Common Acid Reflux Drugs Associated With Increased Risk for Heart Attacks

Based on results of a new study from researchers at Houston Methodist and Stanford University, adults who take proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for heartburn and other gastrointestinal ailments are between 16% and 21% more likely to experience a heart attack than those who do not use the widely available acid blocker.

Forbes Article

So new studies have found that Proton Pump inhibitors seemingly increase the risk of heart attack in the users of these drugs.

My mum struggled with heartburn for over 20+ years and used to take over the counter antacids until a doctor prescribed her omeprazole about 10 years ago. These gave her instant relief and so she has continued to use them for nearly 10 years.
For the last few years I have taken a real interest in health, nutrition and the over use of prescribed drugs.
So my mum started to get arthritis and as she was getting older I wanted to do an audit of what medications my mum was on, what for and then started to look into natural methods of alleviating some of her symptoms.
She was on statins for high blood pressure which they kept increasing the dosage of, she was on PPI's for her heartburn and she was on an inhaler for a heavy chest. Obviously the statins for high blood pressure was a concern along with the dosage.
Now one of the videos on a Dr I subscribe to on youtube had done a video on the best way to thin your blood, his answer? Drink a lot more water. Sounds simple and it was that simple. My mum din't drink water, she would drink coffee and fruit juice during the day, so I started her on 2l bottled spring water a day along with whatever else she fancied.
I didn't take her off her meds during this, I just wanted to get her system ready so that they could lower the dose etc..
The next was to find out what was causing her excessive heartburn.
What i found was after countless hours of research was that heartburn is not caused by too much stomach acid but by too little stomach acid, more so in older people because stomach acid production decreases as you get older.
Heartburn occurs when the Lower Esophageal Sphincter is weakened by pressure and allows a little bit of stomach acid to seep into your esophagus, the pressure is caused most often than not by bloating. The bloating is a result of having too little stomach acid to break down the food thus causing fermentation, which in turn releases gas, which causes the pressure on the LES valve.
So I started looking into omeprazole and found a link between PPI's, osteoporosis and arthritis. The reason again is that the body needs essential nutrients which it's no longer getting from food. To keep you alive it starts pulling nutrients from the bones and cartilage thus causing the aforementioned diseases.

So I got my mum on a regime of hydrochloric acid supplements before each meal for a few weeks and then she stopped taking the omeprazole completely. Sure enough for the 1st few days, the excessive bloating causing high blood pressure and dizzyness kicked in so we increased the HCL tablets until the bloating dissipated and since then she hasn't had to use her PPI's and she now only supplements HCL a couple of times a month just to increase the stomach acid.

Anyway after a couple of months on the water and the HCL, she went to her Dr for a full medical which I came with her to. I explained to the doctor what steps we had took and he checked her out and he was shocked at how low her blood pressure was and said she had the blood pressure and the oxygen in her blood of a 30 year old. He jokingly said that i should come in and have a look at some of his other patients, which is quite ironic really. Anyway the arthritis has cleared up, this is in part down to the magnesium bath and occasional carb soda bath, she also lost 3 stone in the space of a year and for a 73 year old that has made a huge difference for her. The only thing she still uses now and again is her inhaler but even that is used rarely.

Anyway moral of the story is if you or anyone you know are on PPI's, look into the possibility that you may have low stomach acid and if you are bloating a lot when eating this might indicate this also.

i just wanted to say im glad i quit taking things for acid reflux.

i started with the typical rolaids and tums...until i got kidney stones

then it was prilosec

but

i finally took a doctors advice and dropped all that stuff and instead switched to ...

baking soda and water

and it works better than anything i had tried before

i suggest if you are having problems you try it

a reply to: mclarenmp4

S&F for doing your research and helping your Mum and keeping the Dr. In the loop!!

a reply to: Another_Nut

Sorry but you're doing the same as the antacids by neutralizing your stomach acid by doing that, you're only treating the symptom not the problem with that method.

