Many, many of my patients and potential patients deal with heartburn on a daily basis. In addition, there are many people who are put are heartburn drugs called acid blockers for a variety of digestive problems from some very well intending heath practitioners.
From my perspective, I see about 95% of these cases resolve, and very often immediately when the underlying causes of the symptoms are addressed. These people are then able to stop the acid blocking drugs and live better than symptom free for the reasons below.
You see, the acid release in your stomach serves some very important purposes.
It protects you against infections (like yeast, parasites and bacteria) in the intestines and other parts of your body
It was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that people on acid blocking drugs were 4 1/2 times more likely to develop pneumonia
Combining antibiotics and acid suppressing drugs increased intestinal infections by 3x.
People taking acid suppressing drugs are 3x as likely to get infected by Clostridium dificile that people not taking these drugs.
It protects you against cancers in the intestines
In an acid blocking study in mice, 6 out of 20 developed stomach tumors at 12 months. None of the mice with regular acid secretion developed tumors.
It is necessary for absorbing minerals (think of osteoporosis and arthritis)
Acid blocking drugs triple the rate of hip fracture
It is necessary for absorption of nutrients like B12 (think fatigue, anxiety, nervous system problems) and for digesting proteins (think fatigue and muscle mass)
Acid blockers (prilosec, nexium, omeprazole etc) are recommended by the Physician’s Desk Reference to be prescribed for a 6-8 week maximum because of the above problems.
How long have you been on yours?