About to start Prevpac - worried about nausea

[NatsFan]

I have been dx with h. pylori and am about to start prevpac. I have read of the nausea, diarrhea, and other side effects of this drug experienced by many users. I am especially worried about nausea as I once had to take the 200mg single dose of doxycycline antibiotic for lyme disease prevention after a tick bite. I was instructed to take it on an empty stomach and not eat for 30 minutes after that dose. I experienced extreme nausea just from that one dose which was not alleviated until I ate something.

The prevpac directions say to take all pills prior to eating, but upon reading the patient insert, I noticed that only the prevacid needs to be taken on an empty stomach for best effectiveness. The insert states that the two antibiotics can be taken without regard to food.

To minimize side effects, my idea is to take the prevacid pill before my meal, but take the antibiotics during or upon finishing my meal - maybe 10-20 minutes after the prevacid dose. For those of you who are already familiar with this whole issue, do you think this plan will help minimize potential side effects? Will it have any impact on the effectiveness of the treatment? I asked my pharmacist, but he was pretty clueless - I think I knew more about prevpac than he did and he made no move to look it up to assist me. My GI doctor's PA said it was OK to take all three meds with food, but that advice worried me a bit because the patient insert clearly says that previcid's effectiveness is diminished when taken with food.

Looking for advice from those who have already been there and done that.

[Helico_expert]

Just want to say, it's ok to take it with food. You may take some anti-nausea drug, eg. dopamine too.

anyway, dont worry too much about it. In most cases, the more worrying you are, the more likely you'll get it.

[NatsFan]

Thank you so much the quick reply. This website was wonderful to find.

By "it's ok to take it with food" do you mean that I can take the prevacid with food if needed to minimize nausea?

I did several months of chemotherapy a few years ago and the anti-nausea drugs were quite helpful for that. Now that I'm faced with having to take the prevpac, I want to do what I can to have the best chance to get through it with as few side effects as possible. I appreciate the advice about not worrying too much - I know there's a fine line between preparing and worrying. Let's just say that at this point I'm preparing for the worst, but I'm hoping for the best.

[Tweenie]

Natsfan: I agree with expert... I did the prevpac in February and was very worried about all of the horror stories. I have a very sensitive tummy and IBS so was very concerned. I really and truly had minimal side effects! I did take my antibiotics with food and the PPI on an empty stomach. The only thing I noticed was a tinny taste in my mouth but that was tolerable.

I agree that the more you worry, the worse it can be. I just told myself at I would be fine and I was. All the best and I hope it works for you and gets rid of the nasties!

[NatsFan]

Thanks so much for the advice and encouragement. I'm a runner and have a race this weekend, then plan to start my prevpac right after that's done. I feel that I've got a good plan to take the PPI on an empty stomach, then take the antibiotics with food. Wish me luck!

[Helico_expert]

good luck to your race and the treatment. keep us posted with your outcome (both race and treatment).

[NatsFan]

Thanks! The race was great - I'm just a recreational runner, and this was a 10K. As long as I don't finish last in my age group, that's a victory for me.

Started the prevpac Sunday and :::knocking on wood::: so far so good. No nausea or intestinal upsets, so the plan to take the PPI first seems to be working. But I do have that nasty taste in my mouth everyone talked about - yuk! But if that's the worst side effect I have, I'll take it.

Thanks for everyone's advice and support!

[Tweenie]

Hey, Natsfan....just curious about how the prevpac is going for you. Hope you are doing well!

[NatsFan]

Thanks for asking. So far so good. ::: still knocking on wood :::

No nausea and only a little bit of softened stools (but no diarrhea so far). I do have a totally rotten taste in my mouth but I can live with that.

One thing I have noticed is that I'm having muscle cramps - at yoga class last night I kept having to pull out of poses I've done for years because of muscle cramps. It was all different muscles, depending on which muscle group was most involved in that particular pose. One time was a foot muscle, then my calf, then an abdominal muscle, then the quads, etc. Quite annoying. Anyone else have this?

[Tweenie]

Natsfan: I don't recall having muscle cramps - maybe others can shed some light on that. I did have that YUCK taste in my mouth, though. I'm glad that's all that I had to deal with. I actually felt better while taking the prevpack than afterward (it didn't work for me, by the way and I'm scheduled for an endoscopy for May 13th). Good luck as you continue with your treatment!