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Trying to wean off extra Prilosec - Burning every day

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Posted 3/16/2014 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
Never had GERD but lots of stomach problems and gastritis and was on Prevacid and Prilosec for 10 years. Tried to wean off in July 2013 and got bad gastritis January 2013. Suffering ever since. Went back on Prilosec OTC (20 mg) every day. This past January 2014 had to start taking an extra Prilosec every 2 nights, and on the nights I don't take it I take Carafate. The extra Prilosec seemed to help. 10 days ago I tried to wean off the extra Prilosec by missing one night, thinking I'm only taking the extra one every 2 nights. Big mistake, lots of rebound acid the next day. Went back on it that night, but still burning burping acid punched in stomach pain.

Why do I need so much medication and stomach still won't heal? I take 1 Prilosec OTC every morning, plus 2 Pepcid AC's every day (10 mg each), plus 2 DGL's and maybe 1 Gaviscon if needed. Every other night I take an extra Prilosec OTC and the nights I don't take that I take Carafate.

Am I taking too many meds? Why won't the burning go away? Could my acid pumps be damaged from being on all these meds? I don't know if I should try weaning off again if I'm taking too many meds, or if I should increase my doses to help my stomach heal?

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I can't stand this constant pain.
Posted 3/16/2014 5:42 PM (GMT 0)
Because the longer your on the harder it is to wean off i been going on and off for 5 years. And never had GERD just a little burning in stomach when i ate went away but because the doctor saw inflammation in my esphougas He put me on a very strong PPI,they should ban kapidex which they changed the name. So my acid rebound as yours comes from the PPI, after that i did get serve erosive gastritis, I could not even sallow water without pain, acid gas etc. thats when i was on pantoprazole (protonics) 40mg 2x, and thats when you need it. You should have a scope to rule out that and uclers. But as far as weaning you have to reduce your dose slowly not skip a day I went protonics 40mgs to 20mg for 2weeks to 10 mgs 2weeks then every other day You might be better doing 4 weeks reduce your dose It takes 2 weeks of feeling bad after you reduce then you feel better. And you will have to suffer some acid rebound. I Also take probiotics which help your stomach flora, And I found these DanActive Probiotic drinks by Dannon pricey, but work great for acid when acid hits I drink one calms it down. Hope i was of help feel better and try those drinks
Posted 3/16/2014 6:53 PM (GMT 0)
The problem with Prilosec is they're tablets. You can't break the tablets because the coating is what helps it to last for a long time. So I bought Prevacid OTC which is capsules. When I do start reducing, I'll open the capsule and remove maybe 25% of the beads for the first week or two, then another 25% after that, and so on. If I can stand it. I think I'm suffering right now from the acid rebound last week from missing a dose. I'm afraid the acid rebound will start up my gastritis again. When I weaned off Prilosec last year after being on it every day for 10 years, after 3 months I still had acid rebound. And I think that's what created my gastritis. I'm really scared and don't know what to do.
Posted 3/17/2014 1:59 AM (GMT 0)
I have anxiety and stress unfortunately it all adds to our gastritis try not to worry easier said then done. get on a good probiotic it does help. As we age we have less acid and acid pills less acid, which cause the growth of bad bacteria poor digestion,then gas bloating acid. I have had 3 scopes they are painless. You really need to make sure no uclers etc. Wow 3 months good job, and if you have to go back on if its to bad you can try again. Good luck
Posted 3/17/2014 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
I had an endoscopy in January 2013 when I first got sick, and it showed gastritis. I was horribly sick back then, and didn't start showing any improvement until maybe July. Now I've finally put all the weight back on and I'm much better than I was then. But I do have more burning and acidy stomach than I did back then.

I'm still on the Prilosec. I've been on it for 10 years. I finally weaned myself off them over a 3-month period in July of 2013, but the acid rebound never went away. Finally in December 2013 I got horrible gastritis, most likely as a result of the acid rebound. So I went back on the Prilosec once a day, plus Pepcid Complete twice a day (10mg x 2). Then this past January 2014 I added the extra Prilosec every 2 nights.

I felt awful yesterday, burning, queasy, punched in stomach, you name it. But last night I took the extra Prilosec, and I feel pretty good today. I'll probably feel rotten again tomorrow since it's my day off the extra Prilosec. I still do take one Prilosec every single morning, but apparently that's not enough. I had to start with the second Prilosec when I started getting bad acidiness this past January 2014, and it really helped. But now I'm wondering if I'm getting acid rebound on the days I don't take the extra Prilosec. It's so scary and confusing. It's like I'm darned if I do and darned if I don't. I'm temped to say the heck with it and just take an extra Prilosec every night instead of every other night, but then I'm taking 40mg of Prilosec every day, plus two Pepcids. I think that's way too much. Plus I had osteopenia 10 yrs ago and I probably have osteoporosis now although I've been drinking 2-3 bottles of Boost and Ensure every day for 10 years and that has lots of vitamins and calcium.
Posted 3/23/2014 4:47 PM (GMT 0)
Started the weaning process again on 3/18/14. I'm taking one Prilosec every morning, plus one Prilosec or Prevacid every OTHER evening. The additional Prevacid I only started taking this past January, only 2 months ago and my stomach is already addicted. It's this additional Prevacid that I'm trying to wean off.

