Hey Gang,

Here is my follow up to a thread that was running a week or so ago about the dangers of ppi's, long term consequences, etc., that gave me enough initiative to try and get off; afterall, the entire reason I had a VSG in the first place was to get and stay healthy, not cause more problems for myself.

So, I had my VSG on Jan 25 and took Nexium as prescribed, once a day, for three months. If I didn't take it, I paid dearly. Needless to say, I took it religiously in the morning and on the rare occasion I had to take a half tab in the evening. Ran out, bought Prilosec OTC which worked just fine. Enter the thread as mentioned above.

Last Tuesday was my first day since surgery (except for forgotten days or the couple of days at the very beginning when I thought I didn't need it - ha!) that I didn't take my PPI but did take a Zantac 150. No problem. Next day, no problem and so on. Thrilled so far! A couple of times I did take a half Zantac in the evening to kill any burning that was coming up. Worked like a charm. I think I'm on the road to being acid pill free! Not sure how long I'll have to take the Zantac but I'm taking that one day at a time now. I hope it's not as bad for us as the PPI's seem to be... Anyone know?

I know it's only been a week but the only real hiccup so far was last night; I decided to have a small Starbucks regular coffee... what a mistake; burning, "hunger", pain, churning, burping, noise, the overwhelming urge to get something in my gut - not carbs or anything, really wanted some cheese actually so got some. It helped. Lesson learned and I KNEW from past experience that coffee in the evening has been a no-no since surgery. Not sure why - I do just fine with it in the morning but just can't do it at night anymore. This was the case too with coffee with the PPI's.

So, there you have it. If you're thinking about getting off, maybe give Zantac a shot and see what happens.

Good Luck!

Carol

Dr. Aceves wanted us to be off of them at 6 months but I waited a year. I have an appt. with my pcp soon and I am definitely going to talk to him about this.

I am worried about Calcium absorption. I know we are supposed to absorb calcium citrate but since I had a bone density test last fall, and it showed the beginning of osteoporosis, this is something I am very concerned about. that is why I want off the PPI.