Can long term medication have contributed to DDD and osteoprosis

Posted by axeddie @axeddie, Aug 12, 2023

Hello,

I have GERDS and my doctor put me on PPI/omeprazole medication and I took it for about 15 years. I always worried that the medication might cause malabsorption of nutrients that might affect my bone density and disc health. Was this a possible contributor to my DDD and osteoporosis?

I learned I had DDD and osteoporosis about 3 years ago at the age of 51. It shocked me. I have led a very healthy lifestyle with a healthy diet and a lot of exercise. My goal was hopefully to be a well-fit 95-year-old someday. That may still happen but I have been told to not lift heavy weights anymore, so I won't be that old "built" guy. Disappointing.

I have been told that it is not out of the ordinary to have degenerative disc disease and osteoporosis at my age. So, perhaps this is just Mother Nature and not anything external that has brought this on at what I consider an early age.

No one in my family has suffered from DDD and osteoporosis has generally only been diagnosed in my family members as they've reached their 70's, 80's, and beyond. I take Gabapentin, which also helps my peripheral neuropathy. The neuropathy pain in my feet makes it difficult for me to really identify/understand if the pain in my feet, at times, is from that or may back. But the discs are thin enough that I often get bursts of pain in my toes and pain around my waist and hips. I don't understand pain around the waist and hips.

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deedee12 | @deedee12 | Sep 18, 2023

In reply to @peggy87 "@deedee12 Sounds like we have many similarities. Could we talk sometime this week by chance?" + (show)

Sure, would love to talk. My email address is deefrazier1@msn.com. We can share contact info from email.

blearyeyes | @blearyeyes | Sep 18, 2023

I have pretty much the same; DDD with PN and severe arthritis in the lumbar region. I was told to take PPIs and did so for 15+ years until I came across a medical paper stating the side effect of creation of polyps in your stomach that could become cancerous. Prevacid specifically. So I am very Interested in long term PPI use and what they are not telling us.

Best of luck to you all.

This diagram helped me understand what was going on with nerve compression.

rnlorena | @rnlorena | Sep 18, 2023

In reply to axeddie. I just turned 68 years old. I have to say that I found out a few years ago I had silent reflux. My husband has known reflux. I honestly had never heard of silent. I had an endoscopy and before the procedure based on what I had told the Nurse Practitioner the Gastro Dr. told me that he was sure I had silent reflux. It came back that I had chronic silent reflux and chronic gastritis (inflammation of the stomach). The Nurse practitioner spoke to me in a visit before the procedure and she told me about pantoprazole which they might possibly give me. She also stated that pantoprazole can cause osteopenia or osteoporosis. Okay. Well I said in that visit that all my dexa scans were all good no issues. So my next dexa scan showed I had osteopenia. I went back to the Nurse Practitioner and told her and she said okay I will change you to another medication. I ended up seeing the Gastro Dr. in a visit. He asked me how my meds were working for my silent reflux and chronic gastritis. I said that I now have osteopenia and my meds were changed. Well he was not a happy camper. He said you could take that med all day long and it will never be enough. Then he said they had no studies to show that it caused osteopenia. Well I will tell you there are studies. They don't give meds without studies. Then he proceded to tell me that if I lost 25 pounds I would never have to take medication again. Well I thought about that and said to myself why didn't he tell me that in the first place. I have a new Regular Dr. and he went over my meds. I told him about the Pantoprazole and he said that as you grow older you can have issues with your stomach and such. I think it is highly important for patients to read the side effects and ask questions of a Pharmacist or Doctor. I have read that it is not a good idea to take PPI's for a long time. But that is something to discuss with your Dr. It is very important to discuss those things that you talked about with your Dr. I am not one and I am just telling you what happened with me. I usually write up notes before I go to the Dr. because if I get home and didn't discuss something It tends to upset me. Notes are good. I am having a bit of trouble with the doctors defending the medications. I am certainly not against taking medications. I think I am more frustrated by some of the things I have been told. I know for a fact that no one in my immediate family had bone loss issues. As far as degenerative disc disease I know my father, brother and sister all have issues and now I do too. I have stenosis and bulging discs. I am hoping to get a referral to a neurosurgeon for answers. I also know that if you took a bunch of people off the street and did MRI's they would have back issues.