Omerprazole withdrawal while on Xanax

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I have been on omerprazole for over 6 years.  I was put on it when I had H. Pylori and the doctor kept me on it after that as she said I had gastritis - Which was caused by her keeping me on 3200 mg ibuprofen for 17 months for severe neck arthritis. 

 

I had wanted to come off of it as I had found out a couple years ago that omerprazole interacts with xanax and I was concerned about it.

 

I was advised to stay on it until after I finished my xaanx taper so I had been putting it off. 

 

I am so sensitive to so many meds and there was only 1 brand of omerprazole that I could take and a few months ago they discontinued the med.  I had some 10 mg pills so I tapered from 20 mg a day to 10 mg a day for 92 days and had to stop the omeprazole.  After 3 days, I started taking 10 mg pepcid hoping it would help if I had any rebound acid.  It helped for about a month and then I noticed that my blood pressure was getting pretty low, 77/54, 80/57, 89/65 etc.  (Before I lost 73 pounds in the last year and got off of the omerprazole, my BP was on the higher side)  Then other parts of the day it would be normal.  I had a pharmacist say the pepcid can cause low BP and to try to use tums etc. Omeprazole withdrawal can also cause low blood pressure.  Problem now is that I feel I need  the pepcid as I am feeling like crap and I have still taken 1 10mg a day for the last 2 days.  I also think the pepcid has been helping my histamine issues some which are severe.

 

I have been having really bad symptoms the last several days.  Weakness, lightheaded, a couple days ago my chest and back were hurting so bad it made me cry for hours.  I have been checked out at the ER in January and February and they found no heart issues, so I am sure this is omeprazole withdrawal.

 

After 42 days of being off the omeprazole, I am dealing with rebound acid and my stomach hurts, weakness, body aches etc. 

 

Question is - has anyone else gone through this and what did you do to feel better and how long did the withdrawals last from this nasty drug?

 

I had to go up in my xanax dose as the omerprazole was keeping the xanax in my system longer, so I was putting xanax in my body when there was already xanax in it from the previous dose but had to take it to keep from having interdose.  Vicious cycle!

 

I want to get well and get better so I can start my xanax taper again,  I want off all this crap..

 

Any information is appreciated.

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I was not on anything when tapering omeprazole but the rebound acid lasted for a few weeks. It was awful. I still have GERD and need to use something but I chose plain European Gaviscon liquid. Some days I don’t need it, some days I need it a couple of times. It helps. I am also pregnant so that might be making my reflux worse. When trying to quit it was awful even with a good diet and now I can handle even chocolate with only some symptoms.

 

To be honest before my setback I would take a pill once every 2-3 days as needed, I was on a low dose. Then my first trimester of pregnancy kind of forced me to take it daily for about two weeks, then I started taking it every 2-3 days again, then stopped for a month but was hit with rebound and had to go back but the next attempt to quit was successful, I took only a few pills to calm the rebound down and the last time I took it was in weekly January I think. I decided to quit because after my setback from another med omeprazole started giving me increased anxiety. I didn’t want to be depended on any drugs that cross the BBB.

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I was not on anything when tapering omeprazole but the rebound acid lasted for a few weeks. It was awful. I still have GERD and need to use something but I chose plain European Gaviscon liquid. Some days I don’t need it, some days I need it a couple of times. It helps. I am also pregnant so that might be making my reflux worse. When trying to quit it was awful even with a good diet and now I can handle even chocolate with only some symptoms.

 

To be honest before my setback I would take a pill once every 2-3 days as needed, I was on a low dose. Then my first trimester of pregnancy kind of forced me to take it daily for about two weeks, then I started taking it every 2-3 days again, then stopped for a month but was hit with rebound and had to go back but the next attempt to quit was successful, I took only a few pills to calm the rebound down and the last time I took it was in weekly January I think. I decided to quit because after my setback from another med omeprazole started giving me increased anxiety. I didn’t want to be depended on any drugs that cross the BBB.

