with acid reflux worse. I use tums on occasion. My doctor didn't seem to happy about my decision since I have other medicines that I take also on a daily basis. I wasn't sure if it was a drug interaction. I would like to stay away from prescription medicine b/c of my health issues. Acid reflux seems like it is getting worse now. Does anyone know of any other options that help with the acid reflux other then tums? Not sure if it is enough. I seem to have acid reflux more often.
Nancybreeze
I was prescribed ranitidine for acid reflux and stopped taking it. I felt like it made my symptoms?
Question posted by nancybreeze on 26 Jan 2014
Last updated on 10 December 2019 by felkiwi
some of the other meds are for pain relief, oxycodone, fentanyl patch 25mcg, diazapam, flovent diskus, allergy shots, prolia (for bone density) every 6mos. Newest medicine is the prolia.
I think I might have to find another doctor if this gets worse but was trying over the counter and any suggestions that might help with a solution.
Thanks for taking the time to write in.
Nancybreeze
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9 Answers
You must take the Ranitidine twice daily, but I would not recommend it since you can get all the other acid blockers Otc. They are only once daily so take it at the same time every day and you will not have problems. If you do take Tums or Rolaids within 45 min. Of the Prevacid or Nexium then you are blocking them. You should not need Tums if you take an acid blocker. Walmart has generic and they all work fine. Even Dollar General carries them.
I stopped taking ranitidine and it made my acid reflux worse too. I knew it wasn't good for me to be taking it. My primary care physician PCP got me on it 3 years ago and never discussed it with me, it showed up at my pharmacy and because I didn't know any better, I began taking it. A few years before that, I had been put on Protonix because I was experiencing heartburn. The doctor never said, "Lay off the coffee and change your lifetstyle to avoid this." Instead, he just told me to take it. Well, I was on that CRAP for a year or so and did not feel right, gained weight and knew I had to get off of it. I did it using Mastica, DGL chewables, and Tagamet. It worked fine. And I felt great! I told my PCP that I was using natural things and how I felt great and then a few years later, I got the RX at the pharmacy for Ranitidine out of the blue - never talking to me about it.
Now that I got of it, I feel worse than ever. The acid reflux is worse. I've used the Mastica, DGL and Tagamet but this time it is not taking care of it. It's almost as that Ranitidine screwed my body up. I am praying it heals and goes away because I do not want to be on acid reducing medicine. I stopped drinking coffee, changed my diet, losing weight, etc. and doing the right things to help myself.
If anyone knows anything else natural that can help with acid reflux, please respond to this thread. Thank you!
I took Ranitidine for years due to acid reflux and decided to stop after reading about the serious long term side effects. Thankfully I found a couple of natural supplements that helped me. Something called Acid Relief helps me the most, but there are others. I take the chewy tums when I need them. The first day was the worst for the rebound of acid. I have been getting headaches and night sweats, but nothing that some acetaminophen and an air conditioner can't help with. I do have to avoid trigger foods and try to eat healthy. Overall I'm happy with my decision.
I am responding to the chain below. I was on Protonix for a year until I started feeling ill, then I thought I was dying, and finally figured out it was the Protonix. Now the same thing has happened with the Ranitidine I have been on for about 2 years. I quickly found out if you do not take it twice a day every day, your heartburn will quickly return. Now I am having to come off of Ranitidine and looking for information. How do I replace it if I am already on Nexium at night (the Ranitidine alone did not control my acid reflux), and do I come off of it slowly?
I have taken 2 pills of ranitidine and it has given me diarrhea bad. Not taking anymore. I was on Pantoprazole (Protonix) for a long time and it worked good, but recently I started getting choked on my saliva so doctor changed it.
I have used antidepressants, Rx& OTC pain relievers w/ Ranitidine for 20 years but have finally been able to stop (YEAH!) since my doctor prescribed Pancreatic enzymes (Zenpep.)
Now I only occasionally need TUMS when I eat spicy foods.
I have also been treating for leaky gut symptoms for six months by following Dr. Josh Axe's protocol making smoothies with powdered bone broth & taking his soil based probiotic & glutathione supplements.
Hello Nancy - I can understand why your Dr is not happy about you stopping your medication for GERD, as complications such as esophagitis, ulcers and a rarer and more serious complication of GERD is cancer developing inside the esophagus (don’t mean to scare you and it is rare). Antacids such as tums only help mild to moderate cases of GERD and they should not be taken at the same time as other medicines because they can stop other medicines from being properly absorbed into your body. They may also damage the special coating on some types of tablets causing the special coating to break down too early, causing the drug to be released in the stomach instead of in the intestines. Ranitidine can also do this, ask your GP or pharmacist for advice. Thus as KM said without knowing what other medications you are on your worsening condition could be due to an interaction with your other medications.
Hello Nancy - I hope that you are feeling somewhat better today. Looking through your drug regime no obvious drugs that would interact with Ranitidine or Tums is obvious. Flovent diskus can cause lower abdominal pain (which is a description of one’s pain and not a diagnosis as most Dr’s think it is), however this is not your complaint. Also Prolia can cause serious infections in the body and one of those places is in the stomach. Tell your doctor if you develop signs of infection, such as: fever/chills, red/swollen/tender/warm skin (with or without pus), severe abdominal pain, ear pain, frequent/painful/burning urination, pink/bloody urine. Yet again this is not your complaint. A side effect of oxycodone is gastritis, an inflammation of the lining of the stomach. It can be caused by irritation due to excessive alcohol use, chronic vomiting, stress or the use of certain medications such as aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs.
Hi Emeraldgirl,
Thankyou for taking the time and checking into my list of meds. I deal with a lot of anxiety. With that said I am going to stay off the tums, try the ranitidine I have left and see if things workout. I always have adverse effects to my medication and just get tired of changing all the time. Since my health issues are chronic I just get tired of the doctors. Not sure what the mix is with the allergy shots, but never feel like that is a problem since it does keep the asthma attacks down. I do wonder about the prolia, since that is a medicine once injected stays in your system for 5 mos. and of course the side effects are not much you can do after you get the medicine.
I appreciate your reply!
NB
Hello Nancy – I have chronic conditions also so totally appreciate what you are going through with seeing Dr’s who are not the most helpful or understanding. Also being put on and off different medications. I have found that being my own advocate by researching my conditions and understanding them to be most beneficial; also joining DC has helped me a lot and I am sure you will find this too. Regarding medications sometimes it is just the way it is. You have to see what works best for your condition. I don’t know what caused your GERD but in your case Ranitidine has been prescribed to prevent the complications that GERD can cause. I don’t know how long this medication takes to be active but I would assume that it should offer relief after a few doses. If you are not getting adequate relief see your Dr again the dose might need increasing or they can add another drug to work alongside it or switch to another drug.
Ranitidine is another name for Zantac , ask you doctor but you can take 300 mg twice a day of ranitidine . If that is not working try pepcid it is also called famotidine . It is an h2 blocker like ranitidine , strong and has less drug interaction , but (call your dr.) I think your stuck for life , I take famotidine 20 mg twice a day for 2years now that's life I hope you find relief !!!
There are a few otc meds for acid reflux. Don't forget that otc things can interact with your other meds too so you would need to tell us what you take if you want to know interactions.
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tums, ranitidine, gerd, doctor, medicine, prescription, symptom
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