“From Omeprazol to Pepcid?”
Hi, my mother has GERD. If she does not take the Omeprazol for 7-8 days she starts to feel worse, the symptoms of reflux. How can she switch from Omeprazol to Pepcid and how do you determine the degree of GERD she has. Will the degree a,b,c, or d affect how to get off Omeprazol and start with Pepcid and how do you get off of Omeprazol in, days or weeks? She wants to do so because of the bad side effects that come with Omeprazol. Is it true that Omeprazol is worse when it comes to side effects than Pepcid?
Female | 56 years old
Medications: Omeprazol
Conditions: Gerd
3 Answers
GastroenterologistGastroenterologist
Before change medication find evaluation by her physician to make sure star use the correct medication. Never change medication without evaluation to prevent any side effect.
You can stop the Omeprazole and start Pepcid and see how she does. If symptoms are controlled perfectly. There is no problem switching.
No, it's not true about bad side effects of omeprazole and other PPIs. They are, in fact, very safe, hence their availability without a prescription (at lower doses). Recent randomized trials using PPIs have been published, showing that the PPIs do not put you at risk for the conditions that were of concern based on epidemiological studies. Not surprisingly, the worrisome studies that do not prove causation were widely disseminated in the press, but the randomized trials illustrating the safety and debunking the other studies do not get mentioned at all. Our wonderful media not doing their jobs, as usual.
In short, do not worry about getting off of omeprazole. Use the lowest dose possible, but if omeprazole is needed to control heartburn and pepcid is not good enough, then stick with omeprazole.
In short, do not worry about getting off of omeprazole. Use the lowest dose possible, but if omeprazole is needed to control heartburn and pepcid is not good enough, then stick with omeprazole.
