Hi Everyone,
I have been a member for a while now, but I believe this is my first post. I was diagnosed with PSC in November of 2016.
My primary care physician suggested prescribing Omeprazole to help with some significant heartburn I have been having as of late. I have been hesitant because of having PSC, but the heartburn is getting bad enough and frequent enough that I am considering filling the prescription.
I was hoping to get some opinions on this, in particular from those that may be taking the medication or, conversely, anyone who was told by their physician that taking it was not a good idea.
Really looking for some relief, but don’t want to get it at the expense of my liver. Is heartburn something that is common with PSC?
Thank you.
Steve
Hello Steve,
Thanks for your post and welcome to the group. Acid Re-flux (heartburn) is one of the side effects that come along with liver disease especially PSC. It’s perfectly fine to take the Omneprazole and I encourage you to do so. My drug of choice for this is Pantoprazole Sodium 40 Mg commonly called Protonix. It keeps my stomach settled better than the other. I started taking shortly after diagnosis in 2011 and have been taking it ever since even post-transplant.
One thing with PSC that happens sometimes is what I call a “bile dump” . With the strictures in the bile ducts and the bile flowing along pretty slow at times, some days all of the sudden the gates open and all this bile dumps into your stomach at one time. Well on top of the diarrhea that comes along with that you often can get some pretty serious heart burn especially at night. I hope this gives a little perspective on the doctors reasoning for prescribing it. It doesn’t affect the progression of the disease but it does help in keeping the acid production under control.
Mark
PSC 2011 / Liver Transplant 2015
Thank you, Mark. I filled the subscription about five days ago and it has
helped immensely with the heartburn…basically went from an 8 to a zero in
terms of discomfort, with no adverse side effects as far as I can tell.
Glad to hear that things are working better for you Steve. We are here for you if anything else arises.
Mark