Wow thanks for sharing your mums and your story. My dad has been taking omeprazole for gods know how long and has arthritis , I must ask which came first the chicken or the egg. Some of his arthritis is the common one and the other type is inherited from Scandinavia apparently, it's where the spine starts to grow inwards crushing the spinal cord. He is not on blood thinning stuff but is on huge dosses of prednisone and other stuff which is making him depressed.we have depression in the family but I concored that issue by finding out I was allergic to gluten and serverly malnourished as a result, depression has not been a problem except for cercumstantial depression, and gone is the aching swollen joints, thrush, constant headaches, bad eczema on my face and head only, bloating etc. my dad went gluten free for one year except for his whiskey and beer in the evenings being an alcoholic, gone was his eczema and constant sneezing except in the evening when he started drinking. He does not drink water except when shearing sheep which has only just given up at 73 due to his spine collapsing or grown inwards. And he has been smoke free for eight months after smoking for 51 years. he eats a mostly organic home grown diet. Thank you again for sharing your success with your mums health. I will ask my dads some questions now and for things for his doc to check out.
Ok grammer nazis hit me with your best shot.

a reply to: mclarenmp4

thanks ...will pass this info on to my momz

Great thread , I have taken to studying Health lately my self .


I am a huge water guru ! Water is really our life blood .

Understand that bottle water is NOT good for you to drink . (better than soda or juice ) because its essentially "dead" water .

the key ingredient in our Aquae A.M.O.R.E. recipe is LOVE



Alkalized
Pure Water free of any ‘dissolved solids’ or other substances – just H2O – is pH neutral, meaning it has a pH reading of 7. Most tap water and unhealthy foods have an acidifying effect on the body, leading to a condition know asAcidosis. Aqua A.M.O.R.E.™ has a pH level at a healthy 8.5 to 9.5*, which means it is alkaline without being over-the-top. In general, alkalinity promotes and maintains health; acidity tears it down (much like acid rain in nature). While some acidity is natural and necessary, most people suffer from being too acidic (Acidosis). Many nutritionists and scientists have proven that much of today’s ill health – ranging from cancer, diabetes, obesity, weak immunity, hypertension, etc. – is due in part to this chronic acidosis – the over-acidification of the body - from the consumption of foods and liquids that are overly acidifying (ex: junk foods, sodas, coffee, sugar, red meat, etc.) Drinking alkaline waters offers a convenient and safe way to provide the extra boost necessary to bring our bodies into balance. Like drinking a liquid anti-oxidant, alkaline water is naturally detoxifying, health-enhancing and immune-boosting.

Alkalinity is Very important in water , And from my understanding "bottled" water especially in plastic does not have high ph level or a level that stays above 8.5 .

Also Oxygenated water is very important as well .


When i used to live in So.Cal I would buy my water from a water brewery where it was Alkalized with added mineral and Oxygen .

I stopped drinking at plastic and now have switched to glass ,Now i have well water and i feel an even bigger difference in my body .

More energy, my skin hold more moisture , free flowing bowels .


I have been drinking water only now for about a year and i tell you I feel so much better .

a reply to: Cloudbuster

Thanks for sharing. It might be worth giving your dad some of the HCL along with his food, so that at least as he has some hydrochloric acid to break his food down into nutrients. The main thing that i have learnt about heartburn is that it in no way indicates whether you have too much or too little stomach acid, all it confirms is that the LES valve isn't working as it should.
In my mums case because of her age I knew that her stomach acid production would be low so it made no sense that she would be suffering from a condition supposedly caused by too much.
Hope you find something to help him out.

a reply to: Kapusta

Nice post and I'm in total agreement with you, I only used glass bottled spring water from a local source.

