When's the best time to take a PPI

[MelW]

I've always taken my ppi (pantoprazole 40mg) first thing in the morning b4 breakfast.

Recently I went to the doc about trouble I have breathing and after some asthma type test that came back normal, he decided that it would probably be caused by acid irritation in my throat.

He suggested that I should take my ppi in the evening, but since they only work for about 18 hours I'm thinking that taking it in the evening would mean that it's not working when I eat my main meal in the evening which seems a bit daft ! Surely it's better for it to be not working in the middle of the night when I haven't eaten for about 6-8 hours ?

The other thing is that he said Nexium was a better/stronger ppi and suggested I try it for a few months to see if it improves things. Anyone have an opinion on that ? I thought they were all much of a muchness !

Cheers
Mel

[gmhoward]

Generally you take your PPI in the morning and H2's in the evening. It wouldn't hurt to try your PPI in the evening for a few days to see if your symptoms clear up.

Nexium is a stronger PPI. You may also find that you need to rotate your PPI occassionaly, I had to rotate mine every six months because they would stop working.

[Rebecca]

Hi MelW,

I found the Nexium to do a little better job controling my GERD symptoms, but unfortunately they gave me headaches so I switched to Aciphex. As far as when to take your ppi --- you might want to experiment by taking it at different times and see how it goes. You could supplment with an OTC H2 (such as Pepcid or Zantac ---not sure if they're named differently in Australia) during the time the PPI is at its weakest in your system.

I could never seem to get enough relief with one PPI/day, so eventually I started taking two a day and this helped quite a bit.

--Rebecca

[Jasmine]

Have you tried taking 20mg in the morning and 20mg in the evening? Then you've got all 24 hours covered without having to take more of the medication overall.