‘Serious’ warning issued to millions taking Omeprazole over problems drug causes
It's a medication that some people take for years
A health expert has issued a serious warning about the potential dangers of long-term Omeprazole use as concerns around the drug continue to grow.
Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) which is primarily used to treat common conditions including acid reflux and heart burn, which unsurprisingly makes it one of the most popular prescriptions in the UK.
Despite it being so prevalent in health care, its long-term use has been linked with sometimes serious side effects, including migraines and issues with the stomach.
Specialist Simon Mills has now shared two more potential problems with the drug while speaking on an episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast.
Advert
He first identified the benefits of the PPI, which can be hugely beneficial when treating issues such as Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD).
Mills said: "And what omeprazole does is shut down the acid production in the stomach. So you don't get as much damage from reflux.
"When we're getting acid reflux, actually, it's not because you got too much acid. is because you're refluxing it. It's going back up into the oesophagus. But omeprazole will put an end to that."
However, as with many drugs and treatments, there are downsides to taking them for a prolonged period, but in the case of omeprazole, the list is a long and potentially serious one.
Mills added: "The list of problems occurring from long-term omeprazole use is beginning to grow and is serious... All sorts of things are beginning to be downstream problems associated with long-term omeprazole use."
The NHS lists some of these side effects as bone fractures, insufficient intake of nutrients such as vitamin B12 and magnesium, and infections, such as C. difficile - a type of bacteria which can lead to diarrhoea.
Prescriptions of omeprazole will usually last between one and two months but in some cases it could be used for more than a year, and it is here where serious side effects such as bone and heart problems can often present themselves.
Another issue with the medication is that when people are on it for so long, it can be difficult for the body to adjust once you start to wean yourself off it.
Mills adds: "But the other thing is that once you're on it, it's really difficult to come off it, and you get a famous rebound effect.
"So you come off omeprazole, and wow, you get much more trouble. So the only thing to do is take more omeprazole, and people find it really hard to come off it. So you have to do a lot of hard work to wean people off and do it in sorts of different ways."
Symptoms could often feel even worse during that period but it is expected that they would go away after a few weeks as the body attempts to produce more of the acid that was reduced while you were on the medication.
The NHS says: "Research has found that some people who have been taking PPIs for more than two months find that their body is producing more acid (referred to as rebound acid) to compensate for the acid-reducing effects of these medications. This can mean that your symptoms can worsen again when trying to stop taking the PPI medication. If this happens to you, it should only be for up to two weeks after stopping the PPI."
James Moorhouse