6 ms·

Nothing gives you a morning dose of fear like reading this about a drug you’ve been on for 6 years. Guess I’ll start looking into alternatives and ways to scree

Nothing gives you a morning dose of fear like reading this about a drug you’ve been on for 6 years. Guess I’ll start looking into alternatives and ways to screen for stomach cancer.

evandena 9y ago
Have you tried an H2 blocker, such as famotidine?
chojeen 9y ago
FWIW, one of my GI doctors recommended trying alternatives to PPI's, while the other was highly skeptical of these data mining studies and recommended staying the course unless a causal link is established.
- jakebasile 9y ago
  It’s so frustrating to often get conflicting advice like this from medical professionals. I understand why it happens but it makes it difficult to make decisions as a patient.
jasonhn9999 9y ago
Paradoxically, I cured my reflux with betaine HCL (with pepsin) and digestive enzymes. I found that when I eat meat and/or when I’m stressed, my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid. This leads to a build up of reflux because the meat is essentially rotting in my stomach, which creates awful “bad acid” reflux. Instead of the drug(s), with every meal, I recommend taking one capsule of betaine HCL (with pepsin) and one digestive enzyme capsule.
- criley2 9y ago
  I would recommend talking to your doctor before accepting medical advice on the internet. Please do not accept medical recommendations from strangers who are not licensed to offer medical advice. Also, if you continue to have to treat symptoms on a regular basis you did not "cure" anything, cure implies that you are free from managing your symptoms. Rather you are managing symptoms and doing nothing about the cause.
  - sly010 9y ago
    > Rather you are managing symptoms and doing nothing about the cause. Which is also what a licensed MD does when he/she puts you on a proton pump inhibitor.
    - yebyen 9y ago
      Ulcers are one of the possible results of acid reflux, that's a symptom too but also a risk factor. You won't be able to heal ulcers if you don't get the acid reflux under control somehow first. I'm on Pantoprazole for over a year now and saw my doctor a few weeks ago; I asked about long term risks, and she mentioned stomach cancer, but framed the dangers a bit differently than what I've read in the article from this study. Basically the established risk is that these PPI drugs work so well that if you were to develop stomach cancer while taking it, the likelihood is strong that the drug would mask the symptoms of the cancer until it was already too late to treat it effectively. Long story short, I am not (this kind of) scientist, I know it's not a miracle drug but I can testify with anecdata that it certainly does a great job of controlling reflux. (What my doctor did recommend was of course better diet and exercise habits, not eating so late in the day, and not drinking alcohol right before bed, so I can eventually stop taking it without those symptoms coming back.) It's quite worrisome for me reading this article now!
- H1Supreme 9y ago
  > my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid Exactly. The amount of people completely, and utterly, misinformed about acid reflux is astounding. You don't have too much acid, you don't have enough! Ditching the dairy and drastically cutting back on animal flesh will cure most heartburn/acid reflux.
  - Overtonwindow 9y ago
    I started taking a probiotic (cheapest at whole foods) and stopped getting acid reflux all together.
    - superb_herb 9y ago
      I never put two and two together until just now, but probiotics got rid of my acid reflex as well. I used to live on calcium tablets basically.
  - wiz21c 9y ago
    >> Ditching the dairy and drastically cutting back on animal flesh Sounds like moving to a healthy diet to me...
    - mizzack 9y ago
      I think I could actually hear my eyes rolling just now.
  - mlloyd 9y ago
    For me it was increasing meat and fat and cutting carbs. Doing that has all but eliminated my reflux until I change my diet for a moderate amount of time.
    - CodeCube 9y ago
      For me, it's cutting out (or at least, reducing) Pizza... my favorite part of the food pyramid
    - 9y ago
- mizzack 9y ago
  Same experience here. Been reflux free for years now and have better GI motility even when I don't take betaine HCl. For large trigger meals + alcohol (e.g. greasy pizza and beer) I'll still take some. Changed my life.
- drzaiusapelord 9y ago
