What are the risks of using acid reflux drugs long term?

I'm a living example of why you should never ever take acid reflux meds long term...

I started taking the odd rolaid each week... Then I'd go a few days in a row where I couldn't sleep due to heartburn and would need rolaids before bed..

I slowly progressed to taking 1 extra strength zantac every single day or I'd be in unbearable pain and discomfort before noon...


As a result of all those ant acids, I now produce 0 stomach acid.. Which causes an enormous amount of issues.. I had nearly every symptom of Achlorhydria to the 9's... Was quite the ordeal with doctors thinking I had brain tumors, MS, parkinsons, early onset dimentia etc.. I had MRI's, brain testing etc..

Turned out all due to having no stomach acid.. Easy fix as I now take betaine HCL pills with each meal, but man alive I think I'm spending about 3,500$ a year on these pills.. Only about 300$ is covered.
 
I'm on my way to bed so I've only glanced at the article.. Bascially taking these meds for more than 4.4 years increases incidnets of dementia...

I didn't read to figure out why, but I'm guessing its due to the fact that you need very acidic stomach to actual absorb many vitamins and minera;s and to digest proteins and fats.. so living in a constant state of these meds lowering your stomach acid is causing a defficiency that causes dementia.
 
I take tums on a regular enough basis. But I've learned what causes my heartburn so I've gotten a lot better at managing it. Alcohol is the worst for it

Ths is for the article the wake up call. I'll have to make a better effort at managing this so I dont have long term issues
 
The Old Guy said:
Anyone with heartburn, try a shot of apple cider vinegar, or even malt in a pinch.
Click to expand...

If apple cider vinegar fixes your heartburn, your heart burn is not what you think it is.

Apple cider vinegar is an acid, so adding an acid to an acid problem should make it worse, but it doesn't... That's because the "heart burn" is actually caused by low stomach acid. Low stomach acid causes your food to not digest and instead ferment in your stomach.. So it bubbles up, gives off nasty gas and feels like heartburn.. but its not.. It's a lack of acid, not too much acid..

This is what happened to me.. and it's simply made worse by using ant acids... your problem is not enough acid, so reducing the acid even more just makes more long term problems.. Adding acid (like apple cider vinegar is the soluntion..

Couple things that help...
-diet... there's just somethings that don't digest well and tend to ferment like breads..
-another HUGE one I had to learn is that your stomach is a bag, not an endless pit.. You never want to fill that bag up because it puts the contents of the bag closer to the top (and sometimes out).. So small meals are better..
-because your bag is a limited size AND your acid in your stomach is supposed to be a certin strength, don't drink liquids while eating or after eating.. Liquids dilute your stomach acid making it harder for your stomach to break down the food before it ferments.. I have a tiny tiny bit of water with my meals if I need it.. otherwise I wait until my foods well on its way to being digested.. You can actually feel this if you eat a meal for lunch with no liuids.. then tomorrow eat the same meal, but drink a large glass of water with it.. you'll see the one with no liquid digests a lot faster and easier...
 
Great reas as well.. and just so you guys know, your stomach acid levels natrually decline as you age.. need to keep an eye on them as much as all the other things like test, estrogen etc.. So much of our health is linked to our stomachs

Stomach acid-the why and the what - Stop The Thyroid Madness

Stomach acid is not something most people think about. Yet it’s one of the most important aspects of your digestive system! … Continued
stopthethyroidmadness.com
 
on trhe same topic.. I laugh hard when I see the new trend of drinking alkaline water... PPL sayings a basic body prevents/heals cancer etc.. Your stomach has feedback systems in it to regulate your stomach ph to like 1-2.. So the second you drink a alkaline water, your system purposely pumps out more stomach acid to bring the acid levels to where your body knows they are supposed to be...

And to drink alkaline water thinking that your going to digest food with a bottle of alkaline water in your stomach is just a dumb idea..

protiens for examplek MUST be broken down into ammino acids and that process is done in your stomach with acid.. no acid, no ammino acids for you
 
Sorry last thing... I;ll try to find the video or docmunent, but low stomach acid actually causes hypothyroiadism.. I am certain this is what happened to me.. Bascically the receptors for your T3 get blocked when you have constand low stomach acid over time.. if your T3 can't get into the docking area on the cell then you become hypothryoidism.

I can still rememeber the week I started taking stomach acid with every meal.. I was taking 7 pills with each meal and it literally felt like the dark clouds parted and the sun and rainbows came in after 5 years of living in misery
 
animal-inside said:
If apple cider vinegar fixes your heartburn, your heart burn is not what you think it is.

Apple cider vinegar is an acid, so adding an acid to an acid problem should make it worse, but it doesn't... That's because the "heart burn" is actually caused by low stomach acid. Low stomach acid causes your food to not digest and instead ferment in your stomach.. So it bubbles up, gives off nasty gas and feels like heartburn.. but its not.. It's a lack of acid, not too much acid..

This is what happened to me.. and it's simply made worse by using ant acids... your problem is not enough acid, so reducing the acid even more just makes more long term problems.. Adding acid (like apple cider vinegar is the soluntion..

