Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD or GERD) medications were only ever designed to be used for a short period of time. Two weeks to two months maximum. Although we naturopaths have known that for a long time, many clients come to us having continued to take these medications for years at a time, often unnecessarily. Now it has been shown that these drugs can significantly increase your risk of death from various chronic health conditions.
Called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), medications such as Nexium and Pariet, work by reducing your level of stomach acid. This sounds great when you want to alleviate that feeling of acid rising into your throat, but bear the following in mind:
Recent studies have confirmed that long term use of PPI’s put you at greater risk for:
What’s more, in 50% of people who are on PPIs for a year or more, SIBO (or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) becomes a common issue, further worsening symptoms.
If you have been on PPIs for a long time and want to stop, bear in mind that there is usually a rebound period of a couple of weeks. During this time, symptoms usually get temporarily worse. This is usually enough to drive people back onto the medication before they are over this rebound period.
The good news is that it is possible for most people to slowly wean off of these medications safely with the use of specific natural medicines and some of the following dietary and lifestyle measures.
Natural medicine aims to optimise digestive processes, heal, soothe and protect the lining of the oesophagus and right nutrient deficiencies. What’s more, natural medicine can also help alleviate the other repercussions of long term PPI use such as SIBO, IBS, and impaired immunity. See your naturopath.