  >my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid. Most acid reflux is due to mechanical action of a sphincter not working correctly. This, if correct, is an edge case. This is most likely an evolutionary flaw that can't be fixed short of genetic engineering. I also have this my experience is your opposite. Carbs cause excess acid for me and that means my leakage rate is higher. Eating more meats and veg helps a lot. As others have stated, the traditional human diet is relatively low carb, so our modern diets are things our bodies are fairly unequiped to handle (carb crashing, obesity, celiac, etc). I'm glad you found something that works for you, but most reflux sufferers don't have a "good" vs "bad" acid problem, they have a sphincter problem.
  - klipt 9y ago
    Yeah I assume my sphincter problem is genetic since several family members have it too. I use a simple mechanical solution - go to sleep on a wedge pillow. Works way better for me than H2 blockers (which would last for 6 hours of sleep, then I'd wake up with horrible reflux because they'd worn off and thanks to the rebound effect, my body was making even more acid to compensate). By comparison, now if I wake up later in the night now I can usually remove the wedge pillow and go back to sleep with no problem.
Overtonwindow 9y ago
I can't find it but I once read that acid reflux was actually due to not enough acid, as what you were ...refluxing was partially digested foods. You might try taking an acidifier and see if that helps.
snarfy 9y ago
I've been on prilosec close to 15 years. Unfortunately H2 blockers don't seem to work for me. I'm not sure what to do. I can go without it for a month or so, then crippling stomach pain and indigestion happens.
- derekp7 9y ago
  Check for gallstones. I had that, crippling stomach pain, which was initially diagnosed as either gastritis or possibly an ulcer. However, after dealing with it for a couple years, I ended up in the emergency room. They ran an ultrasound, and found a number of gallstones lodged in the duct that connects the gallbladder to the stomach. Ended up having my gallbladder removed. Items that I remember triggering massive pain attacks include pizza (I thought it was acid from the tomato sauce, but it was fat from the cheese), and after eating a large gyro (lots of fat in it apparently). Fat causes the gallbladder to start pumping, and if there are stones it will lodge them in the duct causing the pain.
  - civilian 9y ago
    And if you have gallstones, ride a rollercoaster! Specifically Disney World's Magic Kingdom Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/health/kidney-stone-roller-coaster-study-trnd/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/health/kidney-stone-roller-coa...
- vixen99 9y ago
  Try reviewing your diet, the times when you eat and drink plenty of water. Mercola's solutions worked for me. 'acid reflux' - https://articles.mercola.com/sites/current.aspx https://articles.mercola.com/sites/current.aspx
  - davymac 9y ago
    Please don’t ever recommend the internet quack Mercola to anyone. He will and probably has gotten people killed with the garbage on his site.
mlloyd 9y ago
Seriously. I've been taking it sporadically for about that long as well. Doing the same as you now.
- velox_io 9y ago
  It's much more likely that those taking such drunks, are at a much higher disposition of developing such complications. I started taking such a drug again after developing stomach issues. I had a scare a couple of years ago, and it was only by chance that I changed to another GP who was much more attentive, turned out that I was only months away of having a haemorrhage that would have likely been fatal. All from a few years taking a 'safe' anti-inflammatory. Now I won't touch any NSAIDs (which is a shame as I'm in more pain), but it isn't worth the risk of further damage, which was left me as a coeliac (body went after the wrong target). How often do you read about NSAIDs? No, it's how Fentanyl is killing so many heroin addicts, yet the patches are safely used by millions.
  - velox_io 9y ago
    Where's the edit gone? I meant drugs, not drunks (long day).
- scubadude 9y ago
  Everyone will give you advice, but if the issue is simply that the sphincter muscle isn't strong enough, nothing will fix that except surgery. I had this done and it has been life changing: www.livingwithreflux.org/nissens-fundoplication/
cma 9y ago
They are also fairly strongly linked to Alzheimer's.
sushid 9y ago
Have you tried probiotics and/or walking for 10-15 minutes after eating? I get the occasional GERD but nothing if I do both of those things afterwards.
gogopuppygogo 9y ago
I was on PPI's for a bit. I went on a strict diet and lost about 100lb's which got the disease under control. Recently I have found CBD's work wonders for helping every aspect of my GI issues. I can't believe how amazing CBD's are. It's no wonder that pharma is working overtime to keep this kind of product out of our hands.
- wholinator 9y ago
  CBD's as in Cannabidiol? If so I can second this for GI issues. Though I usually find that the full spectrum tinctures work much better for regulation of symptoms, even the ones without THC. For reference, I've had Crohns' disease for almost 10 years.

