Can you overtreat an ulcer? Or overuse Omeprazole?
Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2010 3:33 am
I am booked in for a breath urea test next week, after being treated for h.pylori a second time, but I wonder if anyone else has had doubts about whether long term Omeprazole use is causing problems - or possibly masking existing ones.
My second course of treatment was prompted by a recurrent cough. A year and four months after I was first tested and treated for H. Pylori, I had a very bad cough that just wouldn't go away. In desperation I went to the doctors, and in the course of discussing it, mentioned that I'd read it may be symptomatic of acid reflux. She gave me Omeprazole, more as something to eliminate than because either of us believed in it. But, lo and behold, 24 hrs - yes, that fast - the cough literally disappeared.
I realised then I might still have an h.pylori problem. Bizarrely, my current stomach problems developed after taking the Omeprazole for the cough. I was on one tablet a day but my stomach was getting worse. Eventually I went to the doctors again and asked for a breath urea test. She said we'll test your blood again first. If it's negative then no need to do anything else. I went along with this because I thought it couldn't hurt. The test came back positive, but lower than my result had been when I was first diagnosed with h. pylori. I don't know why I did it, but I opted to take another course of antibiotics while waiting for the breath urea test. Bad idea.
The second course made me much sicker than the first lot, although the side effects were less. I felt so weak I could barely stand. However, the worst part was afterwards. You can read another thread by me further back on this forum discussing the terrible post-antibiotic reaction I had. I now had chronic gastritis. So much pain it was unbelievable.
I maintained my Omeprazole after treatment, and gradually managed to stop dosing with Pepto-Bismol, but I had to postpone my breath urea test because I couldn’t get by without Omeprazole. It is now more than two months since antibiotic treatment and I am no further forward. I have to eat a very circumscribed diet and am in constant pain.
I eventually had to bite the bullet and stop Omeprazole so that I can take the urea test, otherwise I will never know if this is a pylori problem or not. But since stopping it the pain is well-nigh unmanageable. Constant gnawing gut, nausea and the foulest taste in my mouth. Nothing is comfortable to eat. It's a case of what's the least pain producing.
My question is this, what role has Omeprazole played in this decline? Why did my cough get better but my stomach get worse? Why did the second course of antibiotics make the problem worse?
Has anyone else experienced problems with long term use of Omeprazole? Is this an increased Gastrin problem? Is it possible to over-treat stomach ulcers? Have I really just over-medicated an inflamed stomach?
Obviously I should never have redosed without testing first – but I do wish doctors were taught more about ulcers and h.pylori. My doctor stopping me instead of allowing/encouraging me to do this would have been helpful. Mine didn’t even know not to give me the same antibiotics twice. I had to tell her what to give me. And the one before that didn’t know that Bismuth was used in the treatment of ulcers and told me she didn’t think she could prescribe it. She asked me "Do you find this works?" in a tone that suggested it was mumbo-jumbo. Even the hospital that is doing my breath test did not have Pepto-Bismol on its instructions. I had to hunt them down like dogs to get information on its use pre-test because I felt it might not be wise to take it. I was right, but it does make you wonder just how much information circulates in the NHS (UK) on successful treatments for h.pylori.
Anyway, if anyone has any information on what might be going on in my gut and where I may have gone wrong – other than redosing before testing! – I'd be grateful. Also, any long-term Omeprazole users, I'd love to hear from you.
My second course of treatment was prompted by a recurrent cough. A year and four months after I was first tested and treated for H. Pylori, I had a very bad cough that just wouldn't go away. In desperation I went to the doctors, and in the course of discussing it, mentioned that I'd read it may be symptomatic of acid reflux. She gave me Omeprazole, more as something to eliminate than because either of us believed in it. But, lo and behold, 24 hrs - yes, that fast - the cough literally disappeared.
I realised then I might still have an h.pylori problem. Bizarrely, my current stomach problems developed after taking the Omeprazole for the cough. I was on one tablet a day but my stomach was getting worse. Eventually I went to the doctors again and asked for a breath urea test. She said we'll test your blood again first. If it's negative then no need to do anything else. I went along with this because I thought it couldn't hurt. The test came back positive, but lower than my result had been when I was first diagnosed with h. pylori. I don't know why I did it, but I opted to take another course of antibiotics while waiting for the breath urea test. Bad idea.
The second course made me much sicker than the first lot, although the side effects were less. I felt so weak I could barely stand. However, the worst part was afterwards. You can read another thread by me further back on this forum discussing the terrible post-antibiotic reaction I had. I now had chronic gastritis. So much pain it was unbelievable.
I maintained my Omeprazole after treatment, and gradually managed to stop dosing with Pepto-Bismol, but I had to postpone my breath urea test because I couldn’t get by without Omeprazole. It is now more than two months since antibiotic treatment and I am no further forward. I have to eat a very circumscribed diet and am in constant pain.
I eventually had to bite the bullet and stop Omeprazole so that I can take the urea test, otherwise I will never know if this is a pylori problem or not. But since stopping it the pain is well-nigh unmanageable. Constant gnawing gut, nausea and the foulest taste in my mouth. Nothing is comfortable to eat. It's a case of what's the least pain producing.
My question is this, what role has Omeprazole played in this decline? Why did my cough get better but my stomach get worse? Why did the second course of antibiotics make the problem worse?
Has anyone else experienced problems with long term use of Omeprazole? Is this an increased Gastrin problem? Is it possible to over-treat stomach ulcers? Have I really just over-medicated an inflamed stomach?
Obviously I should never have redosed without testing first – but I do wish doctors were taught more about ulcers and h.pylori. My doctor stopping me instead of allowing/encouraging me to do this would have been helpful. Mine didn’t even know not to give me the same antibiotics twice. I had to tell her what to give me. And the one before that didn’t know that Bismuth was used in the treatment of ulcers and told me she didn’t think she could prescribe it. She asked me "Do you find this works?" in a tone that suggested it was mumbo-jumbo. Even the hospital that is doing my breath test did not have Pepto-Bismol on its instructions. I had to hunt them down like dogs to get information on its use pre-test because I felt it might not be wise to take it. I was right, but it does make you wonder just how much information circulates in the NHS (UK) on successful treatments for h.pylori.
Anyway, if anyone has any information on what might be going on in my gut and where I may have gone wrong – other than redosing before testing! – I'd be grateful. Also, any long-term Omeprazole users, I'd love to hear from you.
