Proton pump inhibitors are considered as the safest acid reflux medication. These are used as the first-line treatment to acute acid reflux and also as maintenance medication for chronic acid reflux. We are facing drastic changes in our lifestyle, this change has also affected our diet and habits.
Cases of gastric issues and ulcers are rising every day. Extensive research is now conducted to cure acid reflux, which leads to ulcers if not treated. You all must always be searching about the best and yet the safest acid reflux medication.
What is The Bes Prescription Medication For Acid Reflux?
Among all drugs, the Azole family is very useful in treating acid reflux. The safest proton pump inhibitors for acid reflux include
- Pantoprazole (oral).
- Esomeprazole.
- Lansoprazole.
Acid Reflux Medicine Omeprazole:
Omeprazole is effective against stomach acidity and acid reflux. It helps decrease the amount of gastric acid making the stomach contents less acidic. This protects the lining of the stomach, preventing any burning sensation felt in the stomach or the esophagus.
Dose: 20mg OD daily for 8 weeks.
Duration: it is effective for acute GERD and maintenance treatment.
Side effects: Omeprazole has some rare side effects:
Pain in the legs or stomach.
Blood in urine
Fever and
Eye irritation.
Pantoprazole:
Mode of action: it is a proton pump inhibitor that reduces the quantity of gastric acid secretion in the stomach. It is useful for protecting the esophagus from the acidic contents of the stomach. It also helps to prevent and cure the stomach ulcer.
Suitable for age: 5 years and above. It is not suitable for infants.
The prescribed: period is prescribed for eight weeks. The prescription can increase depending upon your response to the medication.
Side effects: generally, Pantoprazole is a safe medicine, but it can cause side effects to a few patients. It can disturb kidney function. If you observe blood in urine, consult your doctor. Skin rash It can affect bones.
How To Use Pantoprazole?
You may start the use of pantoprazole from a low dose. If your acid reflux gets cured, then tapper it off. If not then you may have to increase the dose. Consult your doctor before changing the dose of your medication.
Pantoprazole is usually taken orally; however, you may have it administered to you intravenously in emergency care in case you have severe symptoms of acid reflux. Swallow the tablet whole and take the tablet with fluids at least half an hour to 20 minutes before a meal.
Adult Dose:
For erosive esophagus: 40 mg OD for eight weeks.
For maintenance therapy: 40 mg, OD for one year.
For GERD: IV – 40 mg OD for 7 to 10 days. Oral: 40mg OD for eight weeks.
How to Cure GERD Permanently:
There are plenty of ways to cure GERD permanently. Along with diet and lifestyles, you may take a proton pump inhibitor such as omeprazole to get rid of it. Following are the tips that will help you get rid of GERD,
· Eat slowly: avoid taking large meals or overeating. All this leads to acid reflux in the esophagus, causing acidity.
· Eat selective food: sometimes, your food selection is the cause of your ailment. Choose a healthy diet with lots of water intake. Avoid spicy and fatty food.
· Say no to fizzy drinks: carbonated drinks are unhealthy in many ways. One of them is the burp they cause, which brings stomach acid to the esophagus.
· Don’t sleep after a meal: gravity keeps acid in the stomach; if you lay down, then it will enter regurgitate, causing acidity.
. Slow movements are appreciative: after a meal, change can cause sluggish digestion. And this can affect overall stomach condition.
· Incline sleeping position: if you have to sleep at any cost after a meal, prefer inclined posture. It will keep acid in the stomach and will maintain good stomach health overall.
· Weight loss: it is one of the most critical factors. Increased weight makes stomach sphincters lose due to which acid regurgitate to the food pipe.
· Quit smoking: because smokers often suffer from acid reflux. The reason is weak esophageal sphincters. Nicotine relaxes the sphincters.
· Increase water intake: 75% of the body contains water; dehydration can affect gut health. Water keeps your stomach section balanced.
· Medication review: if you have tried all the tips mentioned above, your condition is still the same. Check your medication or consult your pharmacist. It could be possible any of your medicine has showing side effects and affecting your gut health.
The Side Effect of Acid Reflux Medication:
As we know, every medicine has some side effects. You have to make sure you are aware of them while you are on your medication. Awareness prevents anxiety and improves patient’s compliance.
Here are few general and specific side effects of most prescribed drugs for GERD:
General Side Effects:
· Migraine or headache.
· Constipation.
· Stomachache.
· Nausea and vomiting.
· Fever in case of allergy.
· Skin rash.
· Bone weakness.
· Kidney malfunctioning.
Serious Side Effects:
· Allergic reaction.
· Inflammation of pancreases.
· Necrolysis.
· Liver damage.
· Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
These side effects are not necessary for every patient using medications for acid reflux. Side effects vary from age to age, gender, and even race. The patient should be enlightened about all possible side effects before a doctor prescribes medication.
Acid Reflux Treatment
There is a massive family of azole drugs to treat acid reflux. But among them, few have shown 100% effects and cured the patients. These are prescribed by doctors more frequently due to positive results and fewer side effects.
