How safe is Famotidine 40 mg ?

Esophageal dismotility and severe gerd.

It turned my weight loss and nausea of MCAS around, but after taking it for 2 years, I am having some real issues that seem to point to absorption of nutrients, particularly B6, B9 and B12. I suspect MTHFR, but am trying to cut back nevertheless. I would live to great how others are doing I am am active 71 year old vegetarian with heads of many years.

Doc wants me on 40 mg 2x day but I take it only 1x in the morning. I am 78 and have been taking it for a couple of years. If I don't take it the phlegm is worse and I cough. Pick your poison I guess.

So I kept a journal of my day's quitting protonix. I ended it on day 50.
This was not the cakewalk I expected and it took much longer to beat the acid rebound hypersecretion.
I had good days and bad days.
I've been off carafate for three weeks. I am now tapering off famotidine. I was taking 40 mg twice a day for almost 2 months. I am taking 20 mg before every meal for a week. Then I'll skip the second one for a week. Etc.
My problem now is occasional bloating so digestion.
Also I have a endoscopy scheduled for June 12th.
Finally hope to get some answers and a proper diagnosis.
So, more good days than bad. My life is getting more normal. I'm walking every day, working out 3 times a week, seeing friends again.
I think now my only problem is my gut health. It even seems to be recovering.
Light at the end of this tunnel.
Since I've been down this road before. I know that I'll recover completely.
So if your stopping a ppi med or tapering off one. Stick with it. Work with your doctor. Best advice i can give is "Don't doom scroll!"

"I am now tapering off famotidine. I was taking 40 mg twice a day for almost 2 months. I am taking 20 mg before every meal for a week. Then I'll skip the second one for a week. Etc."

How did this go for you @malooga?

I didn't know that I couldn't just go cold turkey off of famotidine (also 40 mg twice a day for at least two months). I stopped taking it a few days ago, and almost immediately started having problems, especially around mid-afternoon and then in the middle of the night. It turned into GERD-induced asthma (with wheezing and whistling sounds whenever I would breathe out). Sitting up helped, but my pulse oximeter indicated that my oxygen sat rate was down to 88% at around 3 a.m. I learned from Dr. Google that caffeine is a bronchodilator, so I slurped down a cup of coffee and within a half an hour, the pulse ox was up to 91% and my cough had settled. I called my allergist in the morning, and he said I should go to urgent care, which I did. When I got up again around 3 a.m. this morning with a coughing fit, I drank another cup of coffee while googling famotidine. That's when I learned that you can get rebound reflux if you quit it cold turkey. I'm now trying to figure out how I can go off of it without destroying my lungs.

Did switching to the 20 mg tabs work for you? Also, you said "before every meal" - does that mean you are taking it three times a day? Thanks for any advice you can share.

I was taking 40 mg, then I asked my doctor for 20 mg, took that for 2 weeks, then one pill every other evening, then I stopped. My doctor said to take tums if I had any breakthrough problems. Worked for me..

Thank you for sharing your protocol. I hope it goes as well for me. I take TUMS every day for my osteoporosis, but I haven't noticed that it does anything to improve my GERD symptoms. My biggest downfall is that I like to sit back on the couch after lunch. They say that that is a no-no. I'm supposed to sit up or stand, and truth be told, it does seem to make a difference when I do that. Sigh. Why can't I just sit back and relax after a good meal?