M
misterjim
Guest
After being on ppis for 3.5 years for LPR symptoms I had to go off about a month ago due to increasingly bad side effects (and I'm happy to say that the side effects diappeared after a few days) and the fact that they did not seem to be doing much for my LPR. However, I'm going through rebound hell as some (but not all) have reported on this and other boarRAB. I did some tapering using H2 blockers but found after a while even those were giving me bad side effects. Right now I am not taking anything deliberate for acid excpet for DGL and occasioanlly Gaviscon. It's been only about 2 weeks since getting off the H2 blockers.
I thought I would be prepared for this but I wasn't mentally or physically (note: I am a healthy 47 year old male who up to recently was biking 10 miles a day - though I do have pretty severe anxiety problems - more about that later). It was if I was going through SSRI withdrawl. I was expecting the acid but not the other things. I didn't realize how my body was dependent on this damn things.
To make a long story short I experienced severe stomach burning, nausea, heartburn, LPR symptoms (though in general I would say they are not much worse than when I was on the PPIs). I also developed severe panic attacks (as I mentioned I suffered from anxiety but this was off the charts) and really bad insomnia.
My doctor put me on a very, very low dose of Remeron (1/4 of the lowest dose 15 mg tablet partly because I am so sensitive to these meRAB and partly because I didn't want to trade one monkey (ppi) with another (anti-depressant).) That has helped both for mood as well as nausea and now I am feeling pretty good with repsect to anxiety (i am also doing CBT) but my stomach is still a major problem. I am also taking a low dose of Lunesta (1 mg) since I was sleeping less than 2 hours a night for 3 weeks straight. In fact, I thought I had my gerd problems licked when I was on 2 mg of Lunesta - However, it was just acting as an acid control. When I went down to 1 mg (again paranoia of being on a narcotic med) I noticed that around noon the next day my stomach would burn for a few hours before settling down again. The plan once my gastro problems have settled is to get off both these meRAB.
Right now it seems anything I do to control my acid results in rebound (usually burning stomach). The Lunesta which I assume due to it's anticholinergic properties is drying my throat out is also reducing my stomach acid (20 min after taking my stomach feels much less acidic) but the next day I go through a mini-rebound period with a burning stomach.
My question is: is this par for the course? It seems my "acid feedback loop" is extremely sensitive and/or really messed up. It's been a month since off ppis and over 2 weeks since being off all acid med and I do notice a very slow week-by-week improvement but this sensitivity to any attempt at artificial means of controlling acid really has me worried. Will I ever return to normal or always have trouble with my stomach? Am I doing OK for someone off all acid meRAB for this period of time? This has been the hardest thing I've ever gone through and I can see why people never get off these things. For me there is no turing back - the side effects are just too severe.
Any input is greatly appreciated.
I thought I would be prepared for this but I wasn't mentally or physically (note: I am a healthy 47 year old male who up to recently was biking 10 miles a day - though I do have pretty severe anxiety problems - more about that later). It was if I was going through SSRI withdrawl. I was expecting the acid but not the other things. I didn't realize how my body was dependent on this damn things.
To make a long story short I experienced severe stomach burning, nausea, heartburn, LPR symptoms (though in general I would say they are not much worse than when I was on the PPIs). I also developed severe panic attacks (as I mentioned I suffered from anxiety but this was off the charts) and really bad insomnia.
My doctor put me on a very, very low dose of Remeron (1/4 of the lowest dose 15 mg tablet partly because I am so sensitive to these meRAB and partly because I didn't want to trade one monkey (ppi) with another (anti-depressant).) That has helped both for mood as well as nausea and now I am feeling pretty good with repsect to anxiety (i am also doing CBT) but my stomach is still a major problem. I am also taking a low dose of Lunesta (1 mg) since I was sleeping less than 2 hours a night for 3 weeks straight. In fact, I thought I had my gerd problems licked when I was on 2 mg of Lunesta - However, it was just acting as an acid control. When I went down to 1 mg (again paranoia of being on a narcotic med) I noticed that around noon the next day my stomach would burn for a few hours before settling down again. The plan once my gastro problems have settled is to get off both these meRAB.
Right now it seems anything I do to control my acid results in rebound (usually burning stomach). The Lunesta which I assume due to it's anticholinergic properties is drying my throat out is also reducing my stomach acid (20 min after taking my stomach feels much less acidic) but the next day I go through a mini-rebound period with a burning stomach.
My question is: is this par for the course? It seems my "acid feedback loop" is extremely sensitive and/or really messed up. It's been a month since off ppis and over 2 weeks since being off all acid med and I do notice a very slow week-by-week improvement but this sensitivity to any attempt at artificial means of controlling acid really has me worried. Will I ever return to normal or always have trouble with my stomach? Am I doing OK for someone off all acid meRAB for this period of time? This has been the hardest thing I've ever gone through and I can see why people never get off these things. For me there is no turing back - the side effects are just too severe.
Any input is greatly appreciated.