Omeprazole and weight gain?

crackon20

First...i am not trying to blame the drug. And i understand that only a doctor can provide medical advice.
Just wondering....i have been on omeprazole for Gerd for several months. I have been exercising aerobics and weights for 1.5 months, 5 days week. I eat max 1400 calories per day.
I am at my highest weight ever.
Did anyone experience weight gain, or extreme difficulty losing weight on omeprazole?

charmmeth

crackon20 wrote: »

Did anyone experience weight gain, or extreme difficulty losing weight on omeprazole?

Oh yes: I had been pretty much maintaining for two years. I had some weight gain, but was within my maintanance range. Then in summer 2017, I was put on omeprazole and put on over 3 kg in as many months.

Here are my monthly averages: April 75.02, May 76.66, June 76.83, July 77.76, August 79.04, September 79.42, October 80.11.

Combine that with then going on sabbatical in autumn 2017 (conferences and isitutional food), plus peri-menopause... I came off the omeprazole after six months or so, but carried on putting on weight until I landed back at my highest weigh last May. I am back at my goal weight now though, at just under 75kg.

AnnPT77

I didn't notice that, but I was not taking it for as long as you have been. As a generality, much drug-side-effect weight gain comes through one of these routes:

* Higher appetite so portion creep.
* Water retention.
* Fatigue, possibly very subtle, that reduces daily life activity (think fidgeting, automatic things like hair/nails growth rate, body temperature or responses of body temperature to conditions so maybe feeling cold more often, etc.). These sound tiny, but can be in the low hundreds of calories daily, potentially.

The situation may not be perfectible, unfortunately. Still, to some extent, there are mitigation strategies that can theoretically help.

* Appetite may be countered by careful calorie counting (and maybe experimenting with different eating patterns to find better satiation).
* Water retention can gradually creep on, over a surprisingly long period, but there's hope that if fat loss is happening and not showing up on the scale, it will eventually peek out from behind the water-weight clouds on the scale. (If you suspect an unhealthful level of continuing water retention, talk with your doctor).
* Fatigue-induced lower calorie burn is tough, but if there's any way to improve sleep quality/quantity, reduce other-source stress (which adds to fatigue), or increase mild-intensity movement in daily life, that can be a way to push back a bit.

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, because I do understand (have experienced some of this from other drug regimens or health conditions myself). For myself, when dealing with obstacles, I like to parse out some of the potential underlying mechanisms, and experiment with changing things that might help. To me, that feels more empowering, like I'm taking control of the situation rather than letting it control me, even in cases where my experiments may not all be successful. I understand, though, that we're all wired differently, when it comes to what works.

Hoping you find some solutions!

MadisonMolly2017

crackon20 wrote: »

First...i am not trying to blame the drug. And i understand that only a doctor can provide medical advice.
Just wondering....i have been on omeprazole for Gerd for several months. I have been exercising aerobics and weights for 1.5 months, 5 days week. I eat max 1400 calories per day.
I am at my highest weight ever.
Did anyone experience weight gain, or extreme difficulty losing weight on omeprazole?

Hi @crackon20
I’m sorry that you are going through this. I have been on omeprazole but for a limited time to prevent side effects of another drug, I think. Can’t remember the dosage, but I was recovering from surgery, which ups your calorie burn, so my guess is the effects were cancelled out.

I did a Google search & most of the research seems to be linked to 2-3 year usage.

I did find that Sudden Weight gain is something to contact dr ASAP.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/53264-weight-gain-side-effects-omeprazole/

MsCzar

Hmmm. I never thought about it before. I'd taken both ranitidine and omeprazole for years while obese. My acid reflux was so bad that I'd aspirated in my sleep on several occasions. Then last May, I committed to calorie deficit, greatly reduced sugar intake, dropped 70 lbs and stopped eating after 6PM. Almost like magic - no more GERD. I haven't taken an AR medication since last summer other than a daily1000mg calcium carbonate chewable tablet.

crackon20

Thanks everyone. Great feedback. I hope with warmer weather i can be more naturally active during the day. Today i weeded!

claireychn074

I’ve been on omeprazole for nearly 7 years and I haven’t noticed any weight gain. I would say that I can now eat a much wider range of foods, including fats and veggies, which could certainly make me gain weight if I wasn’t tracking (ie less pain so I can now eat better). Before omeprazole I had to restrict quite a few things from my diet, whereas now I can scoff cashew nuts, cheese, chocolate, oranges and gin with joy 😀 but not onions. Still cannot handle onions for some reason.

Luke_rabbit

I lost weight on omeprazole because it was pretty poor at controlling GERD symptoms. I would guess if it worked well, that someone might eat more and gain weight.

I've been on Dexilant for a couple of years. It does a much better job controlling GERD, although there are still a bunch of foods I can't eat.

My GERD is completely unrelated to weight. I was only a few pounds overweight when it started. I'm now at ~116 pounds (5'3") and I suppose will be on these meds forever, or until they completely destroy my liver function.

springlering62

I think, having been on both Omperazole and Ranitidine, that they artificially relieved the symptoms and permitted me to continue the bad behavior that caused GERD in the first place- behavior which created weight gain in and of itself.

The GERD was gone after the first ten pounds lost, and has only revisited twice since then, both times after massive calorie days. I appreciate the occasional physical
*kitten* kicking reminder to keep my butt in gear.

If nothing else keeps me in maintenance, fear of GERD will.

judithbrh00

Heyo, I was put on Omeprazole for a couple of months, almost three, in 2019,(which I didnt need, was greatly misdiagnozed and then had surgery yay) and I gained weight. Even when I was in and out of the hospital with pretty much no food (I was able to eat maybe three days a week... depended on my appointments) I still maintained and even gained weight. Dropped the weight pretty fast after surgery and obviously quitting the drug. So for me it was water retention big time. take care!

spiritlevel9

I have been on it for a few years now and it hasn't caused a gain. If I stick roughly to my recommended calories over the week, I usually maintain.