Omeprazole and omeprazole

I am taking omeprezole & blood pressure medication & am having muscle cramps in my legs & feet mostly, but even in my chest (Thought I was having a heart attack).I am experiencing severe fatigue & like one of the previous posts, I'm having difficulty even holding the steering wheel of my truck.It's difficult for me to stay awake ,especially if I relax for more than 5 minutes.I assumed it was the blood pressure meds, & stopped taking them recently to see if that would help.(It didn't) I'm going to stop all synthetic meds ASAP & hope for recovery.I've been taking these for 3 years & am experiencing many of the same symptoms as other posts,including swollen breasts (I'm a male)...THANK GOD FOR THIS SITE!!! I'll keep you posted on my progress. Best to all fellow sufferers.P.S: My doctor thinks I have more symptoms than "a 90 year old lady" (I'm 54)God Bless, & I'm praying for you all.

Over the past few months, I have been experiencing a variety of very bothersome symptoms and after trying to think of what medications I have recently started, the only two that I could come up with were Omeprazole and Celebrex. My symptoms are these: I have difficulty getting a "deep" breath. When I Iay down to sleep at night, I feel like I can hardly breathe. My face and neck are very swollen. I wake up in the morning with bright red cheeks and hot to the touch. I am extremely tired and depressed lately but have just thought that it was because of my increasingly bad health (chronic lower back pain and burning pain in my legs that has not "let up" for nearly 12 years now. I have recently gone on disability and this has been a very depressing experience for me after having worked and enjoyed working my entire life since I graduated high school). However, the extreme lethargy and depression I have been feeling has just been for about the past 6 to 9 months, and I started taking Omeprazole approximately November 2008. Other symptoms are swollen legs and feet....when I am out on a very hot summer day, my fingers become so swollen that by the time I get home, I cannot remove my rings from my fingers! I have begun to wake up in the morning with the most debilitating leg cramps! I have to hop out of bed and walk around to make them stop. My hip bones hurt so bad sometimes that I can hardly stand it! I have pain all over my body...it feels like it's in my bones. My joints are swollen and painful....I can hardly lift my leg and bend my knees to even get into my shower. My feet feel numb sometimes. I just ache all over! By the way.....I am a female...53 years old. Please.....has anyone else out there experienced any of these symptoms and have attributed them either to Omeprazole or Celebrex?? I feel like I'm about to lose my mind (by the way...that's another side effect I just thought of...I have a terrible time concentrating or focusing on anything! My paperwork is so backed up that soon the creditors will be after me!). But I just feel like I could lay down and sleep away the entire day and not give it a second thought. It is taking all the energy I have just to commit to typing out this posting! PLEASE HELP!! HAS ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE EXPERIENCED THE SAME SIDE EFFECTS I HAVE AND ARE BLAMING IT ON OMEPRAZOLE (OR CELEBREX?). I am on a variety of medications because of 3 failed back surgeries, however, these are the only 2 medications that I have RECENTLY begun taking. THANKS FOR ANY HELP THAT ANYONE CAN GIVE ME!!

After reading all of the comments, I am embarrassed to say that I have taken omeprazole for the past 2 years. Originally, I began taking it for nausea from GERD. I began taking it soon after the death of my cousin (as I figured the anxiety from her death caused my stomach issues). I began to become depressed shortly after, which I also attributed to her death, financial issues, etc. However, when life got better I was still depressed and anxious. Two years passed and I still couldn't figure out why I felt so bad mentally. Not to mention I was mildly nauseous most of the time and NEVER had a normal appetite. I would only know it was time to eat when I felt faint. Light-headedness, stomach cramps and lethargy were also side-effects that I experienced almost daily. The worst part was that I didn't know if the nausea was caused by my stomach issues or by the omeprazole. It was obviously the omeprazole. About 2 months ago I switched to Prevacid which caused much less nausea but many of the other side effects were still there although a little less. I weened myself off completely (which I would recommend to anyone) and I actually feel like my old self again mentally and physically. I didn't realize how low my energy was until this last week that I've been off those meds. I'm actually HAPPY again, I WANT TO EAT something, I have ENERGY, and no light-headedness or stomach pain at all. It saddens me to think that I spent over the last 2 years feeling this way needlessly and thinking that I was crazy. There ARE other alternatives to acid reflux, GERD, etc out there that are much safer and more tolerable. If any of you are experiencing some of the symptoms that I or others have described, explore other options before you just "get used to" feeling like crap.