 

Thank you for your reply.  Things have gotten so bad with my blood pressure being low and I have also been dealing with lightheadedness, chest tightness and my lower legs are so weak a lot that today I just had to get some Prilosec OTC and took a 20 mg tablet.  It did seem to help my stomach hurting some but I do not know that it has helped anything else yet but it has only been around 4 hours since I took it.  I do not know what to do but I am scared about the BP being low the most, today it has been 78/63 once and mostly a little under 90 and a little under 60 but anything under 90/60 is low blood pressure and can be dangerous.  My husband is so frustrated with me because there is always something wrong wtih me and I never know what to do to feel better. 

 

I hope you continue to do well not taking the omerprazole.  I think I am going to try to do as you did and take it every 2-3 days for a few days and see if it helps.  I hate that all these meds hurt us so bad!

 

Take care and congrats on your pregnancy!

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I have to jump in here, although I haven't been active on the forum for a long while.

 

I have been totally off benzos for 8 years now and am fully healed and so grateful. I began to have stomach issues last year and was given omeprazole.  Things progressed and later I was found to have h pylori gastritis.  I went through quadruple therapy for that and tests show it has been eradicated. I was on omeprazole 40 mgm daily for about 6 months total.

 

Now comes getting off the omeprazole.  I have been off for about 30 days, stopping cold turkey per my GI doctor's advice. OMG.  Everyone talks about the return of acid reflux, and I do have some of that, but my other symptoms resemble a sort of benzo withdrawal all over again!

 

I have headaches, sinus issues, blood pressure spikes, anxiety, dizziness, tiredness, flu type symptoms, and just an overall feeling of unwellness. Is this really all down to omeprazole?  It's hard to believe isn't it?  And of course, just like benzo withdrawal, it's something that my doctor dismisses.

 

Can anyone else validate my experience?  I don't know what else to do but go to ground again just as I did during benzo withdrawal and wait for it to pass.  Deja vu all over again.  Sucks. 

 

XX

She

 

 

 

 

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I have to jump in here, although I haven't been active on the forum for a long while.

 

I have been totally off benzos for 8 years now and am fully healed and so grateful. I began to have stomach issues last year and was given omeprazole.  Things progressed and later I was found to have h pylori gastritis.  I went through quadruple therapy for that and tests show it has been eradicated. I was on omeprazole 40 mgm daily for about 6 months total.

 

Now comes getting off the omeprazole.  I have been off for about 30 days, stopping cold turkey per my GI doctor's advice. OMG.  Everyone talks about the return of acid reflux, and I do have some of that, but my other symptoms resemble a sort of benzo withdrawal all over again!

 

I have headaches, sinus issues, blood pressure spikes, anxiety, dizziness, tiredness, flu type symptoms, and just an overall feeling of unwellness. Is this really all down to omeprazole?  It's hard to believe isn't it?  And of course, just like benzo withdrawal, it's something that my doctor dismisses.

 

Can anyone else validate my experience?  I don't know what else to do but go to ground again just as I did during benzo withdrawal and wait for it to pass.  Deja vu all over again.  Sucks. 

 

XX

She

 

Hi She - First,  I want to congratulate you on completing your taper 8 years ago and I am so happy that you have been healed for a long time now!  I know that was not easy and I am so glad that you have done well.  That is so encouraging.

 

I can validate your experience 100% and I am so sorry that you are experiencing the omeprazole withdrawal, some people claim it is not real, but it is!  Here is a site that shows a lot of information on it that shows all the symptoms that you are having.  It does state that there have not been many studies on this and that there should be. 

 

https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2018/04/30/omeprazole-withdrawal-symptoms/#:~:text=That%20said%2C%20poor%20sleep%20and%2For%20unmanaged%20inflammation%20will,and%2For%20noticeable%20within%20the%20first%20week%20of%20discontinuation.

 

Having stomach pain and finding out I had h pylori/gastritis is how I was prescribed omeprazole too.  I did the quadruple therapy as well and then had my gallbladder removed as well.  After that my doctor told me to keep taking it, that was 6 years or so ago.  Big mistake.  Because there is an interaction between xanax and omeprazole that keeps the xanax in the blood longer, I tried to wait to wean off the omeprazole but due to me being so sensitive to meds now, I can only take one brand of omeprazole and they discontinued it so I got thrown into having to stop.  I am very lucky that I can take the OTC prilosec or I do not know what I would do. 

