Has anyone successfully weaned themselves off omeprazole?

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I've been taking it since last May, 20mg a day (prescribed- I broke my arm and needed strong painkillers for a while and theyve just kept renewing it). When I stopped taking it, the acid reflux was awful, so I carried on. Spoke to the GP and he said don't just stop, taper off by taking one every other day. So I've been doing that for a few weeks now and at the weekend I stopped altogether. The indigestion is really bad and I've been using gaviscon a lot.

I've googled long term omeprazole and read lots of horror stories about malabsorption of nutrients and dementia.

Anyone else?

Yes. I did taper off. Now when I get indigestion take nexium control It works fast. I probably take 3 a month now. It's such a relief to be off the omeprazole. I can still take ibuprofen for my sciatica without daily inhibitors.

Mind you I am careful with my diet these days.

I have, I just sucked up a couple of weeks of indigestion in the end to get off the stuff, it’s terrible stuff!

Whoa, are all PPIs like omeprazole dodgy for future effects like dementia? I'm on low dose aspirin and take Lanzaprazole 30mg per day and will forever as long as I'm on aspirin. Something to do with the fact that I had a perforated ulcer and bled enough to need transfusions. That's all sorted now but docs do not want anything (aspirin) to interfere with stomach stuff either.

I have to take aspirin to prevent a cardiac device from possible blood clots. Otherwise I'm fine and zero effects from the Lanzaprazole three years daily use later.

Nexium is omeprazole?

Similar but acts in a different way. I haven't had one for a few weeks now.

I do keep milk of magnesia handy too. I liked Maalox but it's discontinued. Ranitidine was banned.

Gaviscon Advance is what you need. Very expensive but it really helps.

OK I've been taking half a tablet, so 10mg for a couple of days now. Haven't taken any today and feel OK.

I recently stopped lansoprazole after being on it for about 10 years, so was really difficult but i have had several osteoporotic fractures recently that I totally blame on long term PPI and no HRT.
i was only taking 15mg/day and managed to reduce to every other day for months. Eventually went to every 3 days and did get quite a bit of heartburn again at times for a while but as I kept missing a tablet as 3 days is awkward, decided to just stop this June.
it has taken a few months to now think I am ok. I did give in and take 1 tablet on 2 occasions, and took loads of Gaviscon and any indigestion remedy I could find, propped up at night and avoided spicy stuff, but the good days got more frequent and now I just get the odd small bout of heartburn that I can cope with.
Even drinking red wine tonight and not worrying.

That's encouraging. Well done.

I've just ordered gaviscon

Second Gaviscon Advance

Is gavsicon ok to take long term? It is very expensive!

What's wrong with taking it daily, if it helps you?

It is bad for you.

Yes I stopped taking it. If I drink severs of the pre/probiotics drinks each day I can go weeks and weeks with no reflux. Usually drink 2-3 a day in a smoothie.

*several

Why?

Which drinks?

It can cause osteoporosis,.poor nutrient absorption and then some evidence it can cause dementia.

Why would GPs prescribe it long term if it is damaging?

Also, isn't every drug/medicine bad for you (long term?)

The Actimel original immune support fat free live yoghurt drinks

Great! Thanks I will add them to my list

I did. I was sick of sleeping sitting up and taking those meds. I did the GERD diet for a month. It sucked but it worked. Now every time it creeps up on me I do it again. It's few and far between now.

It's extremely damaging g long term. I took it for a month for the same reason then gave them back to the chemist. You'll need to eat extremely bland food for a couple of weeks, nothing spicy. Last meal no later than 4pm and don't drink tea or coffee for a couple of hours before bed, no alcohol. The reflux will soon stop.

You can get it on prescription.

Are you kidding? Yes they do. I'm a .medical professional and some drugs can kill long term. You need to read the leaflets in the box and check with your pharmacist if you are not sure. We've had people coming in actually dying we take them off all their drugs and they get better almost immediately.