about 6 months ago I was diagnosed with acid reflux. I
had terrible heartburn so I was more than willing to take whatever medication he had to offer. Four weeks later I was starting to feel better and the prescription ran out. I could not believe it cost $160.00 for it. My mother in law was also taking PPI.
She gave me some of hers I figured I would take as needed. One week and 4 pill later I was sick with low fever and chills, dizziness, aches and pains. It passed and a week and 3 pills later I was sick again with a migrane, low fever, chills, dizziness aches and pains. It passed 4 days later I woke with full blown vertigo. Since than I have been dizzy and spaced out
24/7 with a full feeling in my ears. The dizziness has also made me very anxious.
I have seen 3 doctors. Had a catscan, blood test, diabetes test, been on steroids, antibiotics, nasonex,
zyrtec, meclizine and others. I have felt like this for 6 weeks. Before all of this I was pretty healthy
and only 34 years old.
Has anyone ever heard of PPI's causing problems like this or is it just a coincidense. After spending 2 grand and missing more than a month of work I still havnt been diagnosed.
Sure PPI's cause side effects....and different ones effect different people differently.
but what you are describing sounds more than a side effect, also if you took the drug successfully for a month without side effects it's unlikely you suddenly developed them unless you switched drugs.
It would be helpful if you would not what drugs exactly you took with regards to the PPI's (was your mother on the same prescrip?) and the antibiotic (was it flagyl - metronidazole?). Side effects generally go away with time once you stop the offending drug. You mention you think the PPI is causing it, have you stopped taking it?
Sometimes drugs can inspire very violent reactions side effects but they are generally brought on very quickly. Read the contraindications on the prescribing information also, ask a pharmacist, they get all the complaints about the drugs...so they know a lot of off the record complaints.
One very popular PPI - Prilosec is going over the counter (therefore cheaper) if it isn't already. Also, you could go down a level and take an acid reducer like Pepcid AC for a couple weeks.
Change in diet, lifestyle (exercise, weight) is generally what successfully puts GERD (Acid reflux) in remission.
You could have a lot of things....i had something really terrible I had diarreah, major heartburn (i was down to eating rice, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes - i knew when even that started to bother me i had something serious) and i had absolutely no energy (i felt like i had chronic fatigue syndrome or something) and they never figured out what it was. I figure it was a bacteria or parasite (sometimes their tests don't pick up bacteria and parasites that aren't friendly to your body according to the research i did on the internet). a 5 day dose of Flagyl fixed me up.
I'm 90% improved but my allergies are giving me a hard time now.
[This message has been edited by SuzyQPA2 (edited 08-06-2003).]
Hi,
I wanted to let you know that I had a terrible reaction to one of the new PPI's, I broke out in hives so severe that they were over 95 percent of my body, I had intense itching, dizziness, nausea, swelling and diarhea...they can definately cause side effects and if Prilosec causes problems for you then Nexium will too because they are so closely relate.
Take care,
JOdi
ppi side effects 
