Ranitidine (Zantac) -- not my new favorite thing

[pameladean]

So I had a doctor's appointment last Wednesday, with a new doctor, who frowned at the computer screen and said, "You've been taking omeprazole since 2013? We don't really recommend it for long-term use. It can lower your calcium levels."

My patient-information sheet says that multiple daily doses, which I am not taking, can do that; but apparently they are getting more cautious because there is more information.

I accordingly stopped taking the omeprazole this morning and took a Zantac pill instead.

Urgh. Two hours of nausea. No actual barfing, but still, urgh. When that abated, I went out somewhat belatedly to take a bus over to arkuat's place to look after his cat. As I arrived at the bus stop, I felt so weird that I thought, "I'm going to have to go home again. I can't get on a bus like this." I found myself hanging onto the bench as if I might fall if I let go. Vertigo? Dizziness? No, actually. I could stand up perfectly well on my own. Things were not describing slow repeating arcs across my vision. Everything was fine and stable. Only something felt extremely weird in my head, and my brain kept deciding it was dizziness. "Woogly" is the term that I use for this feeling; it sometimes precedes a migraine. However, I had no other symptoms.

I did get on the bus, and bus and walk to Eric's, and hang out with a very loudly purring elderly orange cat, and walk a bit more and take two buses home again without untoward incident. I had a late lunch and a small dinner without incident. I even made some banana bread later in the evening. The woogliness persisted in a mild form and finally went away about an hour before I had to take my evening dose.

I had suspected that the nausea wasn't just caused by the new drug, but by my having taken it with all of my blood pressure medication, most of which also wants to be taken with food, without increasing the amount of food that I provided. I don't like eating in the morning. I took the evening dose 45 minutes ago on its own, with a substantial snack, and am not having nearly the same kind of problem. So I'll have to have a larger breakfast; or, since that's generally unpleasant, maybe take the Zantac first with some food, and follow up half an hour or so later with all the BP stuff and some more food. This makes for a more cumbersome morning, but there's no relation between the ranitidine and the BP meds, so I don't have to bolt them all at once. It's supposed to be so very healthy to eat a good breakfast, but this isn't the way I'd have chosen to do that. I also suspect that it's healthy enough for the people who like doing it but am dubious about the rest of us.

Has anybody else had this kind of experience with ranitidine? If so, how did it work out in the end?

It does seem to be controlling the acid reflux all right, but I'm not sure that I care for the trade-off if the morning effects persist.

It was a glorious spring day: forsythia and magnolia are on their way out, but flowering plum and cherry are in; tulips are in colorful bud, or blooming in warm places; there are purple and white violets in the grass. The maples are blooming so hard that they look as if they have come out in leaves. Lilac and spirea and honeysuckle really have come out in leaves. Raphael saw a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker in the neighbors' yard. So this medication nonsense needs to settle itself.

Pamela

Comments

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I don't think that I had a reaction like that to ranitidine but it doesn't make me feel good and I'm back to the omeprazole. I don't worry much about calcium. I get sun, I eat a lot of dark green leafies and also dairy and some other calcium-rich foods, and I always had dense bones before. I may be required to worry about it in the future as I'll be on hormone blockers, but not now. Calcium levels can be tested, right?

[lcohen]

meep. i hope the food adjustments do the trick!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

My experience with Zantac is useless to you because it had no effect on me whatsoever, for good or ill. In general, I find that other people's experiences with medication have no predictive effect for mine, because I tend toward unusual reactions.

However, what I have learned recently is that I tend to have consistent responses to all medication in certain ways. So if you're similar, you may be able to predict what Zantac will do to you based on your own previous experiences. For example, if a drug gives me a side effect, it either goes away after a few days or never goes away - it won't linger for a week or two, then wear off. This is true of virtually all drugs for me. So if you also respond consistently to drugs and you're still getting that effect after three days (even with breakfast), it probably won't ever go away and that's not a good med for you. However, some people find that side effects go away after a longer period of time, so if you're more like that, you might want to give it a week or so.

Drugs

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

There's been some more recent articles as well about proton pump inhibitors:.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2015/10/15/ask-well-taking-heartburn-drugs-long-term/?referer=

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/heartburn-drugs-tied-to-dementia-risk/?_r=0

(I emailed you the two stories from the links above.)

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hope it settles fast. Spring sounds so lovely there!

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

I do hope you get your meds issue sorted out quickly. Feeling like that sounds scary and not fun at all. But spring sounds lovely. I adore violets and lilac especially.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

No nausea, but my husband took Zantac and promptly spent about 18 of the next 24 hours asleep.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Blerg. Here's hoping it settles down for you soon.

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

Sounds scary! I am glad things are improving today.

[carbonel]

I think I told you my woes with Zantac (ranitidine) and omeprazole, but if I did, I have an update.

I had had occasional reflux at night, and Zantac helped with that.

Then something happened a couple of years ago. I had a few days of serious abdominal pain, and went to the ER (per the advice of the HMO nurse). They did a bunch of tests, and found nothing wrong. And the pain eventually went away. But after that, I started having daytime reflux, and pain when I ate. (First thing my mother asked when I told her that was, "So have you lost any weight?" Bah.)

My NP put me on omeprazole, and it worked like a charm for a couple of months. Then she said it wasn't good to stay on long term, and put me on a high dose of Zantac. Which didn't do a thing for my reflux. No nasty side effects, but no help, either.

I just went for an EGD, which showed some inflammation, but nothing serious. And no Barrett's esophagus, which is good.

So I don't know about staying on the omeprazole long term, but I have a three-month scrip for now.

Stupid bodies.