These medications are available OTC (on the counter). Here is the list of the best medicine for acid reflux:
· Esomeprazole.
· Lansoprazole.
· Omeprazole.
Esomeprazole:
It reduces acid production in the stomach. It is available in the dose of 40mg and is frequently prescribed by doctors.
Lansoprazole:
It reduces the amount of acid produced in the stomach. Available as oral tablets or granules.
Omeprazole:
Highly effective for acid reflux. This is the most prescribed medication and it comes in oral tablets and granules.
These tablets are available in different potency and doses in the market. Omeprazole is generally recommended for maintenance treatment. It has lesser side effects as compared to other medications and is one of the safest acid reflux medication.
All these medications are referred to best because of the following reasons:
· High patient compliance. Most patients adhere to the treatment because these are highly effective in the treatment of acid reflux
· It is effective even in lower doses
· Side effects are rare with these
Which is Safer, Ranitidine, or Omeprazole?
Both Ranitidine and Omeprazole are frequently prescribed for acid reflux. Both drugs have proven effective in treating this condition. Your doctor knows best what medicine to prescribe for your long term or maintenance treatment. Your doctor may still prescribe you with omeprazole since its widespread use and effectiveness. The choice of choosing omeprazole over ranitidine depends on the following reasons:
Why Omeprazole is Preferred Over Ranitidine:
· Omeprazole is preferable for long term treatment because of its high safety profile and considered as the safest acid reflux medication.
· It has lesser side effects as compared to Ranitidine
· A low dose is sufficient, i.e., 10 to 20 mg once a day even for one year.
Why is Ranitidine not Safer?
· It needs to be prescribed in a high dose, i.e., 150mg twice a day for a year. Ranitidine can affect vital organs of the patients such as injury to the liver. It can cause severe complications to the heart, liver, and kidneys.
· Ranitidine is used primarily used as an antihistamine, which means it is used to treat allergic reactions; whereas, using it as an antacid is its secondary use.
Summary:
Due to some minor differences, Omeprazole is preferred and considered safe. Its safety profile is more critical in long term use. Ranitidine, on the other hand, is not safe for long term use or maintenance therapy.
Acid Reflux Diet:
for treating acid reflux, the first step is to change lifestyle and diet. As mentioned earlier, our busy lifestyle and tight schedules demands time which leaves little to no time for us to care for ourselves. We tend to rely on fatty and high carb diets which only tastes good. This is not the case of food only, but our effected mental health is another prime factor that causes acid reflux. High-stress releases hormones that increase acid production in the stomach thereby causing acid reflux and GERD. Ultimately we end up with an unhealthy gut that needs a long term cure. One and the most important lifestyle change is our dietary habits.
Healthy Eating:
If you have acid reflux you can easily figure out what kinds of foods increase acidity in the stomach. Avoiding an unhealthy diet such as fast food diet resolves your problem without medication. Apart from avoiding an unhealthy diet keep these tips in mind for an acidity free meal,
· Consume chicken breast for protein intake. Remove the skin and fat before cooking it
· Have more green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, green onions, and spinach
· Try replacing white rice with brown rice. These have low carbohydrates and tend to be high in fiber
· When you have acidity, eat melons! It helps restore a healthy gut
· Fennel, oatmeal, and ginger are useful to lower acidity of the stomach and are quite healthy
· Yogurt and banana have proven to be quite effective to lower acid reflux symptoms
· Chia seeds and psyllium husk are a great remedy to help treat acid reflux
Acid Reflux Foods to Avoid
Avoid the following kinds of food to restore your healthy gut
· Spicy food
. Processed food
· Carbonated drinks
· Fatty food
· Food high in Carbohydrates
· Late-night meals
· Fried food
· White sugar
Other Tips For a Healthy Gut Include:
· Frequent exercise or walk
· Enough water intake
· Avoid stress factors such as lack of sleep
Switching From PPI to H2 Blocker:
Switching from one drug to another requires proper supervision of a doctor or a nurse. If not properly supervised it can harm patients’ health.
Cimetidine and famotidine are the most prescribed h2 blockers. These are second in line treatment medications for acid reflux. If PPIs such as omeprazole fail to cure acid reflux, then the doctor will advise you to shift to taking h2 blockers.
Sometimes in severe cases of GERD, doctors prescribe a combination of both h2 blockers and PPI, but this is rare.
Before taking H2 blockers make sure you have taken advice from the doctor. Do not change medication yourself or it can result in serious side effects. Even a sudden shift of medication can case backlash side effects, which could be fatal for the patient.
Conclusion:
Putting in a nutshell, Acid reflux is a common condition nowadays. A variety of PPIs are available in the market as the safest acid reflux medication for its treatment, but as you all know, ‘prevention is better than cure.’ So choose a lifestyle that involves healthy food and exercise. A healthy gut leads to a healthy life