long term PPI

I'm on it long term too Jackie.  I'll take a look at the link.  Lots of people take take ppi's long term.  I don't think it's that unusual.  My dad does cause he has barretts esophagus...been taking 'em for years.

Laura

sounds like it might be something to keep an eye on, though, magnesium levels.

Yes, I will talk to my Doc about this.  Thanks for posting this.

Yes, I saw this...I take two prescription Protonix daily and took one daily for years before surgery. Magnesium serum is one of the things my annual blood work checks for, and it's been normal every time, thankfully. But it's probably not a big deal to get it checked when you have blood drawn...

Lizanne

With all drugs you have to weigh the pros and cons. I was on the PPI for 17 months post-op. And I had to go back on it for a month just recently. My magnesium have always been on the low side of normal and it stayed that way this entire time. So the PPI didn't make it worse, at least.

This doesn't seem like a big deal to me. If someone is on a PPI long-term and needs to supplement magnesium, that's easy enough to do. After all, taking another pill every day has got to beat having major heartburn every day on anyone's cost-benefit scale.

It's the people who pop PPIs like candy and never go to their doctors to find out the root cause of their heartburn that aren't being sensible IMO. There are enough side-effects of taking a PPI long term that you shouldn't do it if there isn't a good reason and aren't being monitored unlike us.

I also have been unable to get off of the PPI's so I just have the doc order a magnesium lab along with everything else. Labs come back later this week, so we'll see...