J
janewhite1
Guest
I think perhaps I should write my whole story down in one place for the benefit of some newer merabers.
It started, ironically, with a sprained ankle, for which I took Advil. Unfortunately, I'd already been taking Advil several times a week for back pain, and the extra doses triggered what I eventually learned was erosive gastritis. For several months, I'd sometimes have a sharp pain on the upper left side of my abdomen. Finally, it got so bad that I was losing weight due to not being able to eat, and I went to a doctor. She recommended I try a two-week course of Prilosec.
This was the spring of 2006, and the tolerance and dependency issues were still very poorly documented. I did my homework and found no real reason not to try the drug, so I did as the doctor suggested.
At the end of two weeks, I stopped. The pain began about 25 hours after I missed my first dose, and it was almost beyond worRAB. It was not the worst pain I've ever felt, but it was the worst pain I've had that didn't start to fade after a few minutes. For eight hours, I was unable to stand up straight. Tums, water, bread, nothing touched it. Getting more Prilosec wasn't a choice, it was an act of desperation.
Years passed. The Prilosec controlled the pain of my erosive gastritis well enough that I could eat a nutritionally adequate diet and feel ok, even if some fooRAB remained off limits. And if I ever forgot a dose, I knew within hours.
While taking Prilosec, for the first time in my life, I began having LPR type symptoms. I have no evidence, but I really suspect that the PPI let my sphincter get lazy and caused the reflux. I also began hearing about nutritional deficiencies among long-term PPI users. The expense of taking two Prilosec every day was also an issue.
Last summer, I finally decided I'd had enough. I wanted to quit--but there was no reason to go cold turkey and endure weeks of painful rebound symptoms. First, I took the amino acid L-glutamine for one month to strengthen my stomach. Then, still on L-glutamine, I started skipping one of my two pills every other day. I also began taking 2 75-mg ranitidine (Zantac) every day.
After a few weeks, I decided the every-other-day thing wasn't working for me, and I dropped to one Prilosec in the morning and 4 Zantac spread out through the day. I did have some increase in symptoms during this time, but nothing major. When 1 Prilosec and 4 Zantac was comfortable, I dropped to three, then two, then one, then none. It took about 2 months for me to be comfortable at 1 Prilosec and no Zantac.
Then, I repeated the process. Again, started with 4 Zantac and slowly dropped. It took almost 5 months for my taper to be complete, but I got there. The symptoms only got bad maybe one or two days, and by mid-January I was free of both drugs and feeling fine.
One of the things that helped me get through was keeping the goal small. I never said, "I have to be free of heartburn medicines NOW!" Instead I told myself, "Hey, even if I can't get off Prilosec entirely, maybe I can get it down to just one pill a day. That'll only cost half as much! Or maybe I'll still need a Zantac sometimes. So what?"
This past month, I've had a flare-up of both reflux and gastritis symptoms, triggered by side effects of (desperately needed) allergy medicines, so I've been working hard at non-drug management and been taking one Zantac before bed each night. The stomach seems to be settling down again.
The big question: Do I wish I hadn't started PPIs? I honestly don't know. My stomach problems weren't life-threatening, but they weren't minor either. My stomach is better now than it was before I started, and it might be because acid suppression let it heal. Still, I wish I'd know all the facts before I started taking them. I probably would have tried other measures first, and they might have worked. That's really the point, not that I shouldn't have taken them, but that I started on the basis of misinformation.
The truth should be out there! (okay, Mulder...)
It started, ironically, with a sprained ankle, for which I took Advil. Unfortunately, I'd already been taking Advil several times a week for back pain, and the extra doses triggered what I eventually learned was erosive gastritis. For several months, I'd sometimes have a sharp pain on the upper left side of my abdomen. Finally, it got so bad that I was losing weight due to not being able to eat, and I went to a doctor. She recommended I try a two-week course of Prilosec.
This was the spring of 2006, and the tolerance and dependency issues were still very poorly documented. I did my homework and found no real reason not to try the drug, so I did as the doctor suggested.
At the end of two weeks, I stopped. The pain began about 25 hours after I missed my first dose, and it was almost beyond worRAB. It was not the worst pain I've ever felt, but it was the worst pain I've had that didn't start to fade after a few minutes. For eight hours, I was unable to stand up straight. Tums, water, bread, nothing touched it. Getting more Prilosec wasn't a choice, it was an act of desperation.
Years passed. The Prilosec controlled the pain of my erosive gastritis well enough that I could eat a nutritionally adequate diet and feel ok, even if some fooRAB remained off limits. And if I ever forgot a dose, I knew within hours.
While taking Prilosec, for the first time in my life, I began having LPR type symptoms. I have no evidence, but I really suspect that the PPI let my sphincter get lazy and caused the reflux. I also began hearing about nutritional deficiencies among long-term PPI users. The expense of taking two Prilosec every day was also an issue.
Last summer, I finally decided I'd had enough. I wanted to quit--but there was no reason to go cold turkey and endure weeks of painful rebound symptoms. First, I took the amino acid L-glutamine for one month to strengthen my stomach. Then, still on L-glutamine, I started skipping one of my two pills every other day. I also began taking 2 75-mg ranitidine (Zantac) every day.
After a few weeks, I decided the every-other-day thing wasn't working for me, and I dropped to one Prilosec in the morning and 4 Zantac spread out through the day. I did have some increase in symptoms during this time, but nothing major. When 1 Prilosec and 4 Zantac was comfortable, I dropped to three, then two, then one, then none. It took about 2 months for me to be comfortable at 1 Prilosec and no Zantac.
Then, I repeated the process. Again, started with 4 Zantac and slowly dropped. It took almost 5 months for my taper to be complete, but I got there. The symptoms only got bad maybe one or two days, and by mid-January I was free of both drugs and feeling fine.
One of the things that helped me get through was keeping the goal small. I never said, "I have to be free of heartburn medicines NOW!" Instead I told myself, "Hey, even if I can't get off Prilosec entirely, maybe I can get it down to just one pill a day. That'll only cost half as much! Or maybe I'll still need a Zantac sometimes. So what?"
This past month, I've had a flare-up of both reflux and gastritis symptoms, triggered by side effects of (desperately needed) allergy medicines, so I've been working hard at non-drug management and been taking one Zantac before bed each night. The stomach seems to be settling down again.
The big question: Do I wish I hadn't started PPIs? I honestly don't know. My stomach problems weren't life-threatening, but they weren't minor either. My stomach is better now than it was before I started, and it might be because acid suppression let it heal. Still, I wish I'd know all the facts before I started taking them. I probably would have tried other measures first, and they might have worked. That's really the point, not that I shouldn't have taken them, but that I started on the basis of misinformation.
The truth should be out there! (okay, Mulder...)