Stop omeprazole/Prilosec/nexium and lose weight

Update to my reply from forever ago: I stopped taking omeprazole a couple of months ago (tired of taking so many other meds for allergies/asthma/migraines that I just didn't feel like it anymore). Never had rebound acid. Still losing weight at the same tick. Not having any type of reflux now as far as I know. Guess I outgrew the problem, or continued weight loss solved it. Either way, it never stopped me from losing.

I wish omeprazole would cause weight gain - my husband has been on it for 2 years and is having a hard time putting on weight. 6' tall and 145 lbs.

I would advise against stopping your medication without consulting your doctor first, particularly if you are on it for a reason besides garden-variety GERD.

I was able to lose 55 pounds while on omeprazole. And I still get horrible reflux at my new lower weight if I accidentally forget to take my medication.

I stopped taking omeprazole last week after having been on it for 10 years and my weight is dropping about 1/2 lb per day. I did put on a lot of weight on this med. it can affect leptin (satiety hormone)and ghrelin (hunger hormone).

Amazing what people will come up with to blame for their weight gain. Omeprazole is an acid reducer. Period. It does not make you fat.

mhessacp wrote: »

I think you have to find what works for you. People react differently to different things. I can't use Aveda products, the plant based salon products everyone loves, due to the flowers, but I can use Kenra full of chemicals. When I was a kid, I had an ulcer. That was before they knew about H-pylori and all of the drugs discussed above were by prescription only. I took Pepcid for months with no improvement. My doctor switched me to Zantac, and I was cured in 30 days. Go figureZ

you can treat H-pylori but as for cured I dont know if it ever really is because it can come back,I had it. the reason you had no improvements the first time is because you have to take 1-2 antibiotics along with the PPI to get rid of it so to speak. PPIs and acid reducers alone will not get rid of h pylori.It can help and heal ulcers but if you truly had H pylori you would have to go through a protocol of a certain med cocktail for 2 weeks. a month is kind of long for that. they test you for it.so my question is did they test you and it come back positive? there are several ways to test.

Never had an issue with weight gain on PPIs, but they do give me soul crushing depression. Rabeprazole was the worst, I'd take it at 1pm and at 7pm on the dot every day I was having hysterical crying fits. I'm not a depressed person usually. Nexium I had better luck with. The depression was subtler and more manageable. Mostly a lack of focus and nights thinking about death. It was still better that the acid reflux it managed to reduce, which was brutal. Off the meds now, except for the odd zantac here and there. I believe the acid reflux was caused by my brief orange juice obsession. Stuff isn't as healthy as they like you to think.

I take omeprazole for Cohn's. No issues with weight gain.

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

snickerscharlie wrote: »

tomteboda wrote: »

My doctor put me on omerprazole in September to protect my stomach against damage due to the prescription NSAID I'm on to control my lupus inflammation.

I've lost 30 lbs since September, maintaining the same rate of loss I did in the 11 months prior to that.

Anecdotes aside, from the mechanism of action I find it puzzling to think omerprazole would cause weight gain, except that perhaps it aids people in having a settled stomach so they eat more because eating isn't miserable? This looks at best like a correlation.

Yup, I've been on omeprazole for 4 years now because I also take Celebrex daily. I've lost 75 lbs while on these drugs, just by eating less and moving more.

Oh, and I also have a crappy thyroid and I'm old!

I'm also on a prescription NSAID (it's why I need the omeprazole as well) and am old and have a crappy thyroid. Still lost the 90 pounds just by monitoring my intake so that I was eating less and making sure that I moved more.

And the NSAIDS definitely help us move more!

Sorry to raise a dead thread, but a University Of Maryland study showed weight gain as a side effect of taking Omeprazole in 1% of patients. Perhaps the OP is one of the lucky 1%.:

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

lois1231 wrote: »

I have also been on various ppis for barretts esophagus and ulcers. Again you can gain weight but it doesn't prevent you from losing it with calories in and calories out. Actually I noticed I have less problems now with acid reflux after losing some weight. I still take PPIs, protonix and sulcrafate. I also was on nexium for years.

the weight gained is usually from it spiking your appetite. not the meds itself. many meds that claim weight gain will also note an increase in appetite. some may slow down your metabolism to where you need less calories than you did before. some meds even speed your metabolism up to a degree.

singingflutelady wrote: »

I'm on Pantoloc ling term for gastroduodenal Crohn's, gastritis, gastroparesis etc and it has had 0 effect on my weight. I was omeprazole before that and also 0 effect.

same here Im on a PPI and an Hz blocker and no issues

barby8051 wrote: »

Have some questions for you but would first like to thank you for posting this. I have been on various ppi's for 14 years and have slowly been getting freaked about other complications of long term use that have come out over the years, mainly increased bone loss and now most recently, the connection between it and dementia. I would love to get off them but I cannot imagine going back to my previous way of life of absolutely no citrus, tomatoes, sleeping on a slant, and enough stashes of Tums everywhere to cover a drugstore. I am curious if anyone knows a safer medicine than the ppi's? I have also tried the homeremedies of apple cider vinegar, mustard, and aloe Vera juice- individually!lol

I went through the same freak-out when I started getting non-accident related fractures in my feet. Bones would just snap and my feet felt like there was no foot pad to cushion them.

I stopped taking Vencid, Omeprazole etc and went cold turkey. Unfortunately, this caused rebound reflux. I decided to try alternative therapies for reflux and have had great success with certain supplements.

I take DGL Licorice. The DGL means most of the dangerous part of licorice has been removed (about less than 1% remains. Non DGL licorice is extremely dangerous and can kill.) This is also known as "the lining tamer' and it is extremely effective- better than Omeprazole or Vencid. I take less than the recommended amount, and have further reduced days or DGL free days to control any side effects. It can still raise blood pressure or cause some fluid retention, which I get, so I dial it down for a couple of days and things go back to normal. There are other supplements that you can try instead such as colostrum. I'm trying to find a high quality supply so I don't need to take DGL anymore.

I also take a pure collagen powder and L-Glutamine powder. The collagen helps with healing the gut and the L-G fuels this process. Take at separate times. Start L-G slow at 1/2 a scoop, 2.5 grams, and increase 2.5 grams slowly. I'm sitting at 7.5 which works for me. To stop taking do the reverse process & reduce slowly. Take collagen on an empty stomach.

Also a good probiotic (more than 10 billion, from at least 5 strains including acidophilus) helps a lot as does a prebiotic or increasing prebiotics in the diet. Some people add in digestive enzymes but I don't as they're hard to stop taking. I try to eat them instead.

Also, if you have a bacterial overgrowth in the stomach, this would need to be addressed first. A good gastro doc would test you for this.

I just had a follow up with my gastro doc and she is very happy with my progress on alternative therapy and as long as I continue to improve without any complications, she's happy for me to continue, with the occasional check up.

I'm one of those taking omeprazole only because being overweight gives me heartburn. Been on it for years. My weight increased then plateaued. Going to the gym and watching calories lead to no weight loss. After so many years usage, I began bloating daily. I've began weaning slowly off, the bloating is better and I feel weight coming off. Good luck to everyone dealing with this!

I have Barrett’s esophagus and get ulcers. I have been on sucralfate and protonix for years and am losing weight