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Acid reflux drug linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer

theguardian.com

71–80 of 85 posts

Re: Acid reflux drug linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer

#71
I have been using on Prilosec and Nexium since 2000. If I miss taking the medication I get severe stomach pains by late evening. In the last endoscopy the doctor noticed several polyps in my stomach. He said polyps are normal for someone who has been using Prilosec and Nexium for so long. Is stomach polyps a precursor to cancer?

Re: Acid reflux drug linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer

#72
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. I've been taking it sporadically for about that long as well. Doing the same as you now.

It's much more likely that those taking such drunks, are at a much higher disposition of developing such complications. I started taking such a drug again after developing stomach issues. I had a scare a couple of years ago, and it was only by chance that I changed to another GP who was much more attentive, turned out that I was only months away of having a haemorrhage that would have likely been fatal. All from a fe…

Where's the edit gone? I meant drugs, not drunks (long day).

Re: Acid reflux drug linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer

#73

Hacker News continues to amaze. There's always a worrying high ratio of comments in health and diet threads from people making drastic and impulsive decisions without medical advice, usually off the back of incomplete conclusions or anecdote. Newspaper coverage certainly needs to contain more scrutiny of the quality of scientific papers (and their review), but this paper explicitly concludes that there are other fact…

I think LPR and GERD are kind of unique in that their symptoms are all over the place and long-term solutions are very hard to come by. In many cases the meds only mask the condition instead of fixing it, and doctors often don’t know what to do except recommend lifestyle changes and prescribe more PPIs. All the while endoscopies etc. come back clean and you still feel like crap. It’s a very mentally taxing group of disorders!

Re: Acid reflux drug linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer

#74

Hacker News continues to amaze. There's always a worrying high ratio of comments in health and diet threads from people making drastic and impulsive decisions without medical advice, usually off the back of incomplete conclusions or anecdote. Newspaper coverage certainly needs to contain more scrutiny of the quality of scientific papers (and their review), but this paper explicitly concludes that there are other fact…

Notably, this isn't the first study to raise an uncertain, correlation risk about PPIs. A specialist, or in many cases even a GP, should be aware of the topic and able to answer questions. I'm also a bit disturbed to see people framing this as "comfort versus cancer" - seeing as untreated acid reflux can be a cause of esophageal cancer, "I'll just quit without asking a doctor" is far from a sound course of action.

I wish there was more info out there on the risks for reflux -> Barret’s -> cancer. I could barely find anything when I last looked, except that frequent reflux sufferers are advised to get an endoscopy once every few years. (So I guess Barret's develops pretty slowly?) Also, the fact that smoking is correlated with both reflux and cancer significantly confounds the issue.

Re: Acid reflux drug linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer

#77
post #34

Nothing gives you a morning dose of fear like reading this about a drug you’ve been on for 6 years. Guess I’ll start looking into alternatives and ways to screen for stomach cancer.

Seriously. I've been taking it sporadically for about that long as well. Doing the same as you now.

Everyone will give you advice, but if the issue is simply that the sphincter muscle isn't strong enough, nothing will fix that except surgery. I had this done and it has been life changing: www.livingwithreflux.org/nissens-fundoplication/

Re: Acid reflux drug linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer

#78

Nothing gives you a morning dose of fear like reading this about a drug you’ve been on for 6 years. Guess I’ll start looking into alternatives and ways to screen for stomach cancer.

I was on PPI's for a bit. I went on a strict diet and lost about 100lb's which got the disease under control. Recently I have found CBD's work wonders for helping every aspect of my GI issues. I can't believe how amazing CBD's are. It's no wonder that pharma is working overtime to keep this kind of product out of our hands.

CBD's as in Cannabidiol? If so I can second this for GI issues. Though I usually find that the full spectrum tinctures work much better for regulation of symptoms, even the ones without THC. For reference, I've had Crohns' disease for almost 10 years.

Re: Acid reflux drug linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer

#79
post #59
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try reviewing your diet, the times when you eat and drink plenty of water. Mercola's solutions worked for me. 'acid reflux' - https://articles.mercola.com/sites/current.aspx

Please don’t ever recommend the internet quack Mercola to anyone. He will and probably has gotten people killed with the garbage on his site.

No, it was anecdotal! The advice worked for me, it was logical and it solved a problem I'd had for a number of years so it might possibly work for someone else. That is all I said. This was not a generalized recommendation for the work of Mercola. Let people make up their own minds.

I'm aware of Mercola's reputation but it's a bit crass to say that everything he writes is garbage especially since he's usually enthusing about good food and healthy living. Peer-reviewed papers are a few clicks away these days so one can check for oneself on many issues.I don't take the view that his site is popular because the the millions who read him are idiots. I suspect that many do though.

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