Proton-pump inhibitors may weaken bones
This is the news headline that shook me up. I have been taking those drugs for years. In 2001 I had a 2 level ACDF. Levels 4-6. According to my doctor everything fused and healed. By 2005 after much pain, PT, etc. it was found out the fusion failed. To quote my doctor I was walking around with a broken neck. I had a posterior 3 level fusion in March of 2005. I have never been out of pain and almost any physical exertion knocks me out. Even walking has become uncomfortable due to the jolts felt through my neck. I am starting to think that the last attempt at fusion has failed because of the numbness and pain down my arms. I don’t smoke or drink and take a ton of calcium. This brings me back to the Proton-pump inhibitors. Are they the possible cause of the fusion failure? I asked my family doctor and he looked like a scared jack rabbit and did not have an answer. The pharmacy didn’t know anything about the news release. I wonder if the drug companies would have an answer. Has anyone here heard about this? Does anyone know if these drugs would affect bone fusions? Thanks!!
You are right SKZ, I stopped taking my "stomach pills' as soon as I read the article and I am eating antacid pills by the handfuls. They don't work nearly as well but broken hips and failed fusions scare me more. I know it's early in the discovery stage but where are the answers found? Is taking nexium or prevacid hurting our bones?
Last edited by ms.titanium; 01-20-2007 at 03:32 PM.
I have been doing more research. SKZ, from what I found Zantac, Pepsid, Tagamet are histamine blockers and do not seem to have the same effect as proton pump inhibitors. Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec and Protonix shut down the chemical pump needed by stomach cells to make acid. Apparently in doing this calcium is not absorbed as it should be and this results in a bone density loss. If you are over 50 and take these drugs for one year you have a 44% increase in the chance of a hip fracture. The higher the dose and the longer you take the drug the higher the chance of fracture. The drug manufactures are saying the same stuff they always say. They have tested the drugs and continue to test them and find little or no correlation to bone density loss other than what would be considered normal. I imagine the truth lies somewhere in between. I may never have an answer to my question about bone fusion. All I know is it really makes my stomach hurt.
