Niraparib and Acid Reflux

[Hannah54]

I’ve been on Niraparib since February and have had various side effects , in the last two weeks I’ve started having really bad Acid reflux, it affects my sleep and I have a terrible taste in my mouth constantly. I already take omeprazole and use Gaviscon as well. Has anybody experienced this?. I’m in the Uk.

[bamboo89]

There are different types of drugs to cut stomach acid; two of them work on different pathways in the brain to reduce it. Omeprazole is one of the PPI (proton pump inhibitor) drugs, and then there's the H2 blockers such as Famotidine. I found that the PPI drugs like omeprazole do not work at all for me, in fact it seemed to cause heartburn, but H2 blockers do, so I use Famotidine. It has to be taken twice a day because each tablet only works for 12 hours, whereas Omeprazole and its like work for 24 hours. In practice, I only need one 20mg famotidine before bed, but when I was on Niraparib, I often needed a dose in the morning too - the tablets are available in different doses, 20mg, 40mg and so on.

I only tell you this to suggest you might ask to drop the omeprazole and switch to Famotidine instead to see if it works better for you too. In the meantime, if acid reflux keeps you awake at night, try sleeping with your upper body raised, to try to prevent acid leaking into the oesophagus when laying flat.

[Hannah54 in reply to bamboo89]

Hi Bamboo89

Thankyou for letting me know about Famotidine, I saw my GP yesterday and she suggested Pantoprazole, I’m going to try this first but it’s good to know about Famotidine if this doesn’t work, I’m sleeping with 3 pillows now, not great comfort but it has helped a bit. Glad to hear you found a solution that work for you. ☺️

[DinkyAnnecy]

Have you tried eating something when taking the meds? I am on Olaparib and had less gastro side effects if I have bread pasta or rice when taking it.

[Hannah54 in reply to DinkyAnnecy]

Hi DinkyAnnecy

Thankyou for you reply, I will try to take the Niraparib with something to eat, I take the it at bed time because of nausea and that has really worked, I do wonder if that has to do with the Acid Reflux though so I’m going to try taking it earlier after dinner ☺️