If you suffer from heartburn or acid re-flux, it’s quite possible your mecial doctor has suggested you take a proton pump inhibitor. What your doctor may not have told you is the serious side effects these drugs can cause. And it seems like the list of side effects just keeps getting longer and longer. A new study explains why it might be a serious mistake to take these drugs.

PPIs are one of the most abused class of drugs in our medical system.

There are a bunch of them. The most common ones are omeprazole (Prilosec), lansoprazole (Prevacid), dexlansoprazole (Dexilent), rabeprazole (Aciphex), and pantoprazole (Protonix). These drugs are popular. Millions of Americans take them every day to treat their heartburn and reflux symptoms. In fact, PPIs rank second only to statins in drug sales. But the side effects are terrible. They include cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, dementia, B12 deficiency, stomach infections, and pneumonia.

Here’s the real kicker. In a survey of 168,727 men and women, those who were taking PPIs on a regular basis “had more medical illnesses and sought medical care significantly more often than patients not taking acid suppressants.”

Now we know they’re even worse.

According to a new review article, they “were identified recently as an independent risk factor for osteoporotic fracture.” And here’s why that is such a problem.

Half of all of the long-term users of PPIs are post-menopausal women. And this particular group is especially at risk for osteoporotic fractures. Three large case-control studies and one retrospective cohort study reported that PPI therapy increased the relative risk of fracture by as much as 92% among post-menopausal women. Three other prospective studies found the same thing. The Study for Osteoporotic Fractures followed 5,339 women for up to five years. The women who were using PPIs had as much as a 64% increased chance of breaking a hip than women who avoided the drugs.

Here’s the surprising discovery in this study – the men did even worse. Among 5,775 men, those who used PPIs were as much as 114% more likely to break a bone. And the list goes on.

What can be done about it?

No matter how PPIs cause diseases and bone fractures, the fact is that they do. And the other fact is that for the most part, they are not needed. Most of the time heartburn and reflux are caused because the stomach got pushed up into the diaphragm. These symptoms can be cured by releasing the stomach with some advanced work I have been doing in the office for over 20 years. If that isn’t the problem, These symptoms can be cured often by changing the way we eat. In my experience, 90% of people who take these drugs regularly can avoid them and successfully treat their heartburn or reflux by eating smaller meals (especially supper), and avoiding junk foods, sodas, alcohol, NSAID drugs, and sweets. Other natural remedies include digestive enzymes, probiotics, and anti-yeast therapy. If you are taking these drugs,

here’s what I suggest:

Come in for a consultation and lets find out if your problem is the stomach sitting in the wrong place. If this is the case we can get that fixed.

Avoid all alcohol, carbonation, NSAID medications, fruit, grains, sweets, and root vegetables. Also, take Enterobiotics or Mega spores depending on which one is better for you. At the end of the 3 weeks, consult your doctor on how you can start to wean yourself off which should be easier now that you have altered your diet.

Continue the diet for 6 weeks after you have been weaned off the PPI by your doctor. At the six week point, you should find out that you can occasionally break the rules without getting any symptoms. Just be careful that you don’t get right back to your old habits, or the symptoms are likely to return.

Yours in Health,

Dr. Jack Belitz, DC

PS If you or a loved on fall into this category… forward them this message. If you would like to see if we can help you, call 402-333-4848 and if you mention this newsletter during the month of January, your exam and consultation are at no charge.