Omerprazole symptoms and conditions

I have been diagnosed with a pericardial cyst and thought that the problems I have been having were related to this.....until I found this site! I have been taking omerprazole for over a year now and have had several disturbing symptoms. Heart palputations, racing heart, night sweats and hot flashes, sudden onset of nausea that lasts for about 5 to 10 minutes then goes away and horrible chest, back and rib cramping, which is the same feeling as having a severe gall bladder attack. Recently the worst has happened. In the past I have had the sweats thinking it was only menopause and chest pain thinking it was the acid refllux. We shall see....as of today I am stopping the drug to see what happens. In the past week the most severe problems have occured. I started with bronchitis and the antibiotics and prednisone the doctor put me on seemed to be having side effects which I have never had before with them. The only other medication...omerprazole. (haven't had bronchitis since BEFORE I started taking the omerprazole) After the first day I began having severe chest, back and rib cramping which seemed to worsen by the day, more so that ever before. Then came the swelling in the hands and feet until they looked like I had elephantitis. There is aching somewhat in my arms with a strange weakness. And...the heartburn became so bad that I feel like it's coming out of my mouth. So..the doctor increased the omerprazole to 40mg or up to 80mg if needed. I have been taking 40mg and it didn't seem to really cure the reflux! So I was going to increase it. Not now! I believe after reading all the posted side effects everyone has been having, most of my problems are being caused by one thing....omerprazole! I was truely believing I was having a heart attack, but since I just had ALL the tests done and was given a clean bill of health and better with the exception of the pericardial cyst, I couldn't believe this to be the problem, so back to the doctor I went. She has put me on motrin for the pain and skelaxin for the cramping which seems to be helping. But, and this is the big but, I am going to come off the omerprazole and see if this will begin to eleviate the symptoms completely. Will update this in a couple of weeks when the drug is totally out of my system. Thank-you for this site and keep posting.

My husband has been taking Omeprazole for about ten years now. About nine months ago he went in for a endoscopy and the doctor said she wanted to increase the omeprazole of 20mg 2xdaily because of the acid reflux. Several weeks after increasing this drug, my husband began getting very depressed. He losted all interest in our business and started having severe mood swings. He couldn't sleep at night, screaming with cramps in his legs, heart palpitations, blurred vision, ringing in ears, hot flashes, headaches behind the eyes. Some night I thought he was having a heart attack. It only got worse, hallucination began and horrible nightmares. He thought I was putting drugs and poison in his food. and felt like the world was against him. He became very violent toward me because of the hallucinations. We went for a follow up at his doctor and she suggested a psychiatry. Of course, my husband refused because he felt nothing was wrong, it was everyone else with the problem. His attacks got so bad, it was happen everyday, all day. We have two small children and we decided to split up for the children sake. My husband left for a week and when he left he refused to take the Omeprazole. He called me during that week and said he has felt great, he was able to sleep, no anxiety. He said to me if you are not putting drugs in my drink and food..it's got to be the omerprazole.
Of course the doctors said it's not possible...he has been off these pills for 8 days and it's unreal how this symptoms has disappeared. He is still having some side effects and withdraws. I don't know how long this will be in his system but I hope it goes away soon. THIS IS A DEVIL DRUG. He almost took his life and my too over OMEPRAZOLE. My doctor recently wrote this drug for me but I will not take it... We would never know about how serious this little pill for heartburn was if we didn't research it. When you get this drug from the pharmacy, they only list some side effects and not the serious one...How many more people out in the world is dealing with this same problem and not aware of these serious side effect. This almost destroyed our lives. WE NEED TO TAKE SOME KIND OF ACTION, SO THESE SERIOUS SIDE EFFECT HAVE TO BE LISTED..

I have been on Omerprazole since 2/1/05 and have not felt normal since. I get chest pains, and a anxious or nervousness feeling. I have had CT scans, ultrasounds, EKG, all normal. I haven't experienced these symptoms prior to taking the medication. I have noticed on this site that a lot of people have had better experiences with Prilosec, I am calling my Dr. ASAP to make the change, hope it helps, I am eager to feel like myself again.

SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTION TO LIPITOR 10mg TABLETS.

Wed 02 March 2005.

I have Type 2 Diabetes and live in the UK. In Dec 2003 I had my annual medical at the local Diabetes And Endocrine Clinic. Consequently, my Doctor (GP) had been advised by the Clinic to prescribe a Statin to reduce my cholesterol level that had been measured as '5.2 borderline raised'. Subsequently my GP had prescribed ATORVASTATIN CALCIUM (LIPITOR), 10mg tablets, 1 per day that I have taken at night.

Just over a year later, during the week commencing 7 Feb 2005, I had begun to experience fairly severe muscle pains in my chest, back, ribs and forearms. The chest pains were similar to angina pains of which I have had previous experience and because of which I take a 10mg Adalat Retard tablet twice daily plus a 75 mg Aspirin tablet once daily. However, these pains did not manifest themselves through exertion, were not abated by rest and warmth and I did not lose mobility. From the outset the bouts of pains had occurred at regular intervals and could be temporarily abated by sitting still. Because I had been carrying out an extensive DIY task that had involved twisting various tools in cramped conditions I believed that I had strained muscles in my chest, back and forearms. I began self-medication with Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. There was no apparent improvement in my condition and the bouts of pain were becoming more longer lasting, more frequent and more severe.

One week later on Wed 16 Feb 05 I had visited my GP and reported the pains. He took my blood pressure and examined my chest. His opined that the cause of the pains could be a stomach acid reflux and prescribed 1 x 20mg Omerprazole capsule nightly. I had begun this medication on the night of 16 Feb 05. It had had no noticeable effect on my condition.

The following day, Thur 17 Feb 05 I had travelled to and from the Diabetes Clinic for my 'annual' check up. During the examinations it was commented on that my pulse rate was unusually high; no comment had been made regarding my blood pressure. On that day the pains had recurred in various intensities from about 9.30am onwards and increased in severity until they had become excruciating by the time I had returned home at midday. I was able to relieve the pains by sitting immobile for about 30 minutes. There had been a lengthy recurrence in the evening.

This sequence of pain onset had been repeated daily, and the occurrences had become more frequent, until Mon 21 Feb 05 when the pains had woken me at 4.45am and had not abated until late afternoon. The pains had recurred in the late evening and continued through the night into following morning of Tue 22 Feb 05. I had not been able to fully control the pains with the analgesics that I had been using and the pains continued throughout the day.

It was at this stage the I had recalled that I had read items in the 'Diabetes UK' magazine concerning adverse reactions to statins, which I now re-read. Subsequently, I researched various Internet web sites (including this one) dealing with the same subject. What I discovered led me to decide not to take the prescribed Lipitor tablet at 11 pm on the night of Tue 22 Feb 05.

The severe pains continued throughout the evening of Tue 22 Feb 05 and into the night, preventing me from sleeping. However, by 7.30am on Wed 23 Feb 05 the pains had begun to abate and by 2pm I was pain free except for a feeling of soreness or bruising in the upper chest and back regions. During the period that I had suspected an adverse reaction to Lipitor I had frequently drunk glasses of water in half pint quantities. I did not experience any severe pains during the rest of Wed 23 Feb 05 and I was able to sleep normally during the night.

On Thurs 24 Feb 05 I had walked from my house to shop and it was a very cold day. After I had walked for about half a mile I began to experience moderate muscle pains at the right side of my upper chest, right underarm area and rear shoulder area. They did not appear to me to be angina pains, which I have experienced. These pains had abated after I had returned home. I attributed the pains to upper chest and shoulder muscle movement when I walked and moved my arms.

On Fri 25 Feb 05 after getting up from bed I felt a dull ache\stiffness in my upper chest and back muscles, which was uncomfortable but did not require analgesic relief.

Sat 26 Feb I had again walked for about a mile from my house when I began to experience muscle pains at the right side of my upper chest, right underarm area and rear right shoulder area. These pains felt less intense than on Thursday and had abated when I had returned home.

On Mon 27 and Tue 28 under the same circumstances, the pains had further diminished. On Tue morning I had some restricted movement when I turned my head fully to the right and later the same day I carried out a task that required some physical effort involving both arms and shoulders, over a couple of hours. I was able to complete the task with no ill effect.

The following day I consulted my GP and gave him a more detailed version of this report. He seemed too busy to read it and appeared sceptical of my claim that Lipitor might be the cause of the recurring pains. His revised opinion was that the pains could be attributed to angina. He wanted me to continue taking Lipitor but I advised him that I had lost confidence in statins and that I was fairly confident that I did not have angina pain (I hope that I am not proved wrong!). He asked me to discuss the matter further with the Practice Nurse, which I did.

I advised the nurse that I did not want to continue taking statins of any type and would prefer to try control by diet if necessary. The nurse was sympathetic to my point of view and advised me that she would research a possible alternative to statins. She has arranged for me to have a pre-breakfast blood test to determine my present cholesterol levels. I have not resumed taking Lipitor and I am determined not to do so.

By RJ.

HAVING ONLY TAKEN OMERPRAZOLE FOR 5 DAYS OVER A MONTH AGO I AM STILL SUFFERING FROM SIDE AFFECTS WITH MY JOINTS ESPECIALLY MY HEELS AND ELBOWS WHERE I AM HAVING DIFFICULTY WALKING ANY DISTANCE MY ACID REFLUX HAS GONE THANK GOODNESS AS I COULDNT TOLERATE TAKING THIS MEDICATION FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME I WOULD BE STRUGGLING

I have been taking Prilosec for several years without any side effects..My husband picked up script for me at pharmacy. They were out of Prilosec and filled script with Omerprazole. I have been taking this med for about a month now. Recently I have noticed muscle spasms, heart palpitations, headaches, night sweats. I asked the pharmacist yesterday if this could be related to this medication. She stated that yes this could be related. I will be switching back to Prilosec ASAP.