Has Anyone Successfully Weaned Off Acid Reflux Medication?
 

I was wondering if anyone has weaned off their acid reflux medication after taking it for several years? And if so, how did you wean off it?

Meds
 

Yes. I was on Pantoprazole for years.i had been told I would always be on it. For many reasons I decided to try to get off this strong med. I took it every other day...every third day etc. till finally I was not taking it. I don't eat after six....I sit up after eating...all the anti reflux tricks. It has been six months or so and so far so good.

Meds
 

Of course I checked with my Dr first.

I stopped several months ago. It's taken awhile but I only feel "heartburn" occassionally now. When it comes I have a licorice type of supplement that I take.

Good for you. It is prescribed for your heartburn and also prevents esophageal cancer. Stopping any prescription medication is not a good thing to do without consulting your doctor.

ttown and NotGolfer,

Did you experience the rebound that people talk about when you go off the acid reflux meds?

I tried before, but it was like I had extreme acid production. I didn't know if it would ever go away so I went back on the med. Would really like to get off it.

And I checked with my doctors. One wants me off it and the other says stay on it. EGDs look good.

I have tried a few times and had the extreme rebound. I am trying to use ranitidine to transition down. I would use the pantoprazole every other day, ranitidine every other day, then pantoprazole every 3rd day, ranitidine the other days...etc. still doing it so can't say if I can get entirely off it. It's tough.

Get.off of it. It depletes magnesium. I got osteoporosis from using pantoprazole. I am doing fine. I took it for 20 years. Not recommended for long time use. It does not prevent esophageal cancer just mask the symptoms

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I had acid reflux . My Dr recommended over the counter Famotidine
I take 1 in the am never have heartburn or acid reflux

I had a total knee replacement several years ago and within a month developed ulcers in the esophagus. The GI doctor prescribed large doses of omeprazole and ranitidine. After a few weeks I was able to taper off and finally got completely off within a year. Thanks to a chart I found on the internet listing alkaline vs. acid foods I avoided some of the most acidic foods such as coffee, diet coke, chocolate, and many starches, even though I was suffering from weight loss. It seemed to help relieve some of the symptoms.

I was on prilosec for 20+ years. Long story short, I lost 45 lbs. (on purpose) and just decided one day to stop taking it to see what happened. I haven't taken it since, have had no acid reflux, didn't have any side effects from stopping, and all is good. Sometimes when you don't know what you don't know, things turn out pretty well. I didn't know at the time that I should have checked with my Dr. before stopping the med.

there are legitimate reasons that some people need to take it. Since you're doctors disagree you need to ask them why. The fact that your endoscopies are good may be because you are taking the meds.

I have been on Nexium 40 mg for over ten years and wanted to stop taking it and also felt like my lifestyle and eating habits have changed completely. I discussed it with my DR and tried stopping cold turkey. It was a disaster with all original problems returning after a few days. I resumed taking it for 5 months, returned to the DR and decided weaning was worth a try. I have been on Nexium 20 mg for 2 weeks now and am not having difficulty. I researched and found that your stomach needs to wake up and resume normal operations. I intend to take the reduced dosage for another month then stop the Nexium and revert to over the counter antacids if needed. I hope that will work for me. Good luck to you.

Organic apple cider vinegar with "the Mother" helped me get off of it. Our bodies need acid to help digest our food. Those drugs suppress what we need. I take a tablespoon with a warm glass of water, honey and cinnamon. The cinnamon also helps control my type 2 diabetes (which is now totally gone) All of the drug instructions say to only use for a short time so there must be a reason not to take for a long time

Try honey and apple cider vinegar. You will be surprised the results. Sorry Springfield didnt read your post.

Went from 40 mg daily to 20 mg daily.... After a few months started taking the 20mg every other day.... Still on that dosage and have no,problems......will probably just stay at this

Do you think this combo helped w your diabetes, too? Or did you lose a bunch of weight? Any secrets you can share, I am all ears..

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Thank you

I was diagnosed with Laryngopharyngeal reflux.
Dr. had me on Lansoprazole- 60 mg/day! My insurance company was unhappy with such a large dose, but I took it for two years. I complained to the Dr. that it didn't help much and could I get off it? He said "Oh no, you'll be on this the rest of your life!" After researching on the internet I decide to wean myself off. I won't say I'm cured but I am just as well off the meds, and a lot of times better than when I was on. I'm not interested in taking large doses of drugs if they aren't working!

I think it was the combination of diet, exercise, and cinnamon that worked.

Well, I know lots of you will laugh at my remedy, but it does work. I drink buttermilk when I feel my stomach starting to get upset. If I wake up during the night from acid reflux or stomach queasiness, I go to the fridge and drink buttermilk. I have told several of my friends and my wife (who was the hardest to get to try it) and it works for all of them. I learned it as a young adult as a hangover cure. Growing up on the farm and drinking raw milk, we were used to drinking buttermilk. Cottage cheese also works, but not as well.

Trouble is a lot of times acid reflux can be asymptomatic. This means that just because you are not having heartburn, you cannot assume that acid reflux is not happening. And acid reflux is a primary cause of esophageal cancer, a type of cancer which is difficult to treat.
So if you decide to quit taking your acid blocking medications, be sure to have a follow up endoscopy to make sure you are not damaging your esophagus.