I have been taking Omeprazole for nearly 3 years and am experiencing severe fatigue, stabbing pains in toes, tingling or numbness in toes and sometimes in fingers too, also unsteadiness. I was prescribed it because I am taking aspirin daily due to raised blood pressure (also taking something for the blood pressure! which is now back to a very good reading). I also take Naprosyn for arthritis but only when it is very bad as I don't like taking that every day. Omeprazole is supposed to help prevent possible stomach ulcers when one is taking aspirin and also Naprosyn, but I am beginning to think that the constant side effects from Omeprazole are worse than the stomach ulcers!!
I read in the press very recently that Omeprazole can cause a deficiency of Vitamin B12 in the body and a lack of B12 can cause many of the side effects listed for Omeprazole. Does anyone have any knowledge reference Omeprazole and Vitamin B12? From the posts I have read on this site, it does appear that very many people are experiencing similar side effects from this drug. What are the alternatives?

I have recently suffered from severe relux and have been left with a sore croaky throat. My GP put me on a drug, one of the prazole range and I suffered severe diarrhea and has now changed the medication to Omeprazole and the diarrhea still continues is this quite common as I feel I will have to go back to the GP and hopefully try something else whatever there is.

I was wondering if anyone who has discontinued using Omeprazole has completely recovered from all the side effects? I've been using it for almost 7 months and have had pretty much all effects that people have listed except for itching.

Muscle /joint pain, Chest pain, vivid nightmares, have had an ablation to cure high speed heart rhythm.
Stopped taking Omeprazole as I was having excessive pain though the arthritic swelling was almost zero.
Now feel MUCH! better
N. K.
Wiltshire

I've been taking omeprazole for years and all this time I've been getting worst from my condition, my digestive system shots down by 3pm and I don't feel better until I wake up the next day. Headaches, fatigue, joint pain, my heart feeling as if it were in my throat when I go to bed, depression, nausea, very sensitive to smells, excessive gas so bad that it makes my lower back ache, feeling like I need to use the restroom all day long but not being able to use it until my normal time in the morning and having no sex drive at all, these symptoms are part of my everyday life. 5 days ago I stop taking it but, I'm beside myself the heartburn and the reflux is worst than when I started to take it. I don't think there's a cure.

I just started Omeprazole two weeks ago and am having headaches, extreme blurred vision, upset stomach, gas and constipation. I was depressed all day today which is also unusual for me. I will be asking my doctor to take me off this drug - unfortunately I do need something to treat the acid reflux so I will be researching nexium.

Good luck to anyone who has to take this - oh and I too have had the nightmares and can't sleep.

Hello,
have had partial gastrectomy for cancer nearly 5 years ago and was prescribed Omeprazole 30mg twice a day. I can say that I have not felt well since. I suffer nausea, pain eye problems and joint pains. Doctor says that Omeprazole cannot be the cause. I am going to stop taking it to see if symptoms improve.

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.

Stay away from this !!!!!!. I took this for 2.5 months and during the middle of it I started to feel nausea and fatigue. I than started to get light headed during the day for no reason. I started to relate the pills to my symptoms and stopped. I have been off for 2 months now and I still experience light hotheadedness. It is now just starting to get better. Hopefully this will go totally away over time?
I also believe this brought on Anxiety as well?
Anyone else experience this?

A.

I've been on Omeprazole for about 8 weeks now for acid reflux and for the last six weeks or so I've suffered from a very dry mouth (constantly drinking water!!), sore throat, occasional headaches and insomnia in that I'm finding it increasingly hard to get off to sleep. When I do get to sleep and I wake up I feel like death, my mouth, throat and nose feel like they're full of mucus that won't shift.

For the last week or so I've felt like my mouth and lips are swollen up - I've only just read the side effects on the leaflet with the tablets and several of my symptoms are listed on there so I'm thinking it's not psychological, has anyone else had a similar allergic-type reaction?

My GP has advised me to come off the Omeprazole when I finish my current box, but having read the side effects I'm coming off them tomorrow.

How long do the side effects stay with you?? I have been off for 3 weeks now and still experience light headed and fogginess. Is this normal? Everything else has tested normal. Please Reply

Thanks
Andy

I just googled "Prilosec & weakness with sweating" and came up with this site. I have been on OTC Prilosec for at least 2 yrs. taking it off & on...mostly on (everyday). I have been getting more ill over the last 2 months than I have ever been! I am diagnosed with Firbomyalgia & CFS, so I keep blaming my worsening symptoms on those two diseases. My doctor has done so many tests & can't find any answers. I am so glad I found this site. My symptoms of severe weakness, & profuse sweating, with many heart palps, may be coming from the Prilosec. I am going off of it starting today to see if I get any relief. I will have to find something else for my acid reflux...no more medicine!! If anyone knows of a natural product or food to lessen the acid, I would love to hear!

