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A study shows that water may be more effective than acid-inhibiting drugs in its effect on gastric pH. Study participants were given either a glass of water, antacid, ranitidine, omeprazole, esomeprazole, or rabeprazole. Their gastric pH was recorded for 6 hours after each drug intake. Water increased gastric pH by more than 4 after just one minute. In contrast, antacid took 2 minutes, and most of the other drugs took more than two hours. According to the study in Digestive Diseases and Sciences: Water and antacid immediately increased gastric pH, while PPIs showed a delayed but prolonged effect compared to ranitidine.
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Green Med Info Digestive Diseases and Sciences December 2008; 53(12): 3128-3132
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Typically, acid reflux is believed to be caused by excessive stomach acid production. However, this "conventional wisdom" has been shown to be incorrect.
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16,000 articles in the medical literature attesting to thisis because when you decrease the amount of acid in your stomach, you suppress your body's ability to kill the helicobacter bacteria! So suppressing stomach acid production tends to just worsen and perpetuate the condition. I'll elaborate on the hazards of these drugs in a moment, but first, let's review a few gems from the medical literature.
Drugs are NOT Advisable for Majority of Heartburn and Acid Reflux Cases
Now on to the drugs One of the most commonly prescribed drugs for heartburn and acid reflux are proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) or drugs that VERY effectively block your stomach's ability to produce acid. While that may sound like a good thing, in most cases it's the worst possible approach, because as I mentioned earlier, the problem typically stems from having too little stomach acid. Proton pump inhibitors like Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid are severely overprescribed and misused. As a result they end up hurting far more people than they're helping, because these drugs are actually designed to treat a very limited range of severe problems. According to Mitchell Katz, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health who wrote an editorial on this topic, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are only warranted for the treatment of: Bleeding ulcers Infection with the ulcer-causing bacteria Helicobacter pylori Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (a rare condition that causes your stomach to produce excess acid) Severe acid reflux, where an endoscopy has confirmed that your esophagus is damaged PPIs were never intended for people with heartburn, and according to Katz, "about 60 to 70 percent of people taking these drugs have mild heartburn and shouldn't be on them." However, I believe the number may be even higher than that, because there are over 16,000 articles supporting the fact that suppressing stomach acid does NOT treat helicobacter pylori infection (which Katz included above). If you're taking a PPI drug to treat your heartburn you're doing two things, but neither of them is actually beneficial to your health: 1. Youre treating a symptom only; youre not addressing the underlying cause, and 2. By doing so, youre exposing yourself to additional, and potentially more dangerous health problems, courtesy of the drug itself
Carefully Weigh the Risks and Benefits of these Drugs Before Taking Them!
PPIs suppress the production of stomach acid, and in the severe cases listed above, they may be warranted short-term. However, since upwards of 95 percent of heartburn cases are not caused by too much but rather too little stomach acid, these drugs may worsen your condition. PPI drugs are also fraught with serious side effects, including: Pneumonia Bone loss Hip fractures
Infection with Clostridium difficile, a harmful intestinal bacteria You'll also develop both tolerance and dependence on them, so you can't stop taking them without suffering repercussions. In fact, you should NEVER stop taking proton pump inhibitors cold turkey. You have to wean yourself off them gradually or else you might experience a severe rebound of your symptoms. Ideally, you'll want to get a lower dose than you're on now, and then gradually decrease your dose. Once you get down to the lowest dose of the PPI, you can start substituting with an over-the-counter H2 blocker like Tagamet, Cimetidine, Zantac, or Raniditine. Then gradually wean off the H2 blocker over the next several weeks. While you wean yourself off these drugs (if you're already on one), start implementing a lifestyle modification program that can eliminate this condition once and for all.
Related Links:
News Flash: Acid Reflux Caused by Too Little Acid, Not Too Much... Why You Should Get Off Prescription Acid-Reducing Drugs ASAP! Why Inhibiting Acid Production With Prilosec and Prevacid Could Make Ulcers Worse