Hypochlorhydria with PPI's

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-31-2007
Hypochlorhydria with PPI's
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 3:23pm

I will go real briefly through my history. I started PPI's about 2 years ago in college because my stomach was beginning to hurt after a night at the bars. Keep in mind I never had any reflux, heartburn or burning in my stomach at all. Just an ache in my stomach after going out too hard the night before. I was worried something was wrong so I went to the doctor. My university doctor prescribed Prevacid thinking that it would help my stomach heal. The prevacid never seemed to help my stomach and it has gotten progressively worse, to the point where I can't really go out with my friends anymore because it is not worth the nauseau the following day. I have been on PPI's for the last 2 years.

Even if I don't drink any alcohol I still have problems. The problem is that I get a terrible full/bloated feeling about half of the week. It seems that the PPI's are working so well that I don't have enough acid in my stomach to properly digest food. My whole system gets stopped up, and I get very weak and tired, probably because I am mal-nourished. When I looked at posts of people describing Hypochlorhydria it sounds very familiar.

Because of this, I have tried several times to stop taking the PPI's. The problem is after the first day my stomach starts burning. I have had 2 endoscopys, which both found minor gastritis, and a slight hiatal hernia. I guess that when the acid starts again it irritates the gastritis. I have tried to go cold turkey for 3-4 days, but in the end the pain is just too intense, and I am forced to take a PPI again.

My question is what do I do? I am 24 years old, and this mal nourished feeling is really getting in the way of my life. I have very little energy on these bad days, it is terrible. Is there a way to get off the PPI's without having to endure weeks of terrible burning in my stomach? Will tapering my dose work? I'm not sure if it is the PPI rebound that is making it so hard, or simply that my stomach is not used to acid and has grown very sensitive. I briefly tried switching to over the counter H2 blockers (I think it was zantac), but they didn't seem to do anything about the burning in my stomach. Is there something I can supplement with to help digest my food so I don't get this terrible stopped up/weak feeling. Please help, this is really starting to get depressing. Thank you.