PPI causing GERD??

[seancz]

I went to a doctor(general physician) and complained of stomach pain(I had anxiety) and said I had cold waves. The doc prescribed me to Prilosec. Never ever I had heard of the term heartburn or experienced it in my life until that point. Not knowing what I was suffering thru, 3rd day into the medicine I suffered from throat burn. Few more days I had sever burning sensation in my back and every google search text for my symptoms lead to the title GERD. Day by day my symptoms worsened and my doctor prescribed a different PPI everytime. I followed a perfect diet but nothing helped.

One fine night I ate raw onion for my dinner and for the first time next morning I found great relief. Imagining that I found a great solution this problem I started on googling “Raw onion acid reflux”. To my astonishment, every page said avoid it. I was very curious and started thinking about this:

1) My worst acid reflux symptoms were during the breakfast and lunch hrs when PPI is supposed to be very effective
2) Googled on PPI side effects said : heartburn (OMG)
3) Reason why PPIs can cause heartburn: Low stomach acid.
4) IS there a correlation,yes a lot. The lower stomach valve doesn’t open if the stomach acid is low and food is not processed which forces LES to open and let the acid thru.
5) The raw onion thingy flashed again suggesting this couldve helped my heartburn

So I decided to skip my PPI for a couple of days and I was feeling great. 90% of my symptoms vanished. I did a rewind and it struck me that I had no GERD symptoms before I took my first Prilosec. So I concluded that this was causing my heartburn. Yet I don’t ahve sufficient proof that this could ahve started it all. But the fact is I am much better off w/o it.

This is my 3rd day w/o PPI and I started to get the symptoms slightly back. Googled on PPI’s withdrawal. Found that I need to slowly get off it and take substitutes later. I am sincerely hoping its going to work for me.

(PS: For those who might be wondering why I never mentioned abt a specialist, I did meet a few and that’s another story I don’t want to discuss)

I am just worried as why a primary care physician should prescribe a PPI for someone who did not have any GERD symptoms. This is awful.

[Lauralight]

I'd go to a naturolpath and have them test your PH in your stomach to find out if it's low, or just try buying stomach acid replacements and give them a chance to see if they slow down your symptoms. They are called Hydrochloric acid with pepsin, I used Solaray brand. They can also be called "betain HCL" Walmart has a super cheap super low dose mixed as a digestive enzyme suppliment in the vitamin aisle. This will work if you have low stomach acid, but if you take a dose that's not high enough the dose you take will reflux up into your esophagus, so it would mean you need much more with meals, and one or two between meals, especially with larger volumes of water or any liquid drinking.
*Theory of low somach acid can be tested by taking apple cider vinegar with meals, to see if your LES closes after you eat and you don't sense any reflux(bad taste comming up or burning into your esophagus). Yes I've been coping with this for years now and know it well.

[Smiley2000]

Hi there,

GERD is a very common condition and I think that a lot of people that complains of stomach pains and back/chest pains are getting diagnosed with GERD and then prescribed anti-acids.

I personally would not take a diagnoses from a GP.  You should see a GI Specialist.  There are some terrible Doctors out there, but also good ones and you just have to search for a good one.

The basic tests that you need before acception/rejecting a GERD diagnoses:  Endoscopy, 24HR impedance or PH study.

If you have low acidic-levels you would get symptoms and if you have high acid in your stomach you also get symptoms.  So it is important to get a PH study done.

Let my know if I can be of any further help and all the best,

[Flycaster305]

There are so many reasons for digestive problems there are no simple answers.  I can tell you, if I ate a raw onion when I was experiencing GERD (heartburn) issues, I'd been in a lot of pain.  
Prilosec is a pretty benign drug, at least compared with other drugs I have taken.  I'd look more to your anxiety issues as a source of your discomfort rather than the effects of Prilosec.