Omprazole.

[Lydia1960]

After having an endoscope, in January of this year, after vomiting up blood, it was found I had Grade 2 oesophagitis. I was put on two omprazole, 40mg, twice a day to help in its healing.

Having seen the gastro specialist recently, she advised I try to reduce this dosage to 40mg, once a day. Started last week, with three 20mg a day, and there has already been some coughing, which is what was happening before I started taking PPIs some time ago.

Am aware that these tablets mask serious symptoms and that they can cause problems in themselves, so just wondering how do I cope, if I can reduce these tablets down to 40mg a day?

If the coughing comes back with a vengeance? Are there any natural remedies I can take to reduce this? Would gaviscon be acceptable or are there problems with that. I am overweight and have been advised that losing weight might help? Is this true with these symptoms and others?

[brucemillar]

Excess weight will. It help you as it causes issues with your digestive tract and will almost certainly not help with the coughing.

I would really try hard to try and get get the weight down. Never easy, I know, but believe me it will help you and your doctors as you move forward.

Omeparazole (as you rightly say) can mask other issues. If you. An reduce the dosage that can only be good.

[Lydia1960]

Thanks for the advice. It won't be easy to lose weight as I am not in good health these days, but I will persist in trying because, as you say that would help my body cope more with not only this condition, but others like diabetes and IBS..

[tallbear]

Hi Lydia,

Losing weight can be a very daunting prospect but the benefits with this particular condition are truly immense, and I kid you not.

I have no idea of your diet or your weight so my words may well be pointless but just for four weeks of really strong will power (This is the KEY element to losing weight) go without bread and potatoes completely. Absolutely none in any shape or form.

I suspect this will help you a great deal if you have the will to do it.

Start by weighing yourself on Monday morning before you eat anything and stick to it and weigh yourself every Monday morning as soon as you get up for four weeks.

Good luck with it all

[Lydia1960 in reply to tallbear]

Sounds like a well thought out strategy so I will give it a go. Quite a bit of weight to shift and that in itself, if accomplish, would give me health benefits. So thanks for this suggestion..

[Hidden]

Omeprazole is a very well used medication, and its use for reducing acid to allow ulcers to heal is exactly what one would expect, so the priority has to be looking after the oesophagitis effects. There has been publicity about Omeprazole side effects recently, but you have been taking it for good reason. Your doctor advocated a sensible thing, to reduce the dose to see how this goes. There will be a 'bounce' effect from reducing / stopping Omeprazole which will probably last for a couple of weeks. You can take Gaviscon as well, and this may well help, especially at night. If reducing the dose really does not work, you should go back to the doctor as you may need to be on a higher dose for longer.

The coughing may be the result of reflux.

Reducing your weight would indeed be a good thing to do if you can. It will be a long term health benefit rather than a short term solution to your oesophagitis. Grade 2 oesophagitis usually means you have multiple erosions, and it would not be surprising if these took some time to heal.

[Lydia1960]

I've been taking omprazole since January, 40mg, twice a day. Would that be sufficient to heal the grade 2 oesophagus? To heal the multiple erosions? Would keeping to two 20mg omprazole a day be sufficient to counter it?

And, yes, I'll give it a try, reducing the tablets to see how things go, and if things start to flare again, get in touch with my doctor. Thank you for this advice..