What zonerboy said.

Esophageal cancer is what took my mother's life. She self medicated for almost 25 years with Alka Seltzer. What a shame. I had a gastric Bypass 12 years ago and just found out yesterday that I was supposed to be taking prescription heartburn medicine for the entire time and that I risk having an ulcer if I don't take it.

Although I have put the majority of the weight back on I did learn that I can avoid heartburn by staying away from Shrimp, Steak, Red Gravy! I will follow the new Doctors direction because I'm not the doctor she is. :thumbup:

true
 

this is what happened with my brother. No heartburn at all. One time he got steak caught inhis throat and went to ER. they recommended endoscopy and he already had a condition called Barrett's esophagus...the precursor to cancer.

My son and wife took Prilosec for years. They both started taking probiotics and have successfully weaned off the medication. They now only need it occasionally if they are going to eat foods high in acid like tomato sauce. Also do not eat 1 hour before laying down.

Here's a comment .... taking this stuff (as I did) for several years has resulted (unexpectedly to the medical profession) in one's stomach producing more acid to make up for the medication. Weaning off it is difficult - because the stomach has to learn to produce less acid slowly. The technique (under physicians supervision or agreement) is as follows ... (a) take the scripted medication on alternative days and in the intervening days take Rolaids with dinner and then Ranitidine 300 mg (Zantac) an hour before bedtime for about a month or more (b) change to twice a week substituting the Ranitidine (c) continue to reduce and substitute and (d) when 100% on Ranitidine start to substitute Rolaids with the evening meal and again an hour before bedtime and continue this until you are off the Ranitidine and only on the Rolaids (or other antacid) and then slowly reduce those. This is a two to three year process. Remember that allowing acid into your esophagus is a problem because of the correlation between GERD and esophageal cancer.

Weight loss will help tremendously. Excess belly fat pushing on internal organs causes many problems including acid reflux or gurd.

After taking Prilosec for about 15 years I'm now off it. I tried tapering down years ago but that didn't work. I now take ranitidine but am tapering that off to and it seems to be working. I'm down to one tablet daily and reducing it by 1/4 every two weeks. I eat my biggest meal at lunch and hardly anything at night and nothing after 6pm. Avoid fats, and I try to eat lots of vegetables, fruits and fish and chicken, whole grains, brown rice and very little sugar. It's working.

Ditto to Carla B's note. I was on proton pump inhibitors for years, then Pantoprazole for the last couple years. I just decided to curtail the foods that caused me problems, such as she mentioned. No more regular coffee--only decaf and then only one in the am and one in the afternoon, not night-- no cola drinks either. Now, if only I could stay away from the M&Ms! I have Pantoprazole, but take it only when I know I'm going eat big and use Tums for other times. Good Luck!

When I complained about Acid Reflux, my doctor had me tested for Lactose, Sucrose, and Fructose intolerance. Turned out I was off the chart for Fructose and was told to check all labels for High Fructose Corn Syrup. Once I eliminated HFCS from my diet, the Acid Reflux disappeared. BTW, sodas were the first thing on the list Dr. Paiano told me to eliminate. It certainly is worth a try, and let's face it, the fewer meds we have to take, the better. :-)

I got off of acid reflux medications several years ago but consulted with my doctor first. He told me if I quit cold turkey, that my stomach would kick into overdrive producing much more acid than ever before. He told me to slowly wean myself off. So, I did that over the course of 2-3 months.

If anyone has a big gut, and a dunlap over the belt-- the acid reflux while always be there. When you lay down at night your fat tummy pushes the acid up into your esophagus. I lost 30 lbs. And the reflux has disappeared. I never take a pill any more. I also feel better overall

I got tired of taking the meds and decided to eliminate things which cause AR. Now I only occasionally eat chocolate and only after lunch. Stay away from acidic foods at dinner. No soft drinks. Coffee only in the AM. Soy milk instead. Don't eat late at night. Don't overeat.
Pretty much under control now.

I quit Nexium I was taking 2X daily. I now use Brags Apple cider vinegar All Natural with the Mother. You can get it at Walmart or grocery store. I take 1 shot glass in the morning with a glass of water. I take mine then drink the water. If I have bad heartburn I take a shot & in 1-2 minutes it's gone!

I'm still working on it, but I started taking a 1/4 of the beads out of each 20 mg. capsule. Then After a month, 1/2. Now I'm on 10 mg a day vs. 20 with no bad reaction. I'll stay on this for a month or so and then I'll start taking beads out again. This has to be very gradual or the rebound is awful. Good luck!

YES I did about 25 yr ago. with a multifactorial approach. If you would like more information contact me at cdbqtv2015@gmail.com
Cindy

What is a multifactorial approach? If you don't mind, could you share what worked for you?

Nexium
 

I have acid reflux and AFIF, stage 3 kidney disease. Read that Medium can cause further damage to my kidneys. Am trying to get off of it now. Hoping not to have acid reflux for not taking Medium. If I do, will have to find med that won't further damage my kidneys. Anyone else have this problem? Has anyone solved this?