Couple things that help...
-diet... there's just somethings that don't digest well and tend to ferment like breads..
-another HUGE one I had to learn is that your stomach is a bag, not an endless pit.. You never want to fill that bag up because it puts the contents of the bag closer to the top (and sometimes out).. So small meals are better..
-because your bag is a limited size AND your acid in your stomach is supposed to be a certin strength, don't drink liquids while eating or after eating.. Liquids dilute your stomach acid making it harder for your stomach to break down the food before it ferments.. I have a tiny tiny bit of water with my meals if I need it.. otherwise I wait until my foods well on its way to being digested.. You can actually feel this if you eat a meal for lunch with no liuids.. then tomorrow eat the same meal, but drink a large glass of water with it.. you'll see the one with no liquid digests a lot faster and easier...
Click to expand...

Well, heartburn is really just the feeling you get when you have acid reflux. So they are the same thing.

To elaborate on your post:

You are correct, apple cider vinegar can have a positive effect on Acid Reflux. Because it is an acid, when consumed it causes your esophageal sphincter (the part of your body that controls the flow of your stomach contents) to contract. This prevents stomach acid from moving into your esophagus. There are a few reasons you can get acid reflux but as you mentioned the most common reason is too little acid in your stomach. This is probably the most misunderstood fact about Acid Reflux. When levels are low, the esophageal sphincter relaxes, allowing stomach acid to move up to your esophagus. This is why Rolaids can do more harm. They offer temporary relief but will obviously make the situation worse if you suffer from low acid levels. There are a ton of medications that can also, as a side effect, relax the esophageal sphincter, like Cialis, antibiotics and oral steroids. Raising the level of acid in your stomach will contract your esophageal sphincter, which offers relief from Acid Reflux. This of course is a temporary fix, you really need to fix the core issue which is most likely Diet and lifestyle related. In my opinion, diet is the only thing that will really fix your gut. There are a lot of great podcasts on Acid Reflux, it is a well-studied medical issue.
 
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Shit I took this stuff, for 15 year glad I'm off of it.

I only took this stuff since, my colitis medicine was messing with my stomach.
 
@animal-inside @aGuyFromWinnipeg
I used to take fomatadine for heart burn. I get it so bad I have chest pain all around my chest and mid to upper abdomen. I never associate it with heart burn because only sometimes does my throat actually hurt. I also get neck pain amd around claviclas. Does this sound like any stomach related issues to you guys? You both sound pretty knowledgeable
 
Jerbear said:
@animal-inside @aGuyFromWinnipeg
I used to take fomatadine for heart burn. I get it so bad I have chest pain all around my chest and mid to upper abdomen. I never associate it with heart burn because only sometimes does my throat actually hurt. I also get neck pain amd around claviclas. Does this sound like any stomach related issues to you guys? You both sound pretty knowledgeable
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This is going to be a pretty vague answer for you and to be honest, I'm not qualified to answer it by any means.. lol. Pain in your shoulders does not sound like Heartburn at all. However, I'm a firm believer that gut health controls a lot of your body's well-being. I was having some issues and basically cleaned my diet up and started eating less and I'm feeling great these days. Things that have helped me are:

-I favour a Mediterranean-style diet
-Time-restrictive eating (most days I eat 2 meals)
-good quality probiotic supplement (I'm off it now and just eat quality yogurt)
-zinc supplement
-collagen (is said to help, I'm iffy on the science with collagen and prefer bone broth)
-Prebiotics
-Fibre
-stay off orals for a while
-BPC 157 if you want to speed up the process.


I realize all this sounds like shit, I get it, who wants to restrict eating? But having a healthy gut drastically benefits your way of life.
 
aGuyFromWinnipeg said:
This is going to be a pretty vague answer for you and to be honest, I'm not qualified to answer it by any means.. lol. Pain in your shoulders does not sound like Heartburn at all. However, I'm a firm believer that gut health controls a lot of your body's well-being. I was having some issues and basically cleaned my diet up and started eating less and I'm feeling great these days. Things that have helped me are:

-I favour a Mediterranean-style diet
-Time-restrictive eating (most days I eat 2 meals)
-good quality probiotic supplement (I'm off it now and just eat quality yogurt)
-zinc supplement
-collagen (is said to help, I'm iffy on the science with collagen and prefer bone broth)
-Prebiotics
-Fibre
-stay off orals for a while
-BPC 157 if you want to speed up the process.


I realize all this sounds like shit, I get it, who wants to restrict eating? But having a healthy gut drastically benefits your way of life.
Click to expand...
No I totally agree man. Is the bpc157 the oral form?
 
@aGuyFromWinnipeg

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
Also known commonly as heartburn, acid reflux can produce shoulder blade pain that resembles that of a heart attack. It will likely accompany upper chest symptoms. Sufferers of GERD, a more serious form of acid reflux, report that heartburn pain is sharp and in the central chest.

I'm 100% with you on the gut controlling everything in the body. I think Socrates said that. Thanks for your input. I think the cause of mine is a combination of stress/nicotine/cialis/ibuprofen. I'll adjust the diet and load up probiotics to start
 
My dads sister died from throat cancer from constant acid reflux, so my dad freaked out and is now on a protien pump inhibitor. He is now getting here issues in his feet. It is a direct side effect.
I mentioned all teh things Animal put up and he pretty much told me that I do not hae the education of his doctor and didn’t try any of it.

You know it pisses me off because at one time my dad wasn’t like this. I do not know what happened to him?
 
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