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PPIs and anxiety/depression so now what?

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GERD & Acid Reflux
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Posted 1/30/2018 12:48 AM (GMT 0)
Does anyone else get anxiety and depression from PPIs? What do you do for reflux when you can’t tolerate them?
Posted 1/30/2018 1:01 PM (GMT 0)
Call you doctor and have him prescribe a different PPI. The anxiety and depression could be from the reflux itself, and not the PPI.
Posted 3/30/2019 1:05 AM (GMT 0)
PPIs definitely increase my anxiety dramatically. It can take a few days to build. I’ve tried to go on PPIs many times for years to help my stomach but each time I’m forced to stop. I’ve tried all of them except aciphex with the same result. They help my stomach feel better but the within a few days I have a terrible involuntary sense of dread. I can’t see the glass as half full and everything seems undoable. When I stop taking it the anxiety immediately gets better, but them my stomach is unhappy. I’ve repeated this experiment many times hoping one day I’ll be able to tolerate them.
There are past forum posts about this you can search for. Others have experienced it.
I’m still looking for a solution. I haven’t seen anybody post anything that helps.
Posted 3/31/2019 6:45 PM (GMT 0)
I have exactly the same problem, PPIs definitely increase my anxiety and depression and I have done the same as you in that I have tried different ones, but within a couple of days I am feeling really fatigued and with that added sense of dread. I just want to curl up into a ball and die. When I come off them I feel so much better, but of course my stomach doesn't.
When I try to explain this to doctors they look at me as though I am making it up and tell me that they are very well tolerated. Well that may be so, but I would love nothing better than to not have side effects from them, it would make my life so much easier.

Have you tried H2 blockers? Some find they can tolerate these, unfortunately however I myself find that after a few days I get the same side effects as I do with the PPIs. I don't know what the solution is for people like us, I just wish they would come up with something other than these medications for stomach problems.

Sorry I can't be of more help, just know that you are not alone in this and that others suffer as you do. Yes, reflux in itself can cause anxiety, but I know the difference between medication induced anxiety and that induced by the reflux.

All the best.
Posted 3/31/2019 8:16 PM (GMT 0)
I have a mild but noticable increase in my on-edge feelings when i've been on PPIs since January. I wouldn't say that it's day-impacting but it's definitely there - Perhaps it's a psychosomatic response? EG: You know you're on medication for something, so it inflicts you with a feeling of something being wrong, which triggers your panic response to whatever degree? It might all be mental.
Posted 4/1/2019 11:48 AM (GMT 0)
No Anonymous, definitely not psychosomatic!
Posted 4/3/2019 5:31 AM (GMT 0)
PPIs aren't really good for us, unless you're in the small percentage of people who have ulcers or actually produce too much acid.

We need acid to digest food! Most reflux is not result of too much acid, but just acid going the wrong way--up! They can provide relief in the short term, but they don't address the root cause, and they make digestion harder because they reduce the acid that's needed.

There have been studies that show long-term use of PPIs can cause a lot of problems, and make our digestion worse. If you think about how 80% of our seretonin receptors are in our gut, and how a good, healthy gut has been shown to affect our brains (anxiety, etc.), it makes sense that if we're not digesting our food well, we're going to have other problems...
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