Help with PPI Weening

Hello all,

I am very happy(well unhappy) to see that I am not the only one with issues with PPI and getting off them. I have tried to go cold turkey a couple of times and it was just horrid.

I was on Nexium 40mg for about 8 years. i am 34 now. over the last 8 year I have gained about 50 pounds in weight. always had IBS issues but would never get the acid burning in my chest or throat(obviously because i was not producing acid)

This time I decided to make a healthy life change and start eating better. I am a vegetarian and I got off PPI's cold turkey. It has been 3.5 weeks now and I have been taking about 5-6 tums a day only when the acid is burning my throat. Sometimes I do not need to take that many tums.

My issue is the consistency of the burning in my lungs. Is this going to cause alot of damage to my lungs? I have an acidy taste in my mouth at time. My saliva is dry but i believe the tums do that.

Should I be taking H2 blockers in the meantime? My theory is I dont want anything in my system affecting my acid and that the less I take anything, the faster my stomach acid will go back to normal. I feel like if I take H2 blockers. I will have to ween off them again regardless of the amount I use.

I do have cheat deals in my diet and that is obviously when my acid gets worse. Some days are really good. however there are days when I am busy at work and have not eaten in a while and then the acid comes hard.


I guess what I am asking is cold turkey bad if I can handle it? Will the harsh acid in the lungs destroy them in the 3 months is usually takes to get your system back to normal? If I take a h2 blocker, will this lengthen the time my body takes to neutarlize my acid? Also is taking 5-6 tums a day bad? Is there a better method?

Thank you

Welcome Jimmy and Joe. Glad you found the forum. My family member had an awful time getting off PPI's. The doctor was not familiar with the rebound effect. We gave him journal printouts about it. The next time we saw him he was telling us about rebound. Anyway, here's how she got off and it took about six months.

We were told to titrate the dose down very slowly so the body can adjust itself. It included H2 for a while. She was on Prevacid. Going cold turkey and skipping a day didn't work. We split capsules from full to 3/4, then to 1/2, then to 1/3 then 1/4 then yes even down to 1/8th. We bought empty capsules from the health food store. The pharmacy wouldn't sell them as they said it encourages pill splitting and that's not ethical. It was a very slow process and each change was approximately a month. It is a hard job splitting but it worked.

Yes, eating proper is super important. You must give up junk, fried, spicy, coffee, carbonation, tomato, beer. There is lots of great food that tastes great too. Time to try the new unprocessed and make it a hobby and important to YOU. Don't let anyone talk you out of it. The doctor said you should have been doing that a long time ago and you wouldn' t have the problem that we saw him for.

Alkaline is helpful too. You can purchase alkaline waters (expensive kinda), baking soda helps but be aware of the sodium in it. It can irritate too. There are drops that you can add to a glass of water raising the ph. $5 a bottle-- probably least expensive way. (Don't even think about adding them to coffee). I can send you name of drops if interested. They also have drops that can test your own water, or in a restaurant, or anywhere to check acidity.

I wish you well and stay with us and let us know how you are progressing. This helps so many. We are not doctors giving advice as you have your doc that should work closely with you. Take care. Pat

I've read so where that antacids tablets have some rebound too