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Why Did Prilosec Disappear From Drug Stores?

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http://www.mercola.com/2005/mar/16/prilosec.htm

 

Why Did Prilosec Disappear From Drug Stores?

 

Prilosec

 

Heartburn drugs are among the most widely prescribed medications in

the United States, producing more than $13 billion in sales in 2004.

Yet America's heartburn problem is turning out to be much more

frequent than Proctor & Gamble--which markets popular heartburn drug

Prilosec OTC--expected. It seems supplies of Prilosec OTC have fallen

considerably short of consumer demand.

 

In light of this underestimation, Proctor & Gamble and its partner

AstraZeneca, a British drug company that owns the rights to Prilosec

OTC, are working to increase production and rectify the shortage.

However, many pharmacy shelves remain void of the drug, and

replenishment is not expected to take place until at least April 2005.

 

Effects of the Prilosec Shortage

 

*

 

AstraZeneca's bottom line has improved: The drug company has

increased sales of Nexium, a more expensive prescription heartburn

drug it also sells. In fact, the two drugs are fundamentally

identical, except that Nexium costs more than five times the amount

Prilosec OTC does.

*

 

On the other hand, the shortage has been costly for health plans

whose patients have turned to prescription drugs to cure heartburn.

*

 

And for consumers, the shortage serves as an inconvenience more

than a crisis, as heartburn is not a fatal condition and can be

treated via other means.

 

Moreover, doctors and patients who seek a reliable supply of Prilosec

or Nexium can get it only with a prescription. This is because in 2003

the Food and Drug Administration decided to allow AstraZeneca to

continue selling prescription Prilosec alongside Prilosec OTC--though

they contain the same amount of medicine (20 milligrams of

omeprazole)--because patients are not advised to take Prilosec OTC for

more than two weeks at a time without a doctor's supervision. This

decision gave AstraZeneca and Proctor & Gamble three years to sell

Prilosec OTC without competition; therefore, the OTC version will not

face any generic competition until 2006.

 

Spartanburg Herald-Journal March 2, 2005

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

The sad reality is that very few of the people taking this Prilosec

actually need it. Prilosec and Nexium are proton pump inhibitors and

like H2 blockers (Tagamet and Zantec) they effectively decrease your

stomach's ability to produce stomach acid. If you have an ulcer or

inflammation in your stomach lining this can be remarkably effective

at reducing or eliminating the pain--for the short term.

 

Please understand that none of these drugs do absolutely anything to

treat the cause of the problem. What they do achieve, however, is

causing you to have an incredible reliance on these medications for

continued pain relief. The proton pump inhibitors are particularly

notorious for this. It is exceedingly difficult to get off of them

once they have been used for awhile. I never advise patients to stop

any of the proton pump inhibitors cold turkey.

 

There's a phenomenon associated with these drugs called acid rebound.

Because they slam the brakes on the acid-producing pumps in your

stomach, when you stop taking them, that built-up acid can be unleashed.

 

When the acid rebound occurs the pain comes back with a vengeance.

Even if there's no full-scale rebound, most people have some

recurrence of symptoms because the proton pump inhibitors are powerful

enough to let them resume bad habits. So what I typically do with my

patients is switch them to an H2 blocker like Zantac, which has far

less problems with acid rebound, and then they phase off that as their

symptoms improve by modification of their diet.

 

Please don't read the article I ran on Nexium,

http://www.mercola.com/2002/dec/18/nexium.htm

as the investigative journalists at the Boston Globe describe the

hidden facts about Nexium and Prilosec that they don't want you to

know. The reason I don't want you to read it? If you have an ulcer it

might anger you so much you might have a flare up.

 

At the time the article was written prescriptions for Prilosec in the

United States were more than $4 billion per year. That is one of the

primary reasons that this travesty is allowed to continue. The sums of

money we are talking about are absolutely extraordinary and it's not

surprising to observe extraordinary efforts to preserve this income

stream.

 

Why You Want to Avoid Prilosec and Other Heartburn Medications

 

Heartburn medications such as Prilosec and Nexium can impair your

digestion by significantly reducing the amount of acid in your

stomach--this impairs your ability to properly digest food and

actually makes your ulcers worse. Reduction of acid in the stomach

also diminishes your primary defense mechanism for food-borne

infections, thereby increasing your risk of food poisoning.

 

Additionally, if you fail to digest and absorb your food properly, you

will not only increase your risk of stomach atrophy but also nearly

every other chronic degenerative disease. So it doesn't matter whether

you obtain these medications from a doctor or buy them over the

counter, they will still impair your health.

 

Avoid Drugs, Solve the Root Problem

 

When you are using the wrong solution for a problem, there is a high

likelihood you may have unwanted and even unexpected complications or

side effects. Therefore, my best advice to you is avoid using drugs

whenever possible, for it is best to solve the root problem instead.

How can you do this? Well, for starters follow this six-step process:

 

*

 

One of the most potent solutions for improving the health of

your stomach would be to optimize the good bacteria there. You can

take large amounts of a high-quality probiotic. Alternatively, you can

obtain some raw milk and let it stand overnight until it turns into

kefir. The raw milk kefir is an absolutely amazing healing agent for

your gut and inoculates it with trillions of good bacteria that

actually help to repair the injured tissue. The bacteria also produce

loads of vitamin K2 for free that further improves your health.

*

 

Learn your metabolic type and follow a solid eating plan

tailored to your specific type. If you don't know your type, please

take my free online test now.

*

 

Drink adequate amounts of clean water.

*

 

Eliminate sugars and grains from your diet. The sugar and grains

are one of the worst foods you could eat as they will have a

profoundly negative influence on the beneficial bacteria in your gut

and will seriously impair the healing process. Additionally, many

people have subclinical gluten intolerance (celiac disase) so many

will not improve the ulcer until they stop eating gluten grains.

*

 

Eat one to two cloves of fresh, raw garlic per day to eradicate

H. pylori, a factor for many with heartburn.

* Juice fresh red cabbage as this is particularly healing to the

gut. However, please note that many people (especially protein

metabolic types) do not tolerate large amounts of fresh vegetable juices.

 

Juice fresh red cabbage as this is particularly healing to the gut.

However, please note that many people (especially protein metabolic

types) do not tolerate large amounts of fresh vegetable juices.

 

Related Articles:

 

Anti-Stroke Drug Will Kill Your Stomach

 

Pneumonia Risks Rise With Nexium, Prevacid

 

Why Inhibiting Acid Production With Prilosec and Prevacid Could

Make Ulcers Worse

 

Are You Caught in the Drug Trap? Find Out How to be Set Free From

a Drug-Controlled Life

 

More Warnings For Drugs You Need to Know About

 

How to Cure Your Heartburn Now That Prilosec Will Go Over the

Counter (OTC)

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