Nothing gives you a morning dose of fear like reading this about a drug you’ve been on for 6 years. Guess I’ll start looking into alternatives and ways to screen for stomach cancer.

evandena 9y ago

Have you tried an H2 blocker, such as famotidine?

chojeen 9y ago

FWIW, one of my GI doctors recommended trying alternatives to PPI's, while the other was highly skeptical of these data mining studies and recommended staying the course unless a causal link is established.

jakebasile 9y ago
It’s so frustrating to often get conflicting advice like this from medical professionals. I understand why it happens but it makes it difficult to make decisions as a patient.

jasonhn9999 9y ago

Paradoxically, I cured my reflux with betaine HCL (with pepsin) and digestive enzymes. I found that when I eat meat and/or when I’m stressed, my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid. This leads to a build up of reflux because the meat is essentially rotting in my stomach, which creates awful “bad acid” reflux. Instead of the drug(s), with every meal, I recommend taking one capsule of betaine HCL (with pepsin) and one digestive enzyme capsule.

criley2 9y ago
I would recommend talking to your doctor before accepting medical advice on the internet. Please do not accept medical recommendations from strangers who are not licensed to offer medical advice. Also, if you continue to have to treat symptoms on a regular basis you did not "cure" anything, cure implies that you are free from managing your symptoms. Rather you are managing symptoms and doing nothing about the cause.
- sly010 9y ago
  > Rather you are managing symptoms and doing nothing about the cause. Which is also what a licensed MD does when he/she puts you on a proton pump inhibitor.
  - yebyen 9y ago
    Ulcers are one of the possible results of acid reflux, that's a symptom too but also a risk factor. You won't be able to heal ulcers if you don't get the acid reflux under control somehow first. I'm on Pantoprazole for over a year now and saw my doctor a few weeks ago; I asked about long term risks, and she mentioned stomach cancer, but framed the dangers a bit differently than what I've read in the article from this study. Basically the established risk is that these PPI drugs work so well that if you were to develop stomach cancer while taking it, the likelihood is strong that the drug would mask the symptoms of the cancer until it was already too late to treat it effectively. Long story short, I am not (this kind of) scientist, I know it's not a miracle drug but I can testify with anecdata that it certainly does a great job of controlling reflux. (What my doctor did recommend was of course better diet and exercise habits, not eating so late in the day, and not drinking alcohol right before bed, so I can eventually stop taking it without those symptoms coming back.) It's quite worrisome for me reading this article now!
H1Supreme 9y ago
> my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid Exactly. The amount of people completely, and utterly, misinformed about acid reflux is astounding. You don't have too much acid, you don't have enough! Ditching the dairy and drastically cutting back on animal flesh will cure most heartburn/acid reflux.
- Overtonwindow 9y ago
  I started taking a probiotic (cheapest at whole foods) and stopped getting acid reflux all together.
  - superb_herb 9y ago
    I never put two and two together until just now, but probiotics got rid of my acid reflex as well. I used to live on calcium tablets basically.
- wiz21c 9y ago
  >> Ditching the dairy and drastically cutting back on animal flesh Sounds like moving to a healthy diet to me...
  - mizzack 9y ago
    I think I could actually hear my eyes rolling just now.
- mlloyd 9y ago
  For me it was increasing meat and fat and cutting carbs. Doing that has all but eliminated my reflux until I change my diet for a moderate amount of time.
  - CodeCube 9y ago
    For me, it's cutting out (or at least, reducing) Pizza... my favorite part of the food pyramid
  - 9y ago
mizzack 9y ago
Same experience here. Been reflux free for years now and have better GI motility even when I don't take betaine HCl. For large trigger meals + alcohol (e.g. greasy pizza and beer) I'll still take some. Changed my life.
drzaiusapelord 9y ago
>my body doesn’t naturally produce enough “good” acid. Most acid reflux is due to mechanical action of a sphincter not working correctly. This, if correct, is an edge case. This is most likely an evolutionary flaw that can't be fixed short of genetic engineering. I also have this my experience is your opposite. Carbs cause excess acid for me and that means my leakage rate is higher. Eating more meats and veg helps a lot. As others have stated, the traditional human diet is relatively low carb, so our modern diets are things our bodies are fairly unequiped to handle (carb crashing, obesity, celiac, etc). I'm glad you found something that works for you, but most reflux sufferers don't have a "good" vs "bad" acid problem, they have a sphincter problem.
- klipt 9y ago
  Yeah I assume my sphincter problem is genetic since several family members have it too. I use a simple mechanical solution - go to sleep on a wedge pillow. Works way better for me than H2 blockers (which would last for 6 hours of sleep, then I'd wake up with horrible reflux because they'd worn off and thanks to the rebound effect, my body was making even more acid to compensate). By comparison, now if I wake up later in the night now I can usually remove the wedge pillow and go back to sleep with no problem.

