Has anyone successfully weaned themselves off omeprazole?

[Fairslice]

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?

I’ve been taking it for 16 years! A year ago the dose was doubled. I need it because I have reflux and a giant hiatal hernia and can’t have surgery due to other medical conditions. Bad news for me, then!

Acid reflux is really bad for your oesophagus and can ultimately increase your risk of oesophagael cancer so it's a toss up.

I, thankfully, am now back at a point where I use them occasionally. It's not like Gaviscon us great either; it's got what 10% of your daily sodium intake in it I reckon? I buy the cheapest pretend Gaviscon from an online chemist and use it as and when required though.

The OP has rebound acid reflux - caused by being on a PPI. This is a temporary (though not necessarily short-lived) condition. It will pass. Hard to live with in the meantime, but it is not a case of "eating a bland diet for the rest of her life".

She was put on a PPI to reduce her risk of peptic ulcers caused by painkillers after an accident - again a short-term solution.

Other people are blithely staying on PPIs for years, and decades, often because they do not realise the danger of longterm use, and because they enjoy the benefits of being able to eat what they want, not bother to lose weight, or look into what is causing their reflux or gastritis. And others have difficult to manage conditions, where PPI usage is necessary.

They are quite different things.