Proton Pump Inhibitors: The Good News, the Bad News, and the Unknown

I have pretty strong opinions about PPI's (proton pump inhibitors).  I believe they initially saved my daughters' lives.  I also believe over time they compromised their optimal health and well-being.


When my daughters were first diagnosed with acid reflux disease, they were placed on Prevacid solutab.  Neither one of my children was "thriving" at the time.  My first daughter was dehydrating, losing weight, unable to nurse, and choking so severely she had difficulty breathing both day and night.  My second daughter could not keep breastmilk or formula down and had acid congestion so severe she had yellow drainage coming out of her eyes.


At the time, the idea of putting my infants on a prescription medicine was a little disconcerting but clearly necessary.  I did not know what type of medicine Prevacid was, or how it differed from a more traditional antacid.


But by the time my girls were nearing the ages of 1 and 2, certain difficulties were starting to appear.  Their immune systems were mysteriously weakened to the point they spent four months straight suffering from fever and congestion non-stop.  One of them had routine diarrhea.  They both suffered from recurring yeast rashes on their skin.  One of them had tremors in her hands and legs.


Up until that point I had been told that Prevacid was a medicine with little to no side effects, safe enough for people to take it long-term for years and years without end.  But then I began doing research, and what I discovered frightened me.


Traditionally, most doctors say that PPI's (proton pump inhibitors, like Prevacid) are the safest medicine to take with the least side effects, and patients can take them for as long as they want and nothing bad will happen. Part of the reason they say that is because it is the easiest and most efficient way to give immediate treatment to the symptoms of acid reflux disease.  Another part is because PPI's are still so new that long-term studies are developing but not really concluded.  

But PPI's are designed to shut down the body's ability to produce acid so any part of the body that has been damaged by acid (stomach, esophagus, etc.) has time to heal. Then, the patient is supposed to come off the PPI. They're only supposed to take it for 8 weeks total. In extreme cases, the FDA has just approved it for 3 rounds of 8-week therapy, but that is the absolute longest someone is supposed to take it. To take or prescribe a PPI indefinitely actually goes against the FDA warning.

The body needs acid to digest food and supplements. Take the acid away, and the body does not absorb the nutrients fully. Right now the biggest long-term side effects in the news are an overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria/fungi in the intestines causing routine diarrhea and yeast rashes(what the girls experienced), compromised immune system (also what the girls experienced), increased susceptibility to pneumonia, bone density loss and osteoporosis.

But there are also specific essentials which PPI's interfere with, like the body's ability to absorb calcium, vitamin D, iron, and folic acid.

Now, I repeat these studies are new and just now coming out. There's not a whole lot of literature out there. Some doctors may not know about them; others may dismiss them until further studies substantiate more evidence. Some of this information I got verbally from talking with nurses, natural health therapists, and toxicologists, so I don't have anything written to point to, anyway.


In our case, my girls' overall health improved dramatically once I took them off the Prevacid.  I switched them instead to Colic-Ease Gripe Water, and within a month their colds, fever, yeast rashes, and diarrhea disappeared.  In addition, the trembling in my daughter's hands and knees went away as well.


I can't say PPI's should never be prescribed for infants, or acid reflux patients in general.  I believe they are important medicines with a unique design to completely shut off the acid production to allow stomach and esophageal tissues time to heal.  However, I believe they should be prescribed and taken with more caution than I typically see in the medical world.  And I definitely think parents of GERD babies should be aware of some of the long-term side effects of PPI use before they allow their little ones to take it indefinitely.  


At times I wish I were more educated then than I am now.  But as with other areas in life, we learn and grow as we go.  As parents, we cannot kick ourselves for decisions we made in the past when we had our children's welfare in mind, even if in the long run we realize we might have made a different decision if we had known all the facts.


If I had to do it all over again, I would probably try Colic-Ease Gripe Water from the beginning.  If something stronger were necessary, I might use Prevacid again; however, I would not keep my baby on it longer than the recommended 8-week therapy period.  At that point, I would probably return to gripe water therapy instead.  But these are my experiences and my thoughts, and we all need to make our own informed decisions.


For further reading on some recent studies regarding long-term Prevacid use, please see the following articles:


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150050.php


http://www.medicinenet.com/lansoprazole_delayed_release-oral/article.htm


http://www.drugs.com/pdr/prevacid.html


http://ppi-lawsuits.blogspot.com/


http://www.ehow.com/about_5117421_longterm-effects-prevacid.html