Why has Prevacid stopped working after 2 years!

I'm 31 and had an endoscopy 3 yrs ago. They found h-pylori and told me I had acid reflux headed to an ulcer. I was given antibiotics and also put on Prevacid 30mg once a day ever since. The Prevacid has worked wonderfully with no problems. When I stopped the Prevacid twice due to lack of insurance, I took over-the-counter Axid and the problems came back. I was always relieved to get back on the Prevacid.  

Now in the last 7 months, a problem is increasing. Due to trying to help my fairly severe PMS, I had been keeping a daily symptom chart. I've been able to see that 6 or 7 months ago, I had severe heartburn the last 2-3 days of PMS. 4 to 5 months ago, the days of heartburn increased to 5-6 days surrounding the start of my cycle. In the last 2 months, it is lasting 2 weeks. I'm assuming that eventually I won't get a respite at all. And I've been faithfully taking the Prevacid 30mg every day and it seems to be doing NOTHING for me anymore except a couple weeks a month. It feels like it's going back to how I felt before the endoscopy.

Yesterday, my doctor gave me Axid 150mg twice a day and to stop the Prevacid saying some people get immune to it. If the heartburn is like the last months, it should be going away in a 3-4 days. I want to know if the heartburn will go away at all this time before my next PMS

[Baseball_Mom]

Next time you see your doctor ask him about Nexium.  In my opinion it is the BEST prescription drug for acid reflux on the market today.  And if you don't have insurance, he should have samples he would be willing to supply you.  Take care and Happy Thanksgiving!

[Dr. Erik]

People do indeed become immune to medications and they lose their effectiveness over time. I would switch you to a different
Proton Pump Inhibitor. I agree with Baseball mom. Nexium is a good one to try. It is the new and improved Prilosec. Maybe you should talk to your OBGYN and see about being put on birth control pill to minimize your PMS symptoms, if you haven't already tried that. If the PMS is the underlying cause of your heartburn, then correcting the PMS could cure the heartburn.