Omeprazole: Have you explored other options first?

Omeprazole comes from a family of Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI’s), or otherwise known as, motility enhancers or hustlers! Their primary job is to move food out of the stomach as quickly as possible as the stomach is the problem area.

• HCL is produced in the stomach and has a pH of 0.8, making it highly acidic.
• Water has a pH of 7 which is nice and neutral and bang in the middle.
• Blood is more alkaline at pH 7.4
• The acid in the stomach between meals should be around 1-3 pH

So, Omeprazole works by mopping up the acid as to not create or cause heartburn or reflux. This assumes that a person has too much acid.

What it does not take into account are the following:

These drugs suppress the acid for as long as you take the drug, making them an essential part of your medical make-up. Stop taking them and feel the acid come back with vengeance! All these drugs do is suppress the symptoms which is the main strategy for many of these drugs. Designed to keep your symptoms at bay but never really get to the aetiology of why they are occurring; enter PPIs!

The stomach MUST be ACIDIC. When the stomach becomes alkaline the environment changes and the function of the stomach changes dramatically. Whilst touted as safe and effective, long-term use of these drugs are detrimental to the gastrointestinal tract! Malabsorption, Maldigestion and Malnutrition are just the start of the journey to ill health and disease.

We want to cure the problem which means finding out why the symptoms started in the first place. Often this takes time and effort and a pill can seem like the easy way out. The pill allows a person not to look at the lifestyle and nutrition.

“I take Omeprazole, antacids, Gaviscon so I can still drink alcohol, black coffee, etc.” Well, the question is…for how long?! Get to the root cause because anything less should not be acceptable!

If you are currently suffering from acid reflux, click here to book a complimentary 30 min call.

In the meantime, quit the black instant coffee and cut the wine!