Monday, July 22, 2013

Beware of Antiacid Drugs

Prolonged use of antiacid drugs can cause serious health problems, says David Brownstein,
MD.
Proton pump inhibiters (PPI’s) are widely prescribed antacid medications. Examples of PPI’s include: Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, Aciphex, and Protonix. In fact, in 2009, over 21 million U.S. adults were prescribed a PPI and sales of PPI’s grew to over $13 billion globally. PPI’s work by poisoning the stomach’s proton pump. The end result of PPI use is to inhibit stomach acid secretion.

PPI’s are only indicated for a short time period—generally a few weeks. Prolonged use of PPI’s are associated with a host of serious adverse effects including vitamin B12 deficiency and pernicious anemia, bone fractures, and C. difficile infections. Now we can add heart attacks to the list of problems PPI’s cause. Read more

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