Hi @mamasita! Thank you for connecting! Sorry for the delay in replying; was in church all day and yesterday held a meeting at our home. Anyway, so have you been diagnosed with BE, or have you been told to take Prilosec by your dr bc he thinks you're heading that way (being diagnosed with it)? After my diagnosis from my GI (as a result from enodscopy), he told me to take prilosec at first bc he said my BE wasn't too alarming as of yet. However, I simply stopped taking it bc it was too expensive, to be honest; plus, like you, I hated to have to take just one more medicine in my long list of health problems. However, I started having a lot of acid reflux again and was taking the TUMS around the clock; so after calling my GI, he prescribed me the Omeprazol 20 mg, twice a day. I only took that one for two to three days bc it was aggravating my IBS-C. It was only shortly after that, that I changed my diet over night. I've also been diagnosed with IC (Interstitial Cystitis), so after painful bladder spasms due to too much acid in my diet, I started following the IC Network's ICN Food List, which is basically a Low/No Acid Diet. As I've mentioned bf in this thread, due to the rigid restrictions on especially fruits, I started taking a special Low Acid Mutivitamin that I buy off of the IC Network. I also eat a TON of blueberries as they are in the bladder/acid friendly category, but also bc they are anti-inflammitory, which my body desperately battles every day with other diagnosis' that I have of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, and Fibromyalgia (which feed off of chronic inflammation). So, I'm afraid that I probably wasn't able to answer your question about the Prilosec, simply bc I did not take it long enough; only a box's worth. And, again, I'm curious as to if you've been diagnosed with BE/GERD, or anything like that.

@mamacita I have been on omeprazole (Prilosec) for a number of years now, maybe 7. Yep, I would like to get off of it too but the biggest problem I have heard is that it increases the chance of having Alzheimer's, which is a pretty big problem of course, one of my greatest fears frankly. Other studies dispute that though.
If you have BE and it is not kept under control with a PPI such as omeprazole it can advance to esophageal cancer. I have an appointment with my endocrinologist next month and before that I plan to do a little research to see if some of the other PPIs do not have any problems associated with them, but lets' face it, most pharmaceuticals do. It's like the drug commercials say, "your doctor has prescribed this because he thinks the risks of not taking it outweigh the risks of taking it" (not an exact quote of course).

I do not have any short term problems with it though. Initially, I did get an upset stomach from it but that went away after a short while.
JK