 

This is what I posted yesterday after I looked back over the last several months"

 

 

November 7th, 2022 – started taking 10 mg omeprazole from 20 mg a day – had just up dosed Xanax to .375 on Nov 6th as I had been dealing with shakiness and tremors for weeks.

 

January-  two times had distorted vision issues and right hand was numb and headache, Jan 29th, confused, vision etc  that lasted for an hour, had no omeprazole a few weeks at that time

 

Was in omeprazole withdrawal when I was on the 10 mg and did not know that, thought it was from Xanax. 

 

Feb 19th updosed to .5 mg due to what I thought was Xanax sxs but it was omeprazole withdrawal sxs, this was day 14 of no omeprazole at all

 

Day 40 of no omeprazole wd started to get really bad

 

Mar 23rd, got OTC Prilosec – that was the 46th day of no omeprazole and I was suffering, both lower legs were weak and hurt, lower and upper arms hurting, terrible back pain, extremely dizzy and lightheaded, felt like I was going to fall alot, chest hurting, anxiety, weight loss that I could not stop, constipation or diarrhea, feeling depressed which I do not get often, horrible migraines and some were ocular headaches, stomach aches and sometimes burning, pains in my sides, gas, nights when I could not sleep, BP issues, shakiness and tremors (have had this with xanax WD but had it with omeprazole WD as well)

 

Have been going back and forth with the omeprazole and Pepcid since March 23rd.

 

Figured out April 29th I have been in omeprazole withdrawal since at least day 7 of being on 10 mg – Nov 7th

 

New plan is to take omeprazole a day or 2 and Pepcid for 2 and go back and forth like that and see if that keeps me from going into withdrawal.  If it does not, will have to take the omeprazole every day.  Should be able to take it every other or every 2 days since it stays in the system for 3-5 days.  For me it seems I need to have it every 2 days

 

 

I had no idea that when I dropped from 20 mg to 10 mg prescription omeprazole, that I would go into withdrawal but after going back through each page of my journal, I see now that I did.  It did not help that my CNS had taken a hit in August (I jumped and reinstated within 50 hours) and I thought what I was going through since November was from that but it was not. 

 

Everything I had been told by the medical community and from all I read online said to drop to half the dose you are taking and do that for a couple weeks and then go every other day for a couple weeks on the lower dose of 10 mg, and then stop.  I dropped to 10 mg and stayed on that dose for 92 days and when I ran out, I stopped completely.  3 days later, I started to take pepcid to keep from getting the rebound acid.

 

It is interesting that it took 30 days for you to get hit with WD too, mine was around 38-40 days.  It seems it does take a while for the WD to hit.  It does take a while for the omeprazole to leave the system. From all I have read, this med can stay in your system for 3-5 days before it starts to exit and when you take it for an extended time, I am guessing it takes even longer to leave the system.  I thought that I would get hit with the rebound acid but have had very little of that, in fact, I have never had acid reflux in my life.  I totally agree that the sxs you write about and my own are very much like benzo withdrawal. That is part of the reason that it took me months to figure out what I am going through is omerprazole withdrawal. 

 

It is hard to believe, and I am so sorry you are living this nightmare too.  I so appreciate the fact that you posted as you also validate my experience. 

 

For me, and you may find this true as well, I believe the only way to get better is to start the omeprazole again and stay on it until the WD sxs go away, then I plan to get the omeprazole capsules that have the beads in them and start to taper by taking out maybe 2 beads a week until I get down to 0.  This will take a while to do but I feel it is the only way to get off of this med and not suffer.  I am on day 3 taking the 20 mg prilosec OTC and it is helping, but it does take time for all these sxs to get better.  Today has been really bad with dizziness and feeling like I am going to fall and the headaches are bad!  I plan to taper this once I am done with my xanax taper, dealing with 2 withdrawals at once would be too much as they are both very painful and the sxs can be very severe.

 

I am not surprised that your GI doctor dismissed your sxs as omerprazole withdrawal, many do not acknowledge this is real and it is sad because here we are again, dealing with these terrible sxs and having to suffer.

 

What dose were you on?  I was on 20 mg and then dropped to 10 mg to 0.  This was the wrong way to do this. 

 

I have talked to some people who use the bead method and it has worked for them and they are off this med and did not have issues once they were done since they went slow.

 

I am sorry this post was so long, but I wanted to be sure you knew you are not alone.  This is crazy that this med can put us through hell the way benzo's do. 

 

Take care

 

Tol 

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Thank you so much Tol!  Sorry you are suffering so much too, but misery does love company.  Sounds like you have a really good plan in place to get off Xanax first and then omeprazole.  Xanax was my benzo too and it's short half life makes it challenging for sure. 

 

I was on omeprazole 40 mgm timed release daily for about 6 months total.  I've been off 5 weeks now. GI doc did give me the prescription famotadine 40 mgm, which I've just started taking.  I want to give that a shot first before considering going back on the omeprazole and tapering.  I do plan to taper the famotadine when I get to that point of getting off.

 

Thank you again for sharing the details of your experience. Your detailed post contains a lot of helpful information. Your validation helps tremendously!

 

So I will soldier on, now knowing that omeprazole withdrawal is a real thing.  That by itself is a relief to know and I can cope with the rest.

 

Good luck on your benzo withdrawal journey.  It is one of the toughest situations in life, but you will be successful and reclaim your life.  Never doubt that!  Sending you good vibes for healing and strength for the journey.

 

XX

She

 

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Thank you so much Tol!  Sorry you are suffering so much too, but misery does love company.  Sounds like you have a really good plan in place to get off Xanax first and then omeprazole.  Xanax was my benzo too and it's short half life makes it challenging for sure. 

 

I was on omeprazole 40 mgm timed release daily for about 6 months total.  I've been off 5 weeks now. GI doc did give me the prescription famotadine 40 mgm, which I've just started taking.  I want to give that a shot first before considering going back on the omeprazole and tapering.  I do plan to taper the famotadine when I get to that point of getting off.

 

Thank you again for sharing the details of your experience. Your detailed post contains a lot of helpful information. Your validation helps tremendously!

 

So I will soldier on, now knowing that omeprazole withdrawal is a real thing.  That by itself is a relief to know and I can cope with the rest.

 

Good luck on your benzo withdrawal journey.  It is one of the toughest situations in life, but you will be successful and reclaim your life.  Never doubt that!  Sending you good vibes for healing and strength for the journey.

 

XX

She

 

Hi She,

 

I am glad that my post was helpful to you!  I was on the time released as well.  Started at 40, then I dropped it to 20 and stayed there for around 6 years and then dropped to 10 a few months ago and then to 0. 

 

I really hope the famotidine helps you and you do not have to go back on the omeprazole.  For me, when I stopped the omeprazole, I took famotidine/pepcid and by day 40 the withdrawal was bad and by day 46 I had to get prilosec and start taking that to get any relief.  I have still been trying to go back and forth with the pepcid and prilosec and as of now, I have figured out that I have to take the prilosec every day as when I take the pepcid now, I am getting breakthrough omeprazole withdrawal.  It is crazy that this med is so hard to get off of but it is.

 

Keep me posted on how you are doing. 

 

Knowing that omeprazole withdrawal is a real thing is a relief as it helps to know what to do to try to get better,  I had been blaming it on the xanax and kept having to increase the xanax dose.  Now I am feeling some better with the prilosec and will not have to increase the xanax dose anymore.  I hated doing that as it means it will take me longer to get off of the xanax.  Having to figure out all this ourselves it hard and we should not have to do it but we do.  I wish doctors would not perscribe medications that they do not know how to deprescribe. 

 

Good luck to you as well!  I hope you get better soon. 

 

Thank you, I agree.  I have been tapering for over 4 years trying to get off the xanax.  It has been hell.  Thank you for the encouragement! 

 

Tol