Omeprazole Magnesium

jnettiedotson

, I was diagnosed with GERD a few years ago, and have been taking this stuff over the counter since then. I just now decided to do some research on it only to find out that it prevents your body from absorbing all kinds of good stuff and eventually will cause my health to decrease. Not to mention it causes cancer (clarify: causes break down of the good stuff in your gut that would otherwise prevent cancer cells from growing, or something like that). Well, what doesn't...but anyway....I was wondering if anyone else has ever taken this medication long term and had any weird effects or issues from it. I'm ****ting my pants over here, I hate taking it but it's like I can't survive without it because of my hiatus hernia from my 2nd pregnancy. Hoping as I lose weight my acid reflux will go away, but I'm doing it right this time so it's taking longer and I'm suffering every day if I don't take this medication. (also known as Prilosec OTC)

UpEarly

My father has taken proton pump inhibitors (drugs like Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid) for about 25 years now, with no ill effects. He takes a high dosage too - probably quadruple to what is in Prilosec OTC. He's been in fine health and turns 70 this year. The only health issue he's being treated for is Barret's esophagus and pre-cancerous cells in his esophagus. Those conditions happened because he did NOT seek treatment for his GERD for many years and the acid erosion did a lot of damage. His GERD was never weight-related, because he's never been overweight a day in his life.

I'm sure other people will weigh in with other information, but that has been his experience. :-)

hockey7fan

I was taking it too. Then I got a black box warning notice from the FDA that it has been found to make it easier to have a bone break. Last Labor Day Weekend I fell one step off my SIL's parents' porch and broke the scaphoid bone in my wrist. I had to have surgery to have a pin inserted and wear a cast for 12 weeks.

That particular bone is rarely broken in women and especially women my age (I'm 48). It's normally broken in 20 something guys doing extreme sports. My orthopedic surgeon was shocked I broke it falling off a step. My dentist who is 28 broke his doing some extreme water skiing sport.

After reading that, I stopped taking it and switched to ranitidine. I'm hoping not to need any of it once I lose some more weight.

_Timmeh_

I have GERD and have taken Omeprazole with no long term side affects. I asked my DR. about it recently because some study was released saying it can contribute to heart disease I think..... He said he's been treating patients for 10+ years with it and they have had no problems.
I just recently switched to Nexium though.