How to Quit Pantoprazole?

Any experience with prescription famotidine (Pepcid) in phasing out of panroprazole for serious GERD?

Hello,
I just joined the forum and appreciate the info in all the posts. I was recently diagnosed with LPR and I'm struggling. I'm still in disbelief as ai never had any symptoms and suddenly had a choking incident at work after eating a small bite of chocolate. Since then all these symptoms started mucus in the throat and recently constant belching. Has anyone had these symptoms and what helps? The air from belching shoots up into my throat and makes it hard to breathe. I'm not eating well because it's hard to figure out what to eat. I'm at my wits end. I'm on PPI and H2blocker, and also using Reflux gate and Gaviscon. Please help!!! Thanks

@sue312 I also have this and was surprised to find out. I had an endoscopy in May where a small hiatal hernia was found along with mild esophagitis. I had no symptoms of reflux or chest pain at all. At that time, I had mild discomfort in my mouth and had no idea why. I had also taken a bite of a sandwich and found it difficult to swallow but that has only happened a couple of times. Since then, I have experienced a burning throat and mouth, voice changes and a dry cough. I was first prescribed a PPI. My doctor even gave me samples of the very expensive Voquezna. I had the worst stomach pain and diarrhea from this medication. It was absolutely no different than the pantoprazole or omeprazole I had tried before. I absolutely cannot do PPI's! I am only able to take famotadine. I take 40 mg in the morning and 40 mg in the evening. It eases the sore throat and I haven't had any swallowing issues. The cough has almost completely gone, but I have ridiculous discomfort in my mouth from the acid. The doctor said it will take longer for the esophagitis to cure with just an H2 blocker, but the PPI's are an absolute no for me. Have you had an endoscopy to see if the cause of your problem can be determined? My Gastro told me the esophagitis will heal with time. The hiatal hernia will be something I have to manage but it is very small. I take Mylanta liquid, Gas-X when the bubbling starts in my stomach, and Mylanta One tablets. I don't know if your stomach is bothering you from the different medications or not but these things are necessary for me because the intense H2 blockers give me stomach troubles. I feel pretty sure if I was able to take a PPI, that would do the trick much faster. As it is, the famotadine has me in the bathroom more often than I'd like. Don't despair! Once you find out what's causing this issue, chances are there's a medication you can take to heal whatever is causing it. I'm pretty sure it won't heal on its own though. I eat very small meals and pretty bland food… Eggs and toast, turkey sandwiches, oatmeal, you get the idea. I would start by finding out what's causing the LPR. If you didn't have an endoscopy, it's a pretty easy procedure. If your gastroenterologist isn't giving you helpful answers, find another one. It took three before I found a good one.Good luck! I hope you find relief soon!

@carolinlv Thanks for responding and sorry to hear you had to go through all that. I did an Endoscopy which was normal. Just came from the Allergist and nothing to explain what's causing this. I hope my GI can give me a definite answer tomorrow. My nutritionist told me to try DGL which some people say replaced their PPI. All the best to you too.

@sue312 never heard of DGL. I will check it out! Good luck with the GI!

do you have actual acid reflux into your throat? I have been on the Panto for several years and they suggest it is not for long term, but my GI clinic knowingly strung me along on it with a "mild" hiatal hernia for several years. I got to the point of having the Toupet procedure and now I've been told to taper off it from 2 a day to 1 a day for a week, then one every other day. everyone's reasons for taking it are different. I'm glad to get off it as it is not for long term.

I was taking pantoprazole for over three years for Gerd and all the uncomfortable symptoms associated with it. The pantoprazole was a dream, until it wasn’t. I had lower stomach pain that would not go away. I still had no symptoms of Gerd, but my doctor was thinking possibly the pantoprazole had changed in formula. Evidently, the non-active ingredients in a med can be changed randomly. He had multiple patients complain of stomach pain and we were all taking pantoprazole. He didn’t think it wise to take me off an antacid completely so he changed me to omeprazole and the same thing happened. Guess that wasn’t my problem. We finally decided I had been on it so long, maybe I didn’t need it any longer, so I stopped taking it. That was four months ago. I’ve needed an occasional dose of Mylanta or Tums, but that was it. Well, this week I have started to have some Gerd symptoms again. I’ve woken up a few times in the middle of the night with nausea and a headache. I’ve had difficulty sleeping, which is not all that odd for me, but waking up at 2:30 and unable to go back to sleep at all. Now I’ve got the stomach discomfort again. Has anyone stopped taking a PPI because it was making you as sick as the illness you were treating? I have read Gerd returning is common, but these symptoms are slightly different. I don’t have heartburn. I have all this other middle of the night stuff instead. I’m afraid to start a PPI again, especially after reading so much about them when I stopped. I have read you can take them for 6 to 8 weeks 3-4 times a year to heal esophageal problems. Has anyone ever done this type of short term treatment? I can handle a lot, but I have to have at least five hours of sleep. Right now, I’m lucky to get that. Just in case anyone has this thought, I had an endoscopy in February of this year, so I don’t think it’s anything serious unless it’s something that came on quickly. I was prescribed medication to heal a very small ulcer that was found, which was also meant to heal the minor Gerd symptoms noticed. Any thoughts out there?