Posted 1/1/2010 3:51 PM (GMT 0)
I am hoping someone can help me find a direction for the future of my treatment.
I have had some bad experiences on both Prilosec OTC and Nexium. I took Prilosec OTC for two days while I waited to get in to my doctor for a Nexium prescription. Each time I took the Prilosec, I'd become very anxious and dizzy within an hour or so of taking it. At the time, I was so strung out from having dealt with feeling like I had a wad of cotton stuck in my throat constantly for days on end, that it was hard to tell if I was actually having a reaction to the Prilosec or if I was just anxious in general because of the discomfort. However, the first day I took Nexium, I took it an hour before dinner. Again, within an hour to an hour and a half, I was having heart palpitations, dizziness, and extreme anxiety. And again, it was hard to say if it was a reaction to the med or if I was just having anxiety about starting a new med. I didn't give myself very long to figure it out because I started taking the Nexium right before bed the next day (figuring that I can't feel dizzy if I'm asleep ;)). Since then (I'm on week 9 of Nexium), I have seen a pattern emerge. Pretty much every night I wake up between 3:00am and 5:30am with anxiety. Until I stopped taking my antidepressants about a week and a half ago, it was debilitating nervousness/anxiety. It literally felt like the world was going to end. I generally ended up not being able to get back to sleep and degenerated into a ball of desperation and tears. :( In the past week or so, I still have woken up in the middle of the night with unusual nervousness. I generally get fixated on a normal worry ("Where did I put that important paper") and magnify it to the point of having trouble getting back to sleep. I have had more control over the anxiety in the past week, but it's still there. I'm still losing way too much sleep. I am still wondering if it is related to the Nexium since it is the one med I'm still on. The symptoms also onset within a few hours of taking the Nexium. I'm generally okay during the day as far as anxiety goes.
So, after that lengthy explanation, I have a few questions. Has anyone else had trouble with nervousness/depression/anxiety that was seemingly caused by Nexium or another PPI? If so, what did you do? Did you just keep trying different PPIs until you found one that didn't make you want to leap out your bedroom window and run 10 miles? Because I probably have LPR, I pretty much HAVE to be on a PPI if I expect to get healed up. I'm just not sure where to go from here. I can't keep losing so much sleep (I have two little ones who need me to be alert and responsive during the day), and I'm quickly losing hope for the future.
Thanks for any experiences and/or help you can offer.