How to wean from Protonix

[Wonderwall2020]

Hello,
About 2 month ago, I started having bad stomach pain, with pins anf needles sensation, and pain radiating through back. I went to see family doc and he did blood test to rule out pancreatitis (result came back normal), and put me on Protonix  40mg, once a day. I took for couple of weeks, and felt ok, so stopped, but pain would come back, so went back on it couple of days later. The bottle had 30pills, and one refill. After I took for 30days, I was off of it couple of days but again, the pain was coming back, so I went to get refill, and started taking daily. I recently did some research about it, and found out this is a very strong med!! And should not be taken for more than 6~8 weeks?
Im supposed to see gastro specialist, but due to covid19, my family doc or the specialist are not really returning my call to make any furthet appointments. So i went to see local surgeon, and he ordered barium test, then, upper scope, but Im not able to schedule it right away due to my kids child cate issues... but asked him if It's ok to wean off of Protonix and he said it's ok, and mentioned briefly that Pepcid would help meanwhile. So I started weaning off of Protonix, by taking the protonix every other day last week, then every two days this week. I took my last dose three days ago, and felt great yesterday, but today, I feel slight pain...
My question is
1)Do you think it's a good idea to switch completely to Pepcid now? And is it safe to do so? Cause I've been taking Protonix for a while, and could interact with Pepsid?
2)Do you think I'll experience so called Rebound acid reflex, by having taken Protonix off and on for last 2 month? Im scared to death...
3)Any other suggestion to help with the pain, prefferbly natural treatment?
Thanks so much!!