Overtonwindow 9y ago

I can't find it but I once read that acid reflux was actually due to not enough acid, as what you were ...refluxing was partially digested foods. You might try taking an acidifier and see if that helps.

snarfy 9y ago

I've been on prilosec close to 15 years. Unfortunately H2 blockers don't seem to work for me. I'm not sure what to do. I can go without it for a month or so, then crippling stomach pain and indigestion happens.

derekp7 9y ago
Check for gallstones. I had that, crippling stomach pain, which was initially diagnosed as either gastritis or possibly an ulcer. However, after dealing with it for a couple years, I ended up in the emergency room. They ran an ultrasound, and found a number of gallstones lodged in the duct that connects the gallbladder to the stomach. Ended up having my gallbladder removed. Items that I remember triggering massive pain attacks include pizza (I thought it was acid from the tomato sauce, but it was fat from the cheese), and after eating a large gyro (lots of fat in it apparently). Fat causes the gallbladder to start pumping, and if there are stones it will lodge them in the duct causing the pain.
- civilian 9y ago
  And if you have gallstones, ride a rollercoaster! Specifically Disney World's Magic Kingdom Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/health/kidney-stone-roller-coaster-study-trnd/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/health/kidney-stone-roller-coa...
vixen99 9y ago
Try reviewing your diet, the times when you eat and drink plenty of water. Mercola's solutions worked for me. 'acid reflux' - https://articles.mercola.com/sites/current.aspx https://articles.mercola.com/sites/current.aspx
- davymac 9y ago
  Please don’t ever recommend the internet quack Mercola to anyone. He will and probably has gotten people killed with the garbage on his site.

mlloyd 9y ago

Seriously. I've been taking it sporadically for about that long as well. Doing the same as you now.

velox_io 9y ago
It's much more likely that those taking such drunks, are at a much higher disposition of developing such complications. I started taking such a drug again after developing stomach issues. I had a scare a couple of years ago, and it was only by chance that I changed to another GP who was much more attentive, turned out that I was only months away of having a haemorrhage that would have likely been fatal. All from a few years taking a 'safe' anti-inflammatory. Now I won't touch any NSAIDs (which is a shame as I'm in more pain), but it isn't worth the risk of further damage, which was left me as a coeliac (body went after the wrong target). How often do you read about NSAIDs? No, it's how Fentanyl is killing so many heroin addicts, yet the patches are safely used by millions.
- velox_io 9y ago
  Where's the edit gone? I meant drugs, not drunks (long day).
scubadude 9y ago
Everyone will give you advice, but if the issue is simply that the sphincter muscle isn't strong enough, nothing will fix that except surgery. I had this done and it has been life changing: www.livingwithreflux.org/nissens-fundoplication/

cma 9y ago

They are also fairly strongly linked to Alzheimer's.

sushid 9y ago

Have you tried probiotics and/or walking for 10-15 minutes after eating? I get the occasional GERD but nothing if I do both of those things afterwards.

gogopuppygogo 9y ago

I was on PPI's for a bit. I went on a strict diet and lost about 100lb's which got the disease under control. Recently I have found CBD's work wonders for helping every aspect of my GI issues. I can't believe how amazing CBD's are. It's no wonder that pharma is working overtime to keep this kind of product out of our hands.

wholinator 9y ago
CBD's as in Cannabidiol? If so I can second this for GI issues. Though I usually find that the full spectrum tinctures work much better for regulation of symptoms, even the ones without THC. For reference, I've had Crohns' disease for almost 10 years.