severe nausea could it be omeprazole

[Suin]

I was prescribed 40mg omeprazole daily almost 3 week ago after ENT consultant examined nasal /throat with camera.

He diagnosed silent reflux

I’ve had chronic nausea this past week

I’ve been blaming Norovirus as it’s gone round the family recently

Last weekend I vomited x3 in one night

and 2 days ago I had diarrhoea for 6 hrs

I feel a constant knot/ lump in my throat and I’ve not been able to leave the house with brain numbing nausea.

I’m hypothyroidism on T4 and T3

I’d always avoided omeprazole since I believe hypo’s have stomach low acid

But since the camera test I felt i should give it a go. Please please advise

Thank you

[greygoose]

Hypos do have low stomach acid, usually. And the problem is, where doctors are concerned, that the symptoms are the same. So, as they don't believe in low stomach acid, they always 'diagnose' high stomach acid and prescribe PPIs.

You probably do have acid reflux because when stomach acid is low, the undigested food sits in your stomach and ferments. And the fermentation causes a volcanic-like reaction, eruptions sending what little stomach acid you do have up into to oesophagus. And PPIs are only going to make that worse because they lower the stomach acid even further.

So, yes, your nausea certainly could be due to the omeprazole. That's what it did to me - among other things!

[Suin in reply to greygoose]

What do I do ? I’m stopping tablets from this morning . Thanks.

[greygoose in reply to Suin]

I'm not sure you should stop them cold turkey, maybe better to wean yourself off them slowly.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Poor you, you’re not having a fun time.

In 2021 I fractured my sacrum. Long story but I ended up with Naproxen and omeprazole which I took although like you I wasn’t keen because I’m pretty sure I have low stomach acid plus I have osteoporosis and omeprazole isn’t good for your bones (neither was my hyperactive thyroid / Graves’ disease)

I was given as much omeprazole as I wanted in the past but in the end I got a grip of myself, cleaned up my diet and stopped taking omeprazole although every time I say that people say they have no option but to take it so I figure I was just was lucky to be able to do that.

Anyway, I ended up with my heart absolutely pounding all the time which was horrible and the worst diarrhoea ever.

I contacted my GP who said to stop the Naproxen and to double up on the omeprazole which I did. Diarrhoea continued so I decided to stop the omeprazole and things went back to normal.

You could always speak to your doctor and they might be able to do a stool test or something that could show if you do actually have something like norovirus.

[Suin in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

I waited on phone to gp this morning for 30 min and was told no appointments left nor phone call

In what way did you change your diet to help low stomach acid? Thanks

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Suin]

Basically I cut out anything that gave me indigestion- things like Diet Coke that I used to drink back then and milk chocolate - look at my name, I did love my milk chocolate but I managed to give it up. If I have that sort of thing now I know all about it right away.

I mostly drink water now but I also drink really weak tea and I have the odd black Americano when I’m out. I also cut way back on sugary foods although I occasionally have a cake when I’m out and I don’t drink much milk because I’ve never liked it.

I don’t eat a lot of bread but that’s more because I went totally GF in 2014/5 when I was diagnosed with sero negative inflammatory arthritis (I already had Graves disease another autoimmune condition back in 2012/13) and I don’t really like GF bread biscuits and cakes. I have to say I do miss a thick slice of granary loaf loaded with butter and a nice fat, fluffy fruit scone.

So altogether a massive change in my eating habits which apart from helping with indigestion and heartburn etc did wonders for the IBS I had had since the 1980s and I also noticed when I did finger prick thyroid bloods that my thyroid antibodies had gone right down - that could have been because it was ‘their time’ to fall or it could have been being GF, I have been totally GF ever since.

Basically I eat a lot of chicken, salmon, cod, sea bass and bream, I have the odd pork chop or lamb leg steak, with lots of healthy green veg - broccoli, kale, asparagus, boiled potatoes or mash and roasties and chips occasionally, yoghurt, some cheese and lots of eggs. I also eat a lot of tomatoes and peppers, nowadays I eat more veg than I eat fruit and I tend to eat more berries now.

It was also fortunate that when I went GF I discovered that MacDonalds don’t do anything much that is GF so my MacDonalds habit went out of the window too - a blessing in disguise really.

I still have a daily square of chocolate but I eat Lindt 90% dark chocolate, and we cook most meals from scratch so I avoid additives.

It was a complete change in diet for me but it was worth it.