I had severe Gerd and was on high doses of PPI's for 20 years. There are side effects for all of them and the more they are studied the more they find! Zantac is one of them. I had a Linx devise put on my esophagus in 2014 and it failed last year causing ulcers. There are several surgeries for Gerd. After I had the devise taken out last summer, my doctor did food allergy testing. I was shocked since many of the foods I was allergic to I ate daily like eggs! This has helped me to get off the drugs. Now I take a Pepcid if I ingest something I shouldn't. The test is a simple blood test so instead of listening to doctors that just know how to prescribe drugs find one who will investigate your diet!!