Just found out that is you are on Omeprazole you should also be considering taking a Vit B12 supplement.
Article reads:
all people taking omeprazole need to either supplement with vitamin B12 or have their vitamin B12 status checked on a yearly basis. Even relatively small amounts of vitamin B12 such as 10–50 mcg per day, are likely to protect against drug induced vitamin depletion.
Vit B12
Symptoms of vitamin B12 and folate deficiency anaemia include:
rapid breathing or shortness of breath
headaches
indigestion
loss of appetite
palpitations
problems with your vision
feeling weak or tired
diarrhoea
a sore or red tongue, sometimes with mouth ulcers
problems with memory, understanding and judgment (cognitive changes)
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Curryandchips
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I was aware of this and have a bottle of B12 pills, but I got a bit obsessed with when to take my various prescribed medicines so that they were most effective and didn't interact negatively with each other. I concluded that the best time for B12 was between breakfast and lunch but seldom get around to taking it. I'm having all sorts of detailed tests for anaemia and the latest for B12, made six months after I started on Omeprazole, was 418 something or others, with the recommended range being 200 to 900.
I would like to think that a follow-up to TAVI would include annual, say, blood tests, but the more comprehensive ones cost quite a bit, either for the patient privately (£660 in my case) or for the NHS.
After a skin cancer scare I'm very careful in the sun and take Vitamin D (something recommended for many/most people during the winter) and after three years asked my GP practice for a test. "We would only do that if you were showing symptoms of insufficiency, " I was told.
That's not bad, but many of us have other values that need to be kept an eye on, so the costs amount up. In some cases, rather than prick one's own finger one has to seek out a nurse locally to take the sample. When I saw a gastroenterologist in December, his nurse took two phials of blood out of me and I got some 20 results; in early March the NHS hospital took FIVE and there were only three or four results additional to the December ones.
The actual NHS advice is that you are only at risk of having B12 deficiency if you take omeprazole, and also lansoprazole, not that you will automatically get it and therefore require supplements. But if you do take these PPIs, like I have taken lansoprazole for over 15 years for reflux disease, you should be tested annually like I am , and in my case my B12 levels are normal. And of course B12 deficiency may also be caused by a dietary deficiency, especially if you are vegan.
May I say that I love your username! Curry and chips actually sounds quite lovely—although I haven’t had chips in quite a long time.
Thank you for the information on vitamin B12 and Omeprazole. I take that prescribed medication everyday, but I have never been told about the connection with vitamin B12. I will ask my doctor about this as soon as possible.
Well, I was texting my doctor this morning (about a different test/health concern), and I asked about taking B12 supplements since I do take Omeprazole daily, and I have done so for years.
She stated:
1) There should be no harm in taking B12 since any excess vitamin is flushed from our systems via our urine.
2) I can take between 50mcg up to 350 mcg. She did mention that this might be short-term basis, then assess levels.
3). She suggested that I take the B12 at night (since I take the PPI (Omeprazole) each morning. She said that this “distance” between the two might allow for better absorption of the B12.
So, thank you for bringing this to my attention! 😀
lol! You might like wilted spinach with some olive oil and garlic. Very easy to make and tasty. From what I read, you can get B12 from eating different meats and dairy. I rarely eat meat and I limit dairy so that didn’t help me.
