A interesting article on "The Purple Pill"

[Bob]

http://www.boston.com/globe/magazine/2002/1117/coverstory_entire.htm

[Patrick]

Wow, that was a great article, thanks Bob. My attitude about Nexium is that it is the best PPI (for me anyway, though I never tried Prilosec), and I'm willing to pay out a little more each month for the sake of feeling better. Health is more important to me than money... especially since I've been feeling yukky for the past few years. Having my health under control means having my life under control.

However, if/when they get around to rolling out a generic for Prilosec, I will definitely give that a try. Let's see... a $10 copay vs. a $50 copay, and it works about the same... yeah, I could see switching to gen-Prilosec. My hope is that I won't have to wait until the year 2007 before making this switch though. The article indicated that one company had a good chance of getting approval for a Prilosec generic soon, so I'm rooting for them.

[Hawk]

Pat... The Generic Prilosec has been on the market for a couple of months now. It is sold under the name OMEPRAZOLE.

I tried it for a few weeks but started having gastritis. When I switched back to Prilosec it went away. I will have to try the generic again just to make sure that it was causing or at least allowing the gastritis.

[The Pard]

Hi all,

Isn't is strange that nexium is a combination of
esomeperazole and magnesium?

It almost sounds like you could mix it yourself
or just take a combination of generic prilosec and
pepto bismol to get a similar effect.
(at a much reduced cost)

The Pard

[Patrick]

The only thing is, you'd have to take more Prilosec to get the same effectiveness as Nexium. This was mentioned in a thread in the other forum, but my doctor told me the same thing, that Nexium is about twice as effective because it only has the isomer that is effective, whereas half of the Prilosec is a less-effective isomer.

So if I'm taking 40mg of Nexium a day, I'd probably take 40mg of Prilosec TWICE a day. Hawk, I wonder if you just weren't getting enough Prilosec...?

Then again, maybe there's something about magnesium, like Pard said...

[Hawk]

Originally posted by Patrick
So if I'm taking 40mg of Nexium a day, I'd probably take 40mg of Prilosec TWICE a day. Hawk, I wonder if you just weren't getting enough Prilosec...?



Regular Prilosec worked the best for me. Better than Nexium. It is the generic Prilosec that I am thinking might have caused/allowed the gastritis. I have not retested this so it is too early to say. But, if I find out that I need to take 40mg of Generic Prilosec to equal the 20mg of regular Prilosec, I would stay with the regular Prilosec even though it would mean paying a co-pay of $50 instead of $10.
:(

[af]

Originally posted by The Pard
Hi all,

Isn't is strange that nexium is a combination of
esomeperazole and magnesium? It almost sounds like you could mix it yourself or just take a combination of generic prilosec and
pepto bismol to get a similar effect.
(at a much reduced cost)

The Pard

One must exercise some thought and caution in doing this kind of thing. Those with compromised kidney function do not fare well with increased magnesium. I think it is wise to follow the counsel of one's MD, in most situations. There ARE things that we common folk do not always consider that might be brought to light by the MD. I also recommend advising the MD of whatever actions you are taking on your own, so that he is totally apprised of the situation, and therefore knows what best to check in your lab testing.

Here is a prime example: I had a creatinine of 1.2, which is slightly elevated. This test indicates compromised kidney function. Taking magnesium on a chronic basis would not be good for me. Yet, for all practical purposes, I feel quite well. So I had a problem with my kidneys with NO outward symptoms, no swelling, nada.

[The Pard]

Hi AF,

Of course a doc should be involved, but shouldn't
they also be concerned about the "magnesium"
component in Nexium which they often prescribe?

Thanks for the heads-up.

The Pard

[af]

Originally posted by The Pard
Hi AF,

Of course a doc should be involved, but shouldn't
they also be concerned about the "magnesium"
component in Nexium which they often prescribe?

Thanks for the heads-up.

The Pard

Actually the drug literature for nexium does not indicate that dosage needs to be decreased for either liver or kidney failure. How much magnesium is in a capsule of nexium? Could it possibly be MORE than what is in a dose of antacid? I don't think so (but don't know for sure). there are 105 mgs of magnesium in a tablet of gaviscon, for instance.