Hi -
Our primary Dr. (not NO) told me to stop giving dad Omeprazole as it blocks the absorption of our other medications and supplements. Does anyone know if this is true? The only conflicts I've seen online are the absorption of calcium, magnesium, and vitamin C. We now give Dad Ranitidine, but I want to add the Omeprazole and Priolsec back in assuming they aren't negating any other supplements or meds. He was taking 60mg twice a day of Omeprazole.
Thanks much.
Annie
Hi ,
ReplyDeleteour Oncologist told us to stop or reduce the Celebrex, because for long term, maybe affects the stomach , we also take omeprazol, but lower dose 20 mg X 2 /day + cimetidine .
I don't know if it hurt the omeprazol, but we must take in balance wich is worst?
cocktail or gbm...
Melinda
Did he mention any specific drugs or supplements he felt would be affected by omeprazole. Absorption of some drugs are affected by changes in gastric pH, but for many drugs, gastric pH makes no difference to their absorption.
ReplyDeleteAs an alternative to cimetidine (Tagamet), I would suggest famotidine (Pepcid) which has some evidence of improving immune responses in breast cancer patients.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16391436
I've seen no such evidence for ranitidine.
There wasn't a specific drug she mentioned, she just commented that it would cancel out most of what we were taking. Immediately after that on my sheet were Pterostilbene, Keppra, Dexamethasone, Metformin, Selenium, Verapamil, Depakote, Green Tea. I've added the Omeprazole back in, just taking 40mg per day now rather than 60 mg 2x a day. I don't recall how I had come up with the initial dosage. Might not be a bad idea to update my cocktail list and repost with the changes.
ReplyDeletePlease do update :)
ReplyDeleteDone! 😊
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteMy husband refuses to take omeprazol (20mg 2x with dexamethasone). He complained his food was roting in him. He takes dexamethasone 4mg in morning and 2mg at lunch. He does not feel any stomach pain so could we omit omeprazole altogether or dexamethasone could harm his stomach without any pain felt before?
Thank you,
Hana
A few thoughts that might be of use:
DeleteDecadron will increase risk of GI tract ulcers and perforation, but the absolute level of risk is fairly low.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3970554/
However, ulcers and perforation can happen with no warning pain.
Many of us here use Celebrex and/or aspirin in our cocktails. If he's using such an agent, then a proton-pump inhibitor may be especially important.
I'm not sure what he might have been experiencing when he said "his food was rotting in him." Possibly he just didn't like the idea of suppressing stomach acid, as it plays a role in digestion.
A whole 'nother reason for taking a proton pump inhibitor is that they have anti-tumor properties in preclinical studies. Malignancies, by growing in an uncontrolled fashion, outgrow their blood supplies, and tend to live in low-oxygen, acidic environments. Part of how they thrive is by using a proton pump to remove acid from inside the cells. Proton pump inhibitors tend to switch off this tumor survival mechanism. There may be other anti-tumor mechanisms in play.
Possibly if he knew the omeprazole may be helping to fight his tumor, as well as protecting his GI tract, he'd be more motivated to take it.
At least one study, in one model, showed better anti-tumor effects from Lansoprazole than other proton pump inhibitors. So my wife is taking 60mg/d total of OTC capsules. Who knows whether it's truly helping, but my sense is that if it's acting against one cellular survival mechanism, it may be making the malignant cells more susceptible to all the other cocktail agents that act on other cellular survival mechanisms. That is, we're aiming for synergistic effects by using multiple agents. That's the theoretical concept behind using a cocktail approach.
So perhaps your husband might be prepared to give a different PPI a try.
Thank you, Steve.
DeleteYes, he refuses because of digestion problems.