I have been on omeprazole for 2 months. I noticed I would get dizzy and hot flashes. I quit taking it and have been off for 7 days. I'm wondering how long it takes for these side effects to stop?? I feel light headed all the time sometimes I feel good and then I get dizzy again?? Please Respond??

Thanks

I have been taking Omeprazole for 2 months! I did experience relief from my acid reflux. Here are my side effects: Extremely dry mouth, blurred vision, itchy eyes that feel like sandpaper. My eyes are extremely sensitive to light. Just two days ago I woke up with spider like webs that appear in the front of my eyes. My eye doctor told me that the fat-like jelly substance in my eyes has torn to cause this effect in my eyes. I also see quick flashes of light. My eye doctor says this is a side effect of this medication. My whole body feels like all the acid in my whole body has dried up!

I will no longer take this medication. I will find alternative help for my acid reflux! I do not want to lose my eyesight!

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 taking the generic Omeprazole for about 12 days. First few days i had no symptoms whatsoever. I thought i was in heaven, until now. I am now suffering from lower back pain, shooting pains through out my upper body, chest pressure, stiff neck, and head pressure through out the whole day. It's funny that this medicine will cure one symptom but will give you many others.

Having been on omeprazole on and off for 15 years I have finally come off it.
My Gerd symptoms were worse at the end of the working day, probably due to me being a dentist, not an ideal posture for a Gerd sufferer. I could control my symptoms with 10mg daily but still got occasional side effects. The main one was slight diziness/ visual disturbance esp with bright light.
Have been using DGL 20 mins before my evening meal and just take magnesium hydroxide based antacid at night if required. Feel it is better to let the bodies natural buffering sort out the acid-base balance.
It has taken 3 months of cold turkey and the odd bout of severe symptoms but seem to be coming out the other side and now have several days at a time with no symptoms at all.

Relative with lung cancer was given Omeprazole 20 mg. once a day. On the second day, he started coughing up huge amounts of red blood which continued for hours and lessening throughout the day. That evening he questioned if the new prescription could have caused the bleeding and decided to discontinue its use. By the third day and since then (this is day six), no blood at all. None of my online searches suggested bleeding as a possible side effect.

I have been taking Omeprazole since December 2007 now so 2 and a half months.

I had the dose increased to 40mg 3 weeks ago as 20mg wasn't curing the burning in my throat.

For a few weeks now i have had increasing vertigo/dizziness and palpitations. I only linked the 2 to the medication just yesterday, googled it just now and confirmed my suspicions to the Omeprazole.

Other feeling i have had since taking this medication...

Severe dizziness
vertigo
palpitations
headaches/migraines
weakness
fatigue
sweating
nausea
bloating
stomach cramps
visual problems
intolerance to bright lights
aching joints
chest pain

Now my question to myself is do i come off the tablets and endure the misery of my acid reflux? surely there must be something else we can take for our stomach problems that don't cause these awful side effects.
Anyone tried anything else that worked and didn't make them unwell?

I have had diarrhea and a constant headache on one side of my head since starting Omeprazole. I've taken Tylenol and even migraine medication but this just eased the pain. It is 24 hours a day. I think I'd rather take a chance with the heartburn.

BEEN ON OMEPRAZOLE FOR A FEW YEARS,BUT RECENTLY GOT DIAGNOSED WITH H-PYLORI STOMACH BUG,THIS BUG CAUSES ULSERS AND GIVES YOU SEVERE HEARTBURN.I WISH MY DOCTOR HAD THE BRAINS TO CHECK ME FOR IT WHEN I FIRST WENT TO HIM FOR HELP WITH MY HEARTBURN. HOWEVER I HAVE JUST FINISHED A COURSE OF ANTI-BIOTICS AND HAVE STOPPED TAKING OMEPRAZOLE.MY STOMACH IS NOT AS BLOATED AND MY SEVERE FACIAL RASH IS CLEARING UP.I THOUGHT IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE STOMACH BUG THAT WAS CAUSING THESE SYMPTOMS,BUT 7 DAYS AGO I STARTED TAKING OMEPRAZOLE AGAIN AS MY HEARTBURN WAS BACK.SUDDENLY MY FACE ERUPTED AND I WAS BLOATED AGAIN.I STOPPED THEM AGAIN AND ALREADY IM GETTING BETTER. MY HEARTBURN IS STILL TRYING TO GET ME BUT IM TAKING REMEGEL SWEETS THAT ARE SOLD IN MY LOCAL NEWSAGENTS AND SEEM TO BE WORKING FOR ME.I HAVE READ ALL THE SIDE EFFECTS LISTED HERE AND I AM SHOCKED THESE TABLETS ARE STILL ON THE GO. I BELIEVE OUR STOMACH ACID SHOULD NOT BE MESSED WITH AS THIS GETS OUR FOOD OUT OUR SYSTEMS QUICK ENOUGH TO SAVE BAD TOXINS ESPECIALLY RED MEAT POSIONING OUR BLOOD.

I have been taking OMEPROZOLE for around 9 months for Barretts Asophegus reflux.
In general I was beginning to feel I was very ill with symptoms mainly: hot flushes, my face was burning for a few seconds, dizziness, stomach cramps top right mainly, feelings of diareah, and dry mouth.
Has anybody else experienced any of these symptoms... my GP is sending me for a scan on my Gall Bladder, but in my mind all these cramps are associated with Omeprozole... I cannot stop taking it or I get severe pain between my shoulder blades with reflux burning.
Maureen.

I have been taking Omeprazole for about 2 months and since the start of taking it I have had stomach cramps that range from slight discomfort to buckling pain that is almost unbearable, my hands and feet swell weekly and it was substantial enough for my wife to notice without question, also I have been experiencing nausea more frequently and more severe the longer I continue to take the medicine, I have occasional joint pain most often at night making it sometimes impossible to sleep, I've struggled with depression before and am not sure if the medicine is causing it or not but my wife says she has noticed a change in my attitude since being on Omeprazole, As far as other side effects I have developed a rash on my inner thigh that seems to coincide with starting the medication, also I have had sharp headaches behind my eyes probably about twice a week lasting anywhere from ten minutes to half the day

I have been taking OMEprazole for approximately 2.5 months and recently I feel dizzy to the point I want to get a doctor appointment to have an MRI or CT scan on my head - my fear is that I have a brain tumor. I feel dizzy as if I am going to pass out, occassional sharp pains in my head and I feel sick to my stomach. I also feel extremely tired and recently like the left side of my body is weak.

I am going to stop taking Omeprazole today to see if this is the side effect of the medicine. Anyone have similar experiences. If so, how soon do they stop after you stop taking the medicine? I was concinced I had a brain tumor - not so sure now.

PS I am a very healthy 50 year old who is a marathon runner. Lately I have sucked on my runs due to exhaustion.

After taking it for 6 days, Omeprazole caused me to suffer arthralgia. That translates to joint pain (knees, elbows, wrists, shoulders, neck, back), swelling (hands and feet), stiffness (all over), weakness (especially in the hands), and fatigue. I am having problems driving because it hurts to hold the steering wheel and exert enough pressure to turn the wheel, and overall I can barely move. I found a case study on the net that examined five other people who also got arthralgia, and the symptoms went away 10-18 days after stopping the drug. This is only my first day off Omeprazole, so I hope things will clear up for me quickly.

i have started omez a week back . all seems to be ok except sex drive and loss of mood for sex.

I have always taken Prilosec but when I asked the dr for a new prescription , I was given the generic drug. I didnt take notice as I never have any side effect from any drug. Shortly after taking it, I started experiencing irregular heartbeats and pounding of my heart. I ended up in the emergency room but my ekg's , x'rays were fine. I ended up getting so anxious and nervous , the dr gave me valiem for my anxiety. I also experienced insomnia, hot flashes. Didnt know what was going on until three weeks later, I started reading on side effect of this drug and found out that a lot of people were experiencing the same symptoms I was. I immediately quit taking the drug and within a few days my symptoms started going away. I still get an occasion jerking on my stomach but its a lot better than it was when I was on the drug and didnt even know this was causing it.

My husband was on Prilosec for several years, and switched to Omeprazole by our prescription plan. I don't know if the medication is the cause, but he started experiencing chest pain, and occasional shortness of breath, not the same as the acid reflux discomfort. He went to the Dr. and was tested by blood tests, EKG and chest x-ray. All were normal, so stress thallium test was ordered. He passed the stress test with no problem, but had a small abnormality on the thallium scan. He was referred to a cardiologist because of this and a heart cath was performed, also normal so thallium scan was a false positive. The cardiologist changed his medication to Nexium. Could this all be due to switching to Omeprazole? I don't know, but the timing is suspicious.