Questions re PPIs | Arthritis Information

I take Aciphex with Mobic. Is this helping me with heartburn only, or does it also help to prevent stomach bleeding and perforation type issues? Not sure if I'm taking it for comfort or safety or both...

Thanks!

[QUOTE=KatieG]I take Aciphex with Mobic. Is this helping me with heartburn only, or does it also help to prevent stomach bleeding and perforation type issues? Not sure if I'm taking it for comfort or safety or both... I really don't like PPI's. Again, you have to weigh the risks and the benefits. On the list of side effects are 'joint pain' and there is research linking their use to the onsets of this disease.

Hugs,

Pip

[QUOTE=Pip!]I really don't like PPI's. Again, you have to weigh the risks and the benefits. On the list of side effects are 'joint pain' and there is research linking their use to the onsets of this disease. Yeah, but at the time I started Mino - I already had arthritis! And to us, that's a herx. LOL

Seriously tho - I really wish the FDA would do more about telling us how many people got what. I know I'd feel better with making a decision if I could 'figure out' how it might effect me. 1 guy dies or 9700 get and AI disease. OK, 9700 would make me sit up and think a bit harder. See my drift.

And I really don't like this med. This and statins. I think they end up making us worse in the long run - but I'm only one person and I don't count.

Pip

But what I'm trying to figure out is if the PPI is protecting my stomach from bleeding? Because I could deal with heartburn. But I don't want to discontinue if it's protecting me from serious side effects. I started it after my RA dx, at the same time as Mobic. [QUOTE=KatieG]But what I'm trying to figure out is if the PPI is protecting my stomach from bleeding? Because I could deal with heartburn. But I don't want to discontinue if it's protecting me from serious side effects. I started it after my RA dx, at the same time as Mobic.[/QUOTE]

Yes. It protects your stomach. That's why you feel better. It prevents the damage which leads to bleeding.
While, in theory, I agree with Jas, I wonder about the trade offs. Yes, it help the stomach stop bleeding because it stops acid production and by lowering acid production the area isn't raw any more and can effectively heal.

PPI's were originally approved by the FDA for limited use - 2 weeks. We're on them for decades now.

And the body goes around this med. If you take it continuously, your body will attempt to make more acid by making more veins and secretory (spelling) glands. The exact same thing that happens when people use eye drops or nasel sprays. So, your GERD is worse and you need a higher dose.

And to top it off - you liver doesn't regenerate on this med. Or statins. I only have one liver, if it needs to regenerate, I want it to be able to do it.

The question I have is - why all the acid? Is it just the meds? Or is it in response to things happening in the body? Can we influence the body to do this better, more naturally? Will it work?

I just decided to 'quit' the protonix and puked buckets of bile - after 3 years, when I un-throttled that stomach I was a bile producing machine. I had to wean and it took, what, 6 - 8 weeks. All for something I could have come off of once my stomach erosions were healed. But once I was on it, they never checked to see if 1) it was healed and 2) if I could come off.

Pip

See the thing is, I don't have GERD. I'm just on it (as far as I know) to prevent a serious gastro bleed.

I would like to go off of it (it is so $$$) but I CANNOT go off my Mobic (I would have to go on pred if I did) although I may try skipping some days of Mobic to see what happens (but as it is I am stiff/swollen and it will probably just get worse).

So I'm trying to figure out if I can even research and decide whether to go off of it, or if that would be a really dumb decision since I'm on Mobic (and I might be risking serious GI bleeds--and I'm anemic as it is, and they don't know why)

I have another RD appt in early October, so I guess I'll ask then...I think RD intended for me to go off of Mobic once MTX kicked in, but it still hasn't...

I guess what I'm saying...I think it's a necessary evil until I can get off Mobic?Katie -

I guess what I'm trying to say is - I don't know Mobic and I don't know how that effects the stomach so I'm really no help to you.

You can't take my thoughts on this stuff as Gospel - I haven't even cured myself yet. And we all have trade-offs. My theory is that a lot of this stuff is inter-related and I think we should be on the least amount of meds as possible for our personal situation. My point was - my stomach was healed but nobody checked that and I stayed on the PPI much longer than necessary. I think it was an influencer in how this disease came down with me - but there is very little research that shows that. Some - but not enough, if you know what I mean. I've never been on a statin - and don't intend to get on one. And I think Accutane had something to do with this too but we ran a poll here and I think there was only one other person.

That's what makes these diseases such a bear - our bodies do what it can to go around the disease.

Hugs,

Pip