LPR: PPI's making my digestion reflux worse?

Holly,

Your digestion has changed because of the ppi, your stomach now has less acid in it so digestion will be slow as food just "sits" in your stomach. You can try taking digestive enzymes to help your stomach digest food.

Holly,

It seems like you were refluxing before the ppi, however the ppi can help but in the same token it can make things worst. You will have to be your own judge as to whether you feel better on or off the ppi. Taking ppis short term can offer some relief (it will not cure reflux) but taking them long term usually cause more issues.

I suffer from gerd/lpr, I only had gerd symptoms until I was on a ppi daily and then the lpr issues started. IMO, ppis may help with reducing stomach acid but for me they make pepsin/bile reflux worst (pepsin/bile reflux = lpr).

My advice would be to consider getting more testing done, and focus on diet changes to see if it helps. I would eat more green veggies, lean meat and stay away from spicy food, beer, coffee, junk food etc...

You can buy digestive enzymes at any health store (ie; GNC, etc.), as well from amazon. Papaya is a good enzyme but it's no way near what you need in an enzyme. My bottle is at home so I can't list what's in the one I take until later so I will post what to look for when I get home today.

Hi Holly G,

Welcome to Healing Well!

Please see my link on eating uncooked foods while on PPI/H2 therapy.

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=45&m=2672524

Hope this helps.

Gastricman

Thank you soooo much!
I really appreciate the help!
~Holly

Have you get endoscopy done? There are meany reasons you get bitter taste in your mouth.(and chronic cough) I do have gerd(saw the eroded esophagus in the endoscopic picture) and when it was more severe i did cough at night and had sour taste when i bend over or something but didn't have bitter taste. Could it be metallic taste?
http://www.livestrong.com/article/86757-causes-metal-taste-mouth/

Becaus ppi makes you have many kind of mineral and vit deficiency, taking ppi when you are not sure about diagnose, can hurt you.
I myself is trying to get off of my ppi because of the adverse side effect. I have my own thread about that here under'stopping nexium due to the possible side effect. I don't think that side effect is so common but what i felt was real. Maybe because the people who is twice as big gets same dose as me? I am a small person 5'2 and 106lb and had 40mg over a month(20mg for a month before few month)

You don't need enzyme only because you are taking ppi because your stomach can be 'spoiled' so to speak. it will ask you for it all the time later just as ppi may make poduce more acid when it's not in the system anymore. Basically acid just helps a bit, but stomach muscle does all the chewing and crashing and getting it down so that intestine can absorb the nutrient but you do need acid for many good reason.
If your stomach is not moving like me and not sure about actual 'too much acid' i am not sure ppi helps. Please talk to your docotr.

I read some academic articles and in europe they prescribe ppi only a few days at a time but in US they bombard it weeks at a time. For who's good, i wonder?
Also in 2011, FDA warned about the magnesium deficient related symptom which i experienced but i see more and more prescription of ppi these day.

Anyway there is a nexium coupon in their site and it got $50 off from my copay on my third refill. It's not generic so it was getting more expensive. If you decide to continue, hope that helps at least costwise. Good luck!

Post Edited (Willovercome) : 3/15/2013 12:05:01 PM (GMT-6)

Holly, I cannot say because everyone is different.
But since i had adverse side effects, i couldn't wait to get off, seeing so many people take ppi for years only to be forced to get off after they frature their bones or something.
Even if you won't have my kind of side effect(heart racing, anxiety) or anything else hopefully, since many minerals and vit are absorbed through stomach acid, long therm use of ppi is NOT recommended for sure. Just talk to your doctor and ask if you can go with at least h2 blockers. Some people need stronger than that(ppi), i understand and you may HAVE TO go with ppi to cure your symptom for now.
I was to go another month of ppi but have talked to my doctor who made sure i did not have heart problem itself(she asked if i had faint spell when my heart was racing. The answer was no), she agreed to get me off the nexium.

It's now 6th day with 75/150 ranitidine(she wanted me to go with 300 at night for two weeks but i wanted to go a bit lower) and doing pretty good. I had not had any episode(the reason i went to the hospital in the first place was that i felt nauseated and felt full stomach even though i ate not much. Losing weight because i had no appetite and couldn't eat very well for weeks ) except right after i eat, naturally i am a little nervous.

Next week i am going to lower the doesage again to 150 at night only and see what happens. They said you can stop cold turky and suffer through it or you can gradually lower the lesser strength drug and stop eventually. I asked the doc if she wanted me to go with my nexium every other day, she said no, just stop.

So, if you really Need ppi, again, you must take it i guess but i saw many, afer taking ppi for a long time, test their stomach acid later and often find out their acid level is not high, even lower than normal. 'Cause you know, as we get older stomach produce acid less not more, they say.
http://www.nutritionreview.org/library/gastric.acid.php
So again, talk to our doctor and always asked option for the possibilities of lesser strength drug.
Wish you the best!

Hi Holly,

I was going to mention the same point about H2 blockers as Willovercome. If PPIs aren't working for you, try Zantac or Pepcid etc. instead. They are not as efficacious as the PPIs, but they still work to reduce stomach. I switched to Zantac after 2 months on a PPI, and other than a feeling of heat in my belly for several days, which was annoying but not painful, the transition was relatively easy.