Again, thank you for suggesting B12 for those of us who are taking/have taken Omeprazole for an extended time! ❤️
I have taken omeprazole for 15 years and now having B12 injections. My levels have risen since starting these but unfortunately my symptoms haven't resolved - sore tongue, mouth ulcers, tingling and burning sensation in legs and hands, short of breath, fatigue & brain fog
it is also worth bearing in mind that PPIs (omeprazole etc) alter the acidity in your stomach and this can also have consequences further down your gut - this affects you gut microbiome and can have long-term consequences
the full efffects of taking any medication which affects your gut bacteria are not fully understood or known as this is still a newish field of knowledge - but taking good care of your gut flora is much more important than many people realise
the vit B12 issue you refer to involves gut bacteria (as far as i can recall), so if this is being affected i'm sure you can appreciate that other delicate balances can also be upset
as i indicated this is a developing field but people like Tim Spector are currently researching it
anything which disrupts gut activity which contributes to metabolic processes (e.g. vitamin storage, use and processing, release of essential nutrients) has the potential to cause short and long-term consequences
Ah. The mighty Tim Spector. My wife is one of his advocates whereas in my view he is possibly a more qualified Michael Moseley who seems to pop up everywhere and has a view on anything medical. 4.5 million people contributed to his C***d app including me. I wondered what happened to all of that? Anyway whilst what he says might be true about the gut biome and how it affects our wellbeing I have been taking high dose PPIs for reflux disease for about 15 years, without which my insides would have metamorphosed into something quite nasty long ago, but I don't appear to suffer any side effects. And on top of that have had several courses of antibiotics for serious infections along the way and again no doubt my gut biome has taken a hammering but again no short term or long term effects that I can detect. But then again as Spector says all our gut biomes are different and very personal, just like the people they inhabit.
as you acknowledge everyone is different - some people can swallow aspirin til the cows come home and never have any problems with it, while others have to take a PPI or only use the enteric coated version because of the gastric consequences
you may not have experienced any consequences of medications you take but others might - As a teenager i suffered after-effects of repeated antibiotic treatment , including a vitamin B defficiency which left me with a blistered tongue and lips so blistered that i could not open my mouth in the morning on waking and could only consume liquidised food through a thick straw fo a week - not an experience i want to repeat!
i am not an advocate of extreme dietary change, but i do what i can (and feel comfortable with) to eat a mixed, natural diet - my main excuse for this is it means i can also include foods considered by others as "naughty" in moderation🙂
but i do believe in helping people to find good information which could help them - so i offer it as a choice which people can take up or ignore
By the way, Tim Spector is undoubtedly more qualified medically than Michael Mosely, but i would not necessarily swallow everything either of them says! 😉
Plant stanol drinks like Benecol are claimed to reduce cholesterol levels by 7-10% if you take 2-3g of the stanol each day. Its effect is cumulative over a two to three week period. Even a good healthy diet will not provide that much stanol. However compared to statins they are not as effective. For example 80mg atorvastatin will reduce total cholesterol by about 50% (as it does for me). If you choose to buy and consume these drinks it is recommended that you discuss it with your GP first since the stanol works differently to the statin in reducing cholesterol. If you are considering these drinks to boost your gut biome then you are much much better off by consuming high fibre foods, lots of fruit and veg, and fermented foods. So typically my daily breakfast usually includes fruit with a couple of good dollops of natural yogurt with a live culture, that's assuming I don't have porridge (with fruit) which is also good for cholesterol reduction as well as being fibre rich.
i can't answer that here, there is not enough space and i am not an expert
there is plenty of information around online and in the current media about looking after your gut health - BBC Radio 4 has covered it in several programmes connected wit Health and Food
Already asked and answered above. It does apply, apparently. I wonder how much monitoring there is of the effects that various medications have on us? My case isn't helped by my surgeon saying twice that I didn't need an antacid and my GP insisting that I did. After a couple of months post op of going without, I started taking Lansoprazole which quickly eased my stomach discomfort. Four months post op, my surgeon referred me to a gastroenterologist because he thought that I might have a stomach condition (losing blood) causing my fatigue. The gastroenterologist could find no clear reason and now my fatigue is being diagnosed by a haematologist ...
I thought I’d posted but it seems I hadn’t. I’ve also had issues with very low Vit B12 levels after taking a PPI (esomeprazole).
Despite my doctor advising that the studies show only high dose long term users are at risk, I had to have monthly injections of B12 after being on esomaprazole for about 18 months at a low-med dose.
I’ve since stopped the PPI and only take it as a PIP. I’ve needed it as a PIP only about 4 times in the last 4-5 months. I believe the magnesium I take each night is preventing my heart burn.
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