This time I used Generic Lansoprazole (generic Prevacid OTC) because it comes in a capsule with each "bead" inside being enteric coated. (The entire Prilosec caplet, on the other hand, is enteric coated so you can't open it or stomach acid will destroy the medication inside.)

So on 3/18 I opened the Prevacid capsule and counted each bead: 210 beads. These are the size of those tiny white non-pareils that they sprinkle on chocolate. So they're very small. Anyway, I removed 42 beads, or 20%, and took the remaining 80%. The next afternoon the acid rebound began, pretty bad. I couldn't even drop 20% from a pill that I only take every other night! The next day was a little better.

On 3/20 I only removed 26 beads, or 12%, so I took 88% (figuring 80% was not enough). Burpy bloated discomfort the next day, then acid rebound started 7pm but not as awful as first day.

Last night, 3/22, I removed 31 beads, or 15%, so I took 85%. A little sore today, but probably still sore from the initial 20% drop. My plan is to drop 5 beads every day, or around 2 to 3% every day, and at that rate I should be done with that extra Prevacid at the end of May. If I can stand it.

I can't believe how difficult it is to come off this. I'm wondering if I should just keep taking the extra Prevacid because it does help, but I'm concerned about the long-term effects, since I was diagnosed with osteopenia 10 yrs ago and my mother has advanced osteoporosis.

Would it be better to do this more quickly and get it over with? I don't know if I can take that pain though, and I don't want to get an ulcer from it, or get gastritis again which was really horrendous. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I'm also taking 2 Pepcid Completes every day (10 mg Pepcid each), 2 DGL's, and a Gaviscon if needed.
Posted 3/23/2014 5:03 PM (GMT 0)
Instead of dropping 2-3% every night, would it be better to drop, say 10% every 3 days and then hold at that level for a few days? So instead of day 1, 2, 3, and 4 dropping 2-3% every day, I would drop 10% on day 1, and not drop anymore on days 2, 3, and 4 (keep in mind that I only take the extra Prevacid every OTHER night, not every night).

It would take about the same amount of time to get off the Prevacid. But if I couldn't tolerate a 20% drop, I wonder if I'll be able to handle a 10% drop at one time?

Any suggestions?
Posted 4/7/2014 1:02 PM (GMT 0)
Well I made it to 70% Prevacid every other night after starting my weaning process on March 18, and I finally caved last night and took the whole pill. I've been in agony almost every day trying to wean off this, and the only thing that's helped is Xanax but I don't want to take too much of that. It's not acid rebound anymore, it feels like there's a giant open sore in my stomach. Which there may very well be at this point. I took it as far as I could go, but I don't want to end up in the ER with a bleeding ulcer. I know I'll have to be on my normal every day dose of Prilosec OTC (20mg) probably for the rest of my life, but this second every-other-night dose, maybe I'll try weaning off again after my stomach is completely healed.

I should mention that I don't have GERD. Never had acid creeping into my throat. My problem is gastritis, acid feeling in my stomach, feeling like I was punched in stomach, soreness, bloating, burping, etc.
Posted 4/7/2014 1:39 PM (GMT 0)
Good to read you are making progress.  Do you take a probiotic or use the DGL?

Also if you have not done so already, you have to change your life style as I believe many people on PPIs eat a lot of things that may have caused reflux while on meds.

You may also want to check into food allergies - 

Here is a scheduled I tried once:

Week 1: take 1 full pill days 1, 3, 5, and 7; take a half pill days 2, 4, and 6
Weeks 2 and 3: take a half pill every day
Weeks 4 and 5: take a half pill every other day
Week 6: take a half pill every third day
Week 7: all done

I am on 1 Prilosec daily so this schedule would have to be adjusted to your own dosage - this is purely FYI.  Always check with you Dr. before you try to wean off of a medication.

 

Posted 4/7/2014 10:58 PM (GMT 0)
If PPIs and gastritis had faces I'd punch both of them. But yeah it's a stupid cycle. You get gastritis doctor puts you on PPIs to help heal it. Stomach is healed you stop taking PPIs you get rebound it cause more gastritis. Eventually it turns to chronic gastritis like mine and you battle the risk of PPIs with the pain and burning of gastritis and gerd. I hate it.
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