What acid reducer do you use post surgery?

My doctor prescribed me Nexium, which is fairly expensive as a self payer.  I wonder if AcipHex is equivolent or if there are any others that anyone is using.  Please advise...  Thank you!!

My surgeon recommends using a Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) such as Prilosec OTC or Protonix.  There are other forms of PPIs also and most of them are by Rx only.  You can go to wikipedia and search for Proton Pump Inhibitors for a list of drug names (and yes, Nexium is a PPI).

Peace,
Rana

Thank you for the information.  I did check out what you mentioned and got all the info I need.  I have Pepcid Complete but will get Prilosec OTC also.  Again, thank you for the information.  It was very helpful!!! 

I'm going to try just using Prilosec OTC. Used it before surgery and it worked great. Let's hope it continues to work.... :-)

Hi, I was just wondering,  I like you have taken Priloxec before surgery "for years", and have always had good luck with it.  Im curious to know if it still worked for you after surgery.  Im getting ready to have the surgery in a few weeks, and the thought of my anti heartburn medication possibly not working after surgery, really scares me.  Those of us that know what true serious heartburn feels like know what torture that would be..... appreciate any thoughts you might have on this....

The two types of acid reducers most often prescribed are H2 blockers ex. tagamet, zantac which block about 70% of the acid the stomach produces and the proton pump inhibitors (PPI) ex prevacid, prilosec, nexium, aciphex which block about 96% of the acid the stomach produces.  Both tagamet and zantac are cheap. Though zantac is available over the counter, if you get a prescription for it from your health care provider, you can get a months supply of the generic (ranitidine) from wal-mart pharmacy for $4.  Of the PPI's, prilosec is available generic (omeprazole) and will cost less than the others and prilosec is also available OTC (over the counter) so you can get it without a prescription.  Aciphex will cost you as much, if not more than the nexium.......Barb

no acid reducers for me.  my surgeon doesn't use them unless there is an issue - which I agree with for this topic.

Nexium, Aciphex, Prilosec OTC, Prevacid are all basically the same.....

I would find the generic version of Prilosec OTC called OMEPRAZOLE if you need one.

The previous post about H2 antagonists is good too.....they should work fine....famotidine or ranitidine, just steer clear of cimetidine as it can affect many other meds.

I tried zantac and it just didnt do what I needed it to do, I now use Prilosec OTC and it works like magic!  I am guilty though, I use the name brand, to me it just wasnt worth another day of discomfort trying the generic and taking the chance it wouldnt work.
Denise

Alot of ppl swear by generic type of drugs, and on the box it may say the exact same med. But, my bf will not take the generic in the tylenol sinus. He swears it does nothing for him, and that the name brand works wonders! Go figure...I guess to each their own =)

I am heaing Prilosec OTC is good so I may check that one out.  I want to be prepared before hand just in case.  I don't have any reflux or heartburn or anything like that now but I figure that after the surgery, things will definitely change in many areas so I prefer to be prepared to some degree and then figure out the rest as I go along.  I prefer the name brand drugs myself when I can afford them.  I have insurance but it sucks.  I mainly have it in case I am ever hospitalized as I surely don't want that bill.  It doesn't pay crap for medicines as I have a deductible to meet first.   There is always something to complain about these days...LOL 

Donna