PPI use and side effects

cheyne,
I read the article that you posted and it was very informative. I think pharmacists in the UK are able to advise and prescribe
In ways that American pharmacists are not.

Good RX lists the top possible side effects of PPIs, which include fracture and kidney disease. Some GI doctors don't acknowledge these side effects, mine didn't, and never advised me to monitor for them. By accident I discovered I had chronic kidney disease stage 3 after 4 years on omeprazole. I stopped the drug and the kidney value improved to just over the line to reference range, so I am certain the drug did cause that side effect. Side effects may be rare but they can happen. Is the PPI causing your osteoporosis? Hard to tell. With BE, you have to weigh the pros and cons. I can control my reflux with low acid/whole food diet and lifestyle changes. Everyone is different tho and it's more difficult than taking a pill. I read Dr. Jonathan Aviv's book to get more info on reflux and options. Dr. Jamie Koufman has a book too that people like (she also has a web site full of free info on reflux). Good luck with whatever path you choose. You can also read the book Great Bones by Keith Mccormick to learn more about osteoporosis. He cites PPIs as a cause for OP, among other possibilities. He also writes about various tests you can do to determine if you have OP due to age/menopause or some other reason.

Hi - I have Barrett's as well but luckily with no dysplasia as of yet. I was prescribed the PPI Omeprazole. I also have just been diagnosed with Osteoporosis of the hip.. I took the Omeprazole for a while.. but did bring up the connection with my Gastroenterologist who said I could take Famotidine instead. That basically does the same thing as the PPI but it is called a H2Blocker. Talk to your Doctor about it. I also Sleep on a wedge pillow at night. I eat early as well so there is at least 3 to 4 hours before going to bed. My downfall is wine - which I love to have with dinner but apparently it is bad for both!!! So I'm trying to limit that. Let your doctor who is treating your Barrett's know about your Osteoporosis and see what they have to say.. As for my hip I will see someone in March to determine if I need Meds for that. Food is also such a factor - Dropping Acid by Jamie Koufman, MD and the Acid Watcher Diet are good books.

YES! I started on Pantoprazole 40 mg 8 months ago. Diarrhea, frequent urination, gas, and it seems like my joint/muscle pain is worse although that could be due to something else. In April, because my doctor said it is a short-term medication, I reduced to 20 mg. The side effects remained but weren't quite as awful. My OTHER stomach pain (from erosions) came back big time. Now I'm back to 40 and back to the raging side effects. I've been told Omeprazole is just as bad or worse as far as those side effects. Sigh.

Welcome @shady, to Mayo Clinic Clinic Connect. The side effects you've had from the pantoprazole sound rough.

Hoping members here like @juand @johnbluffside @riflemanz64 and others can provide some support and ideas for you.

What does your doctor say about managing those side effects?

I had severe leg cramping from Pantaprazole. I’m now on omperazole and I have no side affects.

So, long story short, two weeks ago I took an antibiotic course + esomeprazole to treat my H pylori infection. Throughout the ten days of treatment my digestion improved a lot, as before that I was dealing with severe delayed gastric emptying with food sitting in my stomach for as long as 8 hours. I was barely able to eat, cause I would get extremely full and bloated just after a few bites, throughout the day I would keep regurgitating food, constant acid reflux and the nausea was unbearable. It was a total nightmare that caused me to become severly underweight and malnourished. So during treatment all these symptoms had improved a lot and as soon as I finished the treatment, my digestion slowed down again so I started thinking what could be the cause of it and I realized that my digestion had improved on the same day I started taking PPIs which was a few days before starting the antibiotics. So I tried taking then again and guess what, digestion improved again. But this makes zero sense to me, because two years ago I tried taking PPIs and they made my digestion way worse which makes sense since that’s actually a known side effects of PPIs given that they suppress the acid needed to digest food. The only theory that I came up with is that since I have severe diffuse gastritis (diagnosed through endoscopy and biopsy) the PPIs might be calming down the inflammation and allowing the stomach to digest better and faster… does this make sense to anyone? Has anyone experience anything similar?

Not a doctor and don’t have gastroparesis, but my understanding of it is that it is related to the muscles that move the food along, not acid production . If your stomach is full because food is not moving seems to me that the acid is building up behind it and you have an excess in smaller space? Which would then cause acid reflux et al. Just thinking. I could be way off.
Is your slow stomach emptying due to low acid or paralysis of the muscles?
Would think that would make a difference.

Makes sense to me. Gastritis is inflamation and the PPIs might very well be helping with that. Talk to your doctor as it sounds like a daily dose is a good idea for you.

That is interesting. I went to a GI for random lower abdomen pain and diarrhea. For other reasons they did an endoscopy and said I had esophagitis…this being unrelated to what I went there for. Anyhow, they gave me pantoprazole for the esophagitis, but it immediately resolves my lower abdomen issues. With the PPI, I no longer had bloating right after eating, no more stomach pains and no more diarrhea. However, I was very concerned about long time PPI use and stopped after 3 months. I then had awful acid reflux. I seem settled down now, taking kefir and Pepcid or tums as needed. Still feel much better than I used to, but not as good as I felt on the PPI. Wonder if there’s something similar that has the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of a PPI without the acid suppression?