aciphex losing potency.....

[- jon -]

curious as to what other folks have gone through similar to this

i've been on aciphex for about 2 years

it has been working well, & i have had only slight & infrequent episodes of heartburn since i've been on it

i take one pill a day, 30 mins to an hour b4 dinner

but the past 4 days i have had heartburn again, getting stronger & stronger every day, & lasting longer & longer each day as well

right now it is damn near intolerable (ALL DAY), & i even have the dreaded "something stuck in throat" feeling that i used to get because of the burn prior to being on aciphex

i've read up here that some folks have had similar problems on PPIs for a long time - that at some point they stop working - correct? does anyone know why this is????

what are my options at this point?? (i haven't gone back to the dr. yet, & to be honest YOU PEOPLE have been more helpful than any dr. i've seen yet and i value your opinions/ideas, especially useful to get your feedback b4 i go to see the dr. to give me ideas for what to ask/discuss)

if i have to try a different PPI, i'm afraid that both nexium and prilosec are out (i was on nexium b4 i was on aciphex & had intolerable headaches, stomach aches, & rashes)

and i am afraid to try protonix because of the side effects i've read about, but mostly because i've read that that PPI SPECIFICIALLY is NOT FOR USE LONGER THAN 8 weeks!!!! yet i need something "forever" (sigh)

so i guess that leaves me only with PREVACID as a drug option?

any ideas/similar experiences appreciated, including things you think i should bring up with my dr.


- jon -

p.s. i have a "sliding hiatal hernia" which was considered to "possibly" be the cause of my heartburn problem, but the GI doc that i saw did not feel that surgery was worth the trouble/risk & that i should just take PPIs "forever"

[Tony SR]

Hi Jon
I Have been on Protonix 40 mg once a day about 2 1/2 years before that I was on prevacid before that I was on Zantac. It seems to me that a body could get used to the meds. I on the other hand, I get irratetable bowel from the meds after a couple of years. I know this because I went form 1 40 mg pill a day to 2 20 mg pills twice a day. I got so bad I started to take 1 20 mg pill at 5 pm every night and my problem stopped. But the dose was not quite strong enough after a month I started to have Heartburn.
I also got a withdrawal thing going on, I had a pain for my stomach to my throat . It is hard to discribe but it went away after a week or two.
I hope your meds help you. I myself would look into getting it fixed. I am. In the 15 years I have had this, it has only gotten worse not better. Best of luck to Jon


Tony SR

[Rebecca]

Jon,

I've been on Aciphex for a couple years too. Every once in a while I get a spell where my GERD flares up even though I'm on Aciphex. I usually supplement my Aciphex with 1-4 Pepcid's a day, then taper off the Pepsid after things settle down. So perhaps what you're going through now with GERD being more than usual might settle down with time. Also, make sure you're following all the lifestyle guidelines for GERD (no eating before bedtime, avoiding trigger foods, etc.). Hope you find answers and feel better soon. -Rebecca

[- jon -]

thanks for the advice folks

i never thought about the possibility of a "flareup" other than in regards to either my body not responding to aciphex anymore, or that my stomach/hernia has worsened so that more acid is escaping than b4 regardless of the effectiveness of any PPI

but that bears consideration (some kind of "temporary" flareup)

anyways, where i am now is......

my dr. had me try going to aciphex 2x a day so i tried that for a few days, but it made no difference....still had heartburn most of the time...plus it gave me a headache taking it 2x a day for some reason

so i switched to protonix 40mg once a day; that also gave me a headache but i got used to it....the headaches gradually lessened over the last 2 weeks....heartburn seemed to be improving also...my voice came back...the stuck in the throat feeling lessened....thought i had found a new PPI/solution at least for now, but the past 4 days i have been miserable again :-(

so today i am trying PREVACID 30mg....will give it a few days or a week provided i have no serious side effects & get some relief..dunno what i can do next if this doesn't work

wish me luck

- jon -

[KathyHope]

I have been on PPI's for 4 years now. I started with Prevacid and have switched to nexium which seems to be working well with less side effects. However, when my body seems to build up a tolerance to the PPI's and the heartburn breaks through, I will switch to Pepsid or Zantac for a week (some days I'm pretty miserable) and after that week is over I start back on my PPI and it works just fine again.

[- jon -]

Originally posted by KathyHope
I have been on PPI's for 4 years now. I started with Prevacid and have switched to nexium which seems to be working well with less side effects. However, when my body seems to build up a tolerance to the PPI's and the heartburn breaks through, I will switch to Pepsid or Zantac for a week (some days I'm pretty miserable) and after that week is over I start back on my PPI and it works just fine again.

interesting advice! maybe our bodies build up some kind of tolerance to PPIs in general & if we remove them from the equation for "X" amount of time they will work again (?)

anyways, i have been on PREVACID now for 6 days

heartburn is not so bad although last night i must've refluxed again & i have the stuck in throat/hard to swallow feeling again today (sigh)

also had a case real bad diarrhea & getting headaches again, probably due to the prevacid....goddamit....if not one thing it's something else

i might go back to aciphex....i might try the zantac/torture route for a week then go back to any PPI (but when i tried to get off PPI last year by taking zantac the heartburn was intolerable)....i might just stay on the prevacid....i dunno...will try to talk to my doctor again.....or maybe i need to go back to GI again (sure to be a major waste of time though)

good luck to all,

- jon -

[iomega15]

Jon,

I would try different PPIs, and don't worry about the 8 week max thing... they all have some kind of advisory like that. Most aren't longer than a year. Thats cuz there isn't enough data to know what the long term effects really are. But hey, its better than the well known effects of heart burn on your esophagus, eh? Also, if you read your aciphex instructions you will notice "Suddent Death" as one of the side effects :) And you've been taking that for a while now, so I guess it won't get much worse than that.

~Roman