Horrid Acid Rebound from PPI weaning.....please help me!!!!

Hi Javery,

Thanks for the repsonse. I actually quit taking ppi and H2 got about 3 months until September but i was never symptom-free. I went to a doctor recently and he said i need zantac 150mg/2 times a day due to the beautiful river of acid irrigating my esophagus like its a stony creek. Anyhow, i have noticed that i dont feel any better on zantac. infact, as days go by, my symptoms get worse on the zantac.

The doctor has scared me to death about getting a barrett's but what's the bloody point when no medicine works? I am so sick of not getting relief even after popping pills. I think im gonna try the medicine -free conservative diet pattern as well. I must quit caffeine for that which is impossible when you have my job.   It is a vicious cycle!  Thanks for sharing- how are you feeling now?

 

@thistooshalpass,
I am starting on week 3 of being off of PPI's and am still improving. I even ate a flatbread pizza this last weekend and had a small flare-up about 1.5 hours afterwords but 2 tums was able to calm that down without any additional problems. I get little to no acid reflux anymore as long as I keep to my diet. I would have to say that the very very very important factor from trial and error is not so much what I eat now, but how much I eat. I have always eaten big meals in the past because I usually just ate lunch and dinner. So basically I have cut those meals to about 1/3 of what I normally ate and now have introduced snacks inbetween the meals and have started eating a small breakfast as well. I think that is the biggest thing that is helping me. I only drink water, have been for the past 15 years, and drink no coffee and have no source of caffeine. I am still taking all the supplements I started off with. DGL, Mastic Gum, Pre-biotics, Pro-biotics, multi-vitamins, and a digestive enzyme. I did start taking a product called Heartburn Free by Enzymatic. It contains d-limonene (orange peel extract) which I guess is supposed to help get things back to normal faster with acid production. As to say which is helping, I'm not sure if any or all of the items I am taking are helping. It does cost a bit more than the medication, but I would rather spend more to take natural supplements than to spend a little to jepordize my overall health from not properly digesting foods.

The only thing that I am still working towards is being able to sleep flat. My wife doesn't want the head of the bed raised so I sleep on a wedge. I feel that it will come with time. I get on average about 7-8 hours of sleep a night but even at 6-7 hours I still find that I have the energy I need to get through the day. I have also found that some fruits tend to give me a little gas though, which I never experienced before. I have read that that can be due to my body not digesting them correctly, but should fix itself in time. I hope. I don't get acid reflux from the fruit though so I keep eating it for it's source of carbs since I have cut my bread/pasta/cereal carbs down by about 80%-90%. I used to eat pasta dishes quite a bit but have not done so since I stopped the PPI's. My Dr. told me that I should get an endoscopy done but I feel that since my symptoms are going down that it will probably be pointless. I have a high deductible insurance plan and not even close to the deductible so I don't feel like paying for it with them most likely telling me to keep what I'm doing or to start up on PPI's again.

Overall though, I feel great for the most part and am optimistic about keeping on the path that I am on. Other than fruit, I have been eating fresh chicken and fish that I usually cook on the grill (different seasonings don't seem to trigger acid reflux for me) and fresh vegetables that I fry or grill. I have had some canned vegetables and haven't had any problems but we usually buy fresh to cook with. Sometimes I'll have rice and lately it has been whole grain brown rice and I've had little problems with that. I rarely eat out at restaurants and have cut out almost all processed foods from my diet. The only processed foods I do eat are sauces, but only about once a week, twice at the most. I have not tried any tomato based sauces yet but have eaten tomatoes cooked in some of the dishes we have made. Haven't had any problems with those.

I figure I'll give it 2-3 months and if I don't feel close to 100% at that point, then I'll start looking into another way to fix the problem without having to take PPI's or H2 blockers. I wish you luck on your path. I know it is hard. My wife doesn't understand when I tell her that I want to eat all of these processed foods when I get hungry but instead of reaching for the icecream bar in the freezer, I'll grab an apple or orange. Once my stomach has food in it, I don't feel hungry for those other items anymore. It is a constant battle and I think it is hard for others who haven't gone through the same thing to understand what we are going through. I have given up a lot of my sweet snacks in hopes that it will be worth it in the end.

Hi all

Its interesting reading what side effects you are experiencing. I am about to come of PPI, my last try ended in disaster, i tried to cut my 40mg x 2 pantoprazole by cutting the night time dose to only 1 x 40mg in the morning. Unfortunately i could not make it past 5am,mthe burning pain was horrid, and the acid reflux triggering my asthma. But worst of all was that i got burning pain in my stomach in a upside down V shape. I went back on pantoprazole and 3 months of hell since then. I did endoscopy recently and waiting or biopsy results but it looks like i am clear from gastritis and going to come off PPI again but god i am scared. The only problem is that i need to stop my ppi in one go, I am suffering from bad side effects and i have tried a few. This time round my gallbladder is on fire. Either i loses my gallbladder or stop ppi, the pain won't give me two month to taper off.

I wanted to ask you all, did anybody experience burning pain in the stomach?

I know many of you experience burning in the throat and osophagus but what about in the stomach?

anybody have vomiting feeling?

The doctors explained the pain as visceral hypersensitivity in the stomach and the acid rebound fried my nerves. I find their explanation a little dificult to stomach, because of many reason but don't want to polite this thread with my problems.

PPI ARE THE DEVILS EVIL DRIG. THESE DRUGS ARE STUPIDITY, THEY LEAVE YOU WITH A MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM THAN THE GASTRITIS I HAD TO DEAL WITH. IF DOCTORS TOOK THEIR OWN CRAP THEY WOULD NOT BE SO WILLING TO PRESCRIBE THEM LIKE CANDY FOR THE SLIGHTES STOMACH ACHE. FOR THOUSANDS OF YERS MANKIND HAS DEALT WITH GASTRITIS WITHOUT PPI AND WE SHOULD DO LIKEWISE AGAIN.

sorry for the rant hut its necessary.
thanks all

Post Edited (James_a) : 7/6/2014 1:12:46 PM (GMT-6)

Dear thistooshallpass did you ever get off the PPI rebound at all?

thistooshallpass said...
@Scott, definitely agree about stressful jobs being a factor- stress makes it worse for sure. Although it is very tough to not stress when you are going through so much.I tried yoga but all the bending makes my symtpoms worse. How do you meditate? Peace.

Wondering if those that attempted to get off PPIs were successful. I have been on Nexium 40mg for almost 13 years and am attempting again to get off it completely. This time my doctor replaced Nexium with Famotidine (40mg 2x) and so far it's been 5 days with ok results - mild acid reflux. I can tell that the acid reflux is getting a little stronger each day so I will add Tums to the mix. My hope is to get stable with the Famotidine and then wean off completely.

Would be interested to see how people have made out so far.

I been off PPI,s now for over 6 months and still struggling to be honest, I was on them for 9 years then the problem started early 2015 as I was getting Pepsin,s in my mouth even thou on PPI,s. and taking more PPI,s does not have any effect. They proven Gaviscon advance is better than PPI,s if your getting pepsins in the mouth.

So I proceeded to see the gastro doctor which is actually a professor in gastrology and thought sounds like right guy for me lol. He told me I needed a endoscopy which I had and he confirmed I had h-pylori bug but nothing else wrong down in my stomach.

So I had the triple course antibiotics then stopped PPI,s after the course and went back in 3 months for a breath test reason 3 months to make sure it was gone the H-pylori which was negative so stayed off PPI,S as requested by gastro doctor. But still struggled the problem I seem to have is after eating I belch that's when I get short burst of heartburn.

Then around 3 months ago I noticed my lips did not look right again and I had a bitter tastes in my mouth, so paid for a pep test which showed 232ml, so went back to the same gastro doctor and he said would need another endoscopy which I had 6 weeks ago and the results was mild inflammation of the gullit, but nothing else wrong but it seems like coming off the PPI,s body not liking it, hoping it all sorts itself out my stomach.

But if I do not have any ulcers or hernia or anything that's a problem and is struggling to come off acid reducing tablets I hate to think how hard it is for other folk around the world. It is like my body saying give me a PPI tablet.

I would also like to point out I weight 12.5 Stone or 80 Kilos do not smoke and drink very little alcohol go the gym 4 days a week and play badminton once a week, walk my dog three times a day, BMI 24 which is perfect for my height 5FT 11 Inch and very picky eater can I actually do any more !!

I've had a lot of issues the last few months, after two ER visits and about every possible test the only thing they could find wrong with me was inflammation in my stomach and duodenum in endoscopic biopsies. The doctor thinks my pain and issues are the result of Celiac's disease or gluten sensitivity and told me to stop eating gluten which seems to have had a positive effect. I've been on Nexium 40mg for almost 3 months and have constant burning now between doses or if I miss a dose. I know I haven't been on this type of medication anywhere near as long as some of you but I did find a solution to help me with the burning which may be helpful for others. When the burning gets intolerable I dissolve 1000mg of vitamin C in a bottle of warm water and drink it slowly, it relieve the burning almost instantly and lasts for at least a few hours.

Lessismore:

The poster that you are responding to hasn't been active since their one and only post. If you are inquiring about acid rebound, the best suggestion for weaning off of a PPI is to ask you doctor about the best format for cutting back on the drug. When you have acid reflux, one of the food groups that is suggested that you stay away from is citrus. The Forum is very slow, and you may not receive any responses. You can always start your own thread.

Sharon