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Studies Link Some Stomach Drugs To Alzheimer's Disease and Kidney Problems (scientificamerican.com)
While the recommended dosage for Nexium, Prevacid and Prilose is just two weeks, doctors often advise patients to continue taking them for years. But now Scientific American reports that "Chronic use of popular heartburn medicines may be riskier than was thought," citing two papers linking the drugs to an increase risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and a greater risk of kidney problems.
schwit1 quotes their report:
The papers did not prove that PPIs cause the problems. But some researchers have nonetheless suggested possible mechanisms by which long-term use of the drugs could trigger dementia or kidney problems. A reduction in vitamin B12, for example, might leave the brain more vulnerable to damage, says Britta Haenisch, an author of the JAMA Neurology study and a neuropharmacologist at the Bonn campus of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. Last spring clinicians at the Houston Methodist Research Institute reported another plausible explanation for how PPIs might lead to these unexpected health issues: they picked up signs that the drugs act not only in the stomach but elsewhere in the body, too.
The article ends on an ambiguous note. "Without conclusive data, physicians and patients have to balance the need to prevent the ill effects of excess stomach acid and reflux with the desire to avoid potentially serious -- if theoretical -- side effects from long-term use of PPIs."
The article ends on an ambiguous note. "Without conclusive data, physicians and patients have to balance the need to prevent the ill effects of excess stomach acid and reflux with the desire to avoid potentially serious -- if theoretical -- side effects from long-term use of PPIs."
The recommended dose is two weeks for the over the counter (OTC) versions of the medications. That's so you don't keep taking it by yourself when you have symptoms that need an evaluation by a doctor.
Surgery isn't healthy, either. If you have a hiatal hernia, you can go drug-free and get esophageal cancer, get surgery, or take a pill every morning. Guess which one I do?
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Proton pump inhibitor have been known to be troublesome for a long time
By reducing stomach acidity, it increases the amount of bacteria that pass alive in the intestine, increasing the odds of Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). It also increase the odds of proliferation of some bacteria such as heliobacter pylori in the stomach itself.
All that pathogens overload the immune system, and degrade digestive functions.
I was on a PPI for ~3 years. My doctor told me the main reason they suggest the 2 week duration of use is because the drug may allow someone with a much more serious condition, say an ulcer or possibly cancerous lesions, to "get by". They don't want a person with those kinds of symptoms to "get by", they want them to see the doctor.
After 3 years, I was tired of getting a solid bout of the stomach flu about every 6 weeks, so I lost 40lbs and dropped the meds as I didn't need them anymore.
First:
It is unwise to immediately and completely change ones medications or prescription habits just based on one study. These large observational multivariate studies are always hindered by bias, though trying hard to compensate for them.
On the other hand, these kind of findings should not be ignored.
Proton pump inhibitors are already known for a long time to cause trouble. The article already mentions several, like the bacteria get a change of growing in the changed environment of the stomach, a defensive barrier is removed, certain vitamins and drugs need the acidity to get absorbed etc etc. Kidney issues are also not news. Other weird side effects, like I'll never forget a patient with an extreme hypomagnesia, like 0.10 mmol/l or so. She did not feel well.
But not forget the number of patients who have gained significant quality of life and the reduction of severe gastric bleeding. Remember the time where Bilroth gastrectomies were as common as cholecystectomies. The two week maximum advise for the over the counter drugs is because of the risk of patients masking a serious condition like malignancies.
But there is no denying that most people at some point start their PPI for some discomfort, and continue to swallow them for the rest of their lives. (Ideal drug for pharmaceutical companies.) The majority should just quit them, change their food habits and posture and get on with their lives.
The use of these drugs should be reserved for those who really need them. Right now it is prescribed more or less as a luxury drug
Why are other peoples sig's always more witty ???
I used to sneer at the filtered-water crowd and the mere idea of buying water - in plastic bottles no less - at a cost per gallon higher than gasoline repels me.
But I got a filter pitcher once as part of my emergency preparedness kit and was amazed to discover that my heartburn rate went way down.
The chlorine in my tap water was doing it to me.
So even just drinking lots of water isn't totally risk-free.