eventually quartered them. If you need to taper more slowly, see if you can get a prescription for a compounding pharmacy. That way the pills can be made to order. Good luck!

windyshores | @windyshores | Feb 24 9:16am

In reply to @baguette "Check with your pharmacist as to whether you can cut your pills in half. If you..." + (show)

I cut Pepcid pills, if that helps.

pb50 | @pb50 | Feb 24 9:31am

In reply to @windyshores "I cut Pepcid pills, if that helps." + (show)

The generic Nexium I took were capsules and you can’t divide those.

windyshores | @windyshores | Feb 24 10:42am

Nexium is a PPI. Pepcid is an histamine-2 blocker. I cut Pepcid after tapering the PPI and transitioning to Pepcid, then I tapered off the Pepcid by cutting the pill in 1/2 then 1/4.

t98 | @t98 | Feb 24 11:27am

Stopping cold turkey is always a problem. The advice above regarding tapering is good (for example the VA link and others). Since your dosage was raised, I suggest you also lower the dose to 20 mg omeprazole twice a day but do it slowly. I completely got off Nexium (like omeprazole) and famotidine (pepcid) by switching the AM nexium once a week to famotidine, and then every few days and slowly lowered it to every other day and after that I was able to also stop the famotidine in the AM. I then took a probiotic in the morning instead. I was taking famotidine at night and that I stopped gradually as well, and replaced with taking melatonin before bed. (depending on your age, this may make sense for you. melatonin levels are lower as you age) If there was some acid rebound, I took Gaviscon Advance at night, and Tums as needed. Do it as slowly as you need to, realize you may have some rebound but it will straighten out in a few weeks as long as you don't make a drastic reduction all at once.

pb50 | @pb50 | Feb 24 1:34pm

In reply to @windyshores "Nexium is a PPI. Pepcid is an histamine-2 blocker. I cut Pepcid after tapering the PPI..." + (show)

Yea that makes sense

Jim, Volunteer Mentor | @jimhd | Feb 24 5:17pm

In reply to @jazzgirl "Thank you again. It's nice to hear other people got better ." + (show)

Tapering off many medications can be challenging. I would recommend that you keep your doctor in the loop when you figure out the best way that works for YOU. It could be useful information for her/him.

Jim