PPI caused GERD like acid reflux symptoms. CAn this be true??????????

I went to a doctor(general physician) and complained of stomach pain(I had anxiety) and said I had cold waves. The doc prescribed me to Prilosec. Never ever I had heard of the term heartburn or experienced it in my life until that point. Not knowing what I was suffering thru, 3rd day into the medicine I suffered from throat burn. Few more days I had sever burning sensation in my back and every google search text for my symptoms lead to the title GERD. Day by day my symptoms worsened and my doctor prescribed a different PPI everytime. I followed a perfect diet but nothing helped.

One fine night I ate raw onion for my dinner and for the first time next morning I found great relief. Imagining that I found a great solution this problem I started on googling “Raw onion acid reflux”. To my astonishment, every page said avoid it. I was very curious and started thinking about this:

1) My worst acid reflux symptoms were during the breakfast and lunch hrs when PPI is supposed to be very effective
2) Googled on PPI side effects said : heartburn (OMG)
3) Reason why PPIs can cause heartburn: Low stomach acid.
4) IS there a correlation,yes a lot. The lower stomach valve doesn’t open if the stomach acid is low and food is not processed which forces LES to open and let the acid thru.
5) The raw onion thingy flashed again suggesting this couldve helped my heartburn

So I decided to skip my PPI for a couple of days and I was feeling great. 90% of my symptoms vanished. I did a rewind and it struck me that I had no GERD symptoms before I took my first Prilosec. So I concluded that this was causing my heartburn. Yet I don’t ahve sufficient proof that this could ahve started it all. But the fact is I am much better off w/o it.

This is my 3rd day w/o PPI and I started to get the symptoms slightly back. Googled on PPI’s withdrawal. Found that I need to slowly get off it and take substitutes later. I am sincerely hoping its going to work for me.

(PS: For those who might be wondering why I never mentioned abt a specialist, I did meet a few and that’s another story I don’t want to discuss)

I am just worried as why a primary care physician should prescribe a PPI for someone who did not have any GERD symptoms. This is awful.

Your Md prescribed the ppi because in his/her experience, symptoms like yours are often relieved by a ppi. Don't be afraid to try other solutions if the ppi doesn't help you.

I too found that Ppi worsened my symptoms and found that I could tolerate them only at a very reduced dose ,1 every three days.....then I just stopped them... Was pain free for 3 years but am just experiencing a relapse... I'm trying tostick with Zantac and avoid ppis at all costs .... I hate them...getting by and hoping to overcome...

I added dgl and stopped ppi. Felt better for the last 10 days

Hi, in your case, the rebound has resulted in GERD symptoms. Try retaking the meds and seek medical help. The next time, adopt a stepping down approach to stop meds. e.g. 40mg two weeks, 20 mg two weeks, h2 blocker 2 weeks, stop.

What a marvel of modern medicine. Side effects are the very things PPIs purport to treat.

IS THIS A JOKE?

Go big pharma. As in, go away.

i am in chronic pain thanks to a doc and his prescription pad.