I have told my story about water fasting in other threads on ATS but it was the most transformative experience of my life and saved me from potential suicide, it really was a life changing experience and one I will do again on a yearly basis.
If you are not aware of water fasting it's when you abstain from food and only drink water for a period determined by your own individual circumstances, usually anywhere from 3-40 days. It's not something to do lightly and people have died doing it but do it properly under supervision of an experienced faster and it can have amazing effects.
Your body uses 80% of the body's energy in the process of eating and digesting food, that only leaves 20% left over to repair any injuries etc.. When you water fast your body enters a mode that our ancestors used during winter periods when food was scarce and this ketosis. This is not starvation as some people would say but your body starts breaking down fat and scar tissue into nutrients and allows the body to use ketones instead of glucose as your primary brain fuel.
This allows the body to have almost 100% of that energy to repair injuries and also reset your gut ecology because harmful bacteria like candida survive on sugar and so they die off during this process. It was this process that changed my life. I was suffering for years with anxiety and panic attacks, to the point where I was starting to become agoraphobic. Well after the 3rd day of the fast I noticed that I had a powdery substance around my mouth where I used to suffer from recurring yeast infections and at the same time started to pee out the same white powdery substance. Anyway I spoke to the experienced faster I was in contact with and he mentioned that is usually caused by candida die off, so I did my research again and found links between panic disorders and candida. The same day I could feel that the anxiety had shifted quite a bit. I would have attacks on public transport and on that day I felt like a new man.
I continued the fast for 15 more days and then ended it when true hunger returned. You have to build slowly into food as your stomach shrinks so I had a small soup to start with and built myself back into solid food over the next 4 days.

a reply to: Another_Nut

You of realize one of the ingredients in baking soda is salt? TONS of it!
NaHCO3= SODIUM, Hydrogen, Oxygen.

Nuff said.

originally posted by: Another_Nut
i just wanted to say im glad i quit taking things for acid reflux.

i started with the typical rolaids and tums...until i got kidney stones

then it was prilosec

but

i finally took a doctors advice and dropped all that stuff and instead switched to ...

baking soda and water

and it works better than anything i had tried before

i suggest if you are having problems you try it

How fast does the baking soda and water work? I get acid build up alot. I normally take Zantac but it takes awhile before it kicks in.

a reply to: RealTruthSeeker

The method he is suggesting is only going to suppress stomach acid, if you read my OP you will see that heartburn is not what you think it is, it's often not caused by too much stomach acid but too little. The best method if you want something to neutralise the burn is Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar, this has a slightly higher ph than stomach acid so it will neutralise the stomach acid but it will still break down the food as it's another form of acid.
If my mum gets heartburn at any time now she uses that and it's actually quite palatable. It also works instantly.

originally posted by: mclarenmp4

Heartburn occurs when the Lower Esophageal Sphincter is weakened by pressure and allows a little bit of stomach acid to seep into your esophagus, the pressure is caused most often than not by bloating. .

This is spot on.
I used to get heartburn all the time and took antacids religiously.
Taking them made it worse actually because then my body depended on them.

I quit taking them full stop and started chewing mastic gum after every meal.
It caused me to loose gas and relieve the pressure on the valve.
No heartburn anymore.

originally posted by: mclarenmp4
a reply to: RealTruthSeeker

The method he is suggesting is only going to suppress stomach acid, if you read my OP you will see that heartburn is not what you think it is, it's often not caused by too much stomach acid but too little. The best method if you want something to neutralise the burn is Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar, this has a slightly higher ph than stomach acid so it will neutralise the stomach acid but it will still break down the food as it's another form of acid.
If my mum gets heartburn at any time now she uses that and it's actually quite palatable. It also works instantly.

Ok, thanks.

a reply to: jacobe001

Nice, glad to hear you got something that works for you, bloating is the key issue with heartburn as you found out yourself. There are many reasons that cause people's gut ecology to go out of balance with the over prescription of antibiotics and them used widely in our food chain. We really need to be supplementing probiotics and eating prebiotic rich foods.
It's the bacteria in your stomach that ferments the food causing the gas, so getting the gut ecology balanced is critical in the long term, when looking for a solution.

I did do a lot more with my mum including getting her on a good probiotic and the biggest reason for her dramatic weight loss imo was that she was toxic, her cellular ph was acidic. Fat is often misinterpreted as a byproduct of too much carbs or over eating or thyroid problems but what's often overlooked is that fat and cholesterol are used as a buffer to your cells from acid and toxins. Fat is literaly keeping people alive, you have to treat acidosis on a cellular level, that's why alkaline water and bicarbonate water are not sufficient as a means to deliver alkalinity on a cellular level, they also can bring other problems like reduced stomach acid. The gut needs to be acidic to be functioning correctly.
So by having bicarbonate which is an alkaline with a high ph and using the best delivery method, transdermal. She started losing weight rapidly. This was done using bicarbonate and magnesium baths. She would have the mag baths once a week and the bicarb bath once a month and lost 3 stones in under a year with no change in her eating habits which were quite good anyway. She has in over 30 years in trying weight watchers and all the diets and never had the same success.

a reply to: mclarenmp4

When you water fast your body enters a mode that our ancestors used during winter periods when food was scarce and this ketosis. This is not starvation as some people would say but your body starts breaking down fat and scar tissue into nutrients and allows the body to use ketones instead of glucose as your primary brain fuel.

Once you consumed your "excess" fat reserve, this is starvation. Your body will try to consume any non-excess fat reserve and ultimately consume your muscle to get amino-acid as a fuel.

A reasonable fast is good, but if you want to continue to have the advantages of nutritutional ketosis without extending the fasting, you can simply do a ketogenic diet. It is a variation of low carb. diet optimized for production of ketone bodies. And this is possible at a balanced caloric intake (no weight loss or gain).

a reply to: PeterMcFly

No doubt, that's why I stressed that doing a fast is down to the individual. I couldn't do a longer fast because at the time I was reasonably lean and was monitoring my weight and fat levels. Ketogenic diets can be good for achieving ketosis but water fasting is a great tool for healing old injuries and for flushing your system. It was scary what came out of me during the fast, it looked like the gates of hell everytime i went to toilet.
I knew my system was ready for food because everything became clear and regular and then hunger returned and that was it, a totally new me. But it is extreme, I accept that but where I was at the time was extreme. I was desperate and it was totally worthwhile experience for me. Once i finished my fast and finished the slow refeeding I had only lost about half a stone, a lot of the weight you lose during the fast is water weight.

I used to have very bad acid reflux. Rolaids and tums were useless. I was put on a medication I could not afford so I quit taking them .

Instead I did some reading up on what triggers it, how to avoid it and as long as I do that I'm ok.

Laying down right after a meal isn' t good to do. You should sit upright. Drink with your food to wash it down as you eat. Drink a glass of water after your meal. If you can stand up after you meal and drink the water, even better. It's all about how your esophagus is positioned.

Don't gobble food down too quickly, this take in air. So avoid whipped foods as well.

Avoid greasy or spicy foods.



At night, sleep with your head raised on a higher pillow. Easy for me since I do actually sleep flat on my back.

What gives me horrible heartburn is if I lean over right after eating, I forget sometimes and do that. So for heartburn I put about one teaspoon of baking soda ( sodium bicarbonate) in a little water. Stir it good and drink it. Kills the heartburn instantly for me.


I hope these tips help because why take medicine if you don't need to?

a reply to: Kapusta

You do know you CAN die from drinking too much water? When you over hydrate, you flush important electrolytes from your system. Severe muscle cramps occur that will bring you to your knees. I found this out the hard way. I was shopping for luggage when going to Hawaii many years ago, and lost 42#s to look good for Waikiki. I actually did myself harm in over hydrating. A trip to the e.r. was an expensive lesson.

Water is important, hydration is important...just don't overdue.

"Water intoxication occurs when you have flushed too many electrolytes and other nutrients needed for your brain to function, but the damage is done when the water swells the cells, particularly your brain cells. It just swells them easier when you have an electrolyte deficiency".

Yahoo Answers

a reply to: jacobe001

Did you ever wake in the middle of the night, coughing up bile and blood? Have bloody sputum lingering an entire day?

I ask because I have GERDS to the point I am on Dexilant and see an Gastroenterologist and ENT for this. My esophagus is toast.

My last meal of the day must be before 3pm. I can eat a few crackers to help hunger and acid after that time.

I am unable to have surgery due to other chronic, serious medical issues so I have to rely on the PPIs at this time. I know how dependant the body gets on these and would love to not take any medicine NOT necessary for existence.