PPI's

For those who are further out than I am, are you still taking your PPI?  I'm on Protonix twice a day and just wondered if this is temporary or something I will take forever.  Thanks!

it depends on you and your body needs. everyone is different. some ppl go off of it and never need it again,some ppl,like me will need it longer. Forever? I dunno...forever is a long time and not even promised to us ,so I can't answer that one. GL

I'm 4.5 years out and still need mine!

Donna

Really, the only way you'll know is:

1. Do you get any reflux symptoms at all now?  If so, stay on them.

2. If you don't have, you can talk to your doc about dropping to one a day, evaluating, then dropping to zero.  But that should be a discussion between you and your doc.

You may never need it again or need it forever. 

That's the current plan.  He wants me to continue to take them both for another month and then drop to just one.  I had some reflux issues early on which I think is normal.  So he doubled me up.  I, like most VSG folks, take a ton of pills and just wondered if I cold eliminate one of them.

I've had reflex for ages -- so overall, a PPI is not a pill you can drop without potentially serious consequences.  The acid can erode your esophagus, leading to a precancerous or cancerous condition.  Not good.  For me, I didn't have the "typical" reflux symptoms pre-op -- my symptoms were nausea and what felt like post-nasal drip.  Now, I sometimes get the full acid in the throat thing at night (yuck!).

Just mentioning my previous symptoms so you'll know to watch out for those as well, since they are easy to attribute to something else, but can still end up damaging your GI tract!

Hopefully, you'll be one of the lucky ones and ditch the pills soon!

I had reflux before surgery sowas already on Prevacid. Had hiatal hernia fives during surgery. Helped, but still take Protonix once a day. Reflux is too awful not to!