Can I take my Prilosec OTC?

Question

I was diagnosed with H. Pylori on Saturday - the doctor gave me enough antibiotics and omeprazole to get through to today, and prescriptions until today. When I went to fill the prