Omeprazole

[NM13]

Hi everyone

Does anyone know how long it takes for Omeprazole to leave your system?

[FRreedman]

If I base it on how long before heartburn returns, if I run out or reduce it, about 3-5 days.

[NM13 in reply to FRreedman]

Ah ok

Same here then

Thank you

[Munchkinfeet]

It has a half life of 1 hour and is clear of plasma in 3-4 hours but it's effect can last up to 72 hours.

[NM13 in reply to Munchkinfeet]

Thankyou

[bhugh]

Two sources:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/202...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/269...

Both say basically the same thing: "Its elimination half-life [from blood plasma] is about 1h but its pharmacological effect lasts much longer, since it is preferentially concentrated in parietal cells where it forms a covalent linkage with H+,K(+)-ATPase, which it irreversibly inhibits.]

In short, it takes up residence in your parietal cells (the cells that make acid in your stomach) and stays there either until that particular cell turns over (ie, dies & is replaced by another) or the Hydrogen Potassium ATPase in that particular cell is refreshed somehow.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydro...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parie...

Parietal cells have a lifetime of a month or two, it looks like: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

I don't know enough about the cell biology etc here to say if the Hydrogen Potassium ATPase in a particular cell can be refreshed or not. Or if it can be, how fast.

So anyway, definitely the Omeprazole would be completely out of your system by the time all of your parietal cells have been replaced, which might be about two months at most.

It might be gone quite a bit sooner than that, though. Days or weeks? Point is, it is quite definitely all gone after a couple of months.

FWIW taking PPIs pretty much completely eliminates acid production by parietal cells. But their number increases somewhat and that is probably responsible for a good part of the "acid rebound" we enjoy when getting off of PPIs.

That "acid rebound" probably is not completely over until all of those cells have been replaced, so that's probably why you hear of (some people) having problems with acid rebound for weeks or even months after stopping PPIs.

[Xannon in reply to bhugh]

Finally someone that knows what they’re talking about. I’ve been dealing with side effects after stopping these pills for almost two months now, and it just now seems to be calming down. So 2 months is pretty accurate for its effects to be completely gone

[Philbs1980]

If you've been on it for a while I recommend that you taper off. Your body might produce excess acid if you just suddenly stop.

[NM13 in reply to Philbs1980]

Thankyou

[trace55]

24 hours.