by Dr. Craig Maxwell
(Health Secrets) Are you taking a proton pump inhibitor for relief of acid reflux disease? Millions use prescription acid reflux drugs each day and 80% shouldn’t. If you’ve been taking acid reflux drugs for over one year, your chances of developing serious health risks increase exponentially. Reduce these risks by weaning yourself off proton pump inhibitors the natural way.
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Proton Pump Inhibitors Do Not End Acid Reflux
Like most pharmaceutical drugs, proton pump inhibitors do not cure disease; they only temporarily mitigate symptoms at the risk of your health. Proton pump inhibitors do not slow your production of stomach acid; they keep your body from producing any stomach acid at all while the drug is working.
This causes your digestive system to overcompensate, flooding your stomach with excess acid. This is called rebound acid reflux because it’s caused by an attempt at suppression.
Preventing your body from being able to make any stomach acid at all will hinder your natural digestive process, which can lead to nutritional deficiencies and an overgrowth of candida yeast.
Unfortunate Side Effects of Acid Reflux Drugs
Proton pump inhibitors were originally designed for very short-term use for the purposes of healing bleeding ulcers or mitigating the symptoms of a rare disorder called Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, (which causes your stomach to produce excess acid). They were never meant to be prescribed for years or even decades for mild-to-moderate gastrointestinal reflux disease.
Over time, use of these acid reflux drugs can increase your risk for the following:
Osteoporosis
Without adequate stomach acid production, you are unable to successfully absorb calcium and magnesium from food, which can more than double your risk for the development of osteoporosis.
Anemia
Iron deficiency anemia is another common side effect of proton pump inhibitors as they interfere with your absorption of iron.
Cardiovascular Disease
In addition to serious nutritional deficiencies, proton pump inhibitors also constrict your blood vessels, which can contribute to hypertension and a weakened heart.
Gastric Cancer
Your natural stomach acid provides a protective barrier against pathogens. Without this protection, bacteria (H. pylori), yeast, and fungi overgrow in your system, which can increase your risk for the development of cancer.
Acid Reflux Disease Caused by Low Stomach Acid
In most cases, acid reflux disease is caused by low stomach acid, not high. This condition is called hypochlorhydria. This epidemic of low stomach acid is caused by an overuse of NSAID pain relievers and antibiotics as well as the Standard American Diet, which is filled with highly-processed sugars, flours, additives, and preservatives that ruin digestion.
Low stomach acid causes your body to overproduce stomach acid to compensate for the lack. It also causes a loss of muscle tone in the esophageal sphincter, which causes excess acid to back up into the throat and cause those uncomfortable symptoms.
How to Wean Yourself off Proton Pump Inhibitors
Diet