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I am a retired RN, and have had GI issues for many years. My Primary care doc. put me on PPI's many years ago when they first came out. He said "you might as well just stay on it", so I did. Like a lot of drugs, side affects were minimal, so docs felt it was safe. Then about 6-8 yrs ago they did a study and found that with long term use, there were some significant side effects, like kidney disease,liver disease,heart disease, Dementia--just to name a few. So now if a patient presents with GI issues, docs. are more cautious and try them for a limited time. If the patients life is miserable without them, they continue them to get some quality of life. When I read of the study I tried to quit. I was so ill I could not eat, and lost 20# in a short time. He said you better go back on them, and I did. But it worries me .I guess its like gambling-You hope you made the right decision. If you can go without, best to try!
Replies to "I am a retired RN, and have had GI issues for many years. My Primary care..."
Yes I have gone through the same scenario, tried to get off, then tried just to cut back the dosage and neither worked. Severe GERD returned. Quality of life now is more important. Been on full dosage 2 years with no side effects so far. My Mom was on for ten years with no effects. Short of surgery, which has a high failure rate, and some are still on PPIs after surgery, all we can do is hope for the best.
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I heard gaviscon advanced is a good replacement for ppis. Recently I have been hearing more and more doctors taking their patients off them. They must have discovered that they are not good long term. I don’t have gi issues but I have silent reflux which has effected my post nasal drip and swallowing. I was on omeprazole for almost 2 months. It didn’t help at all and so I went off them. There’s a Dr Kaufman who wrote a book called Dropping Acid. He thinks the PPIs are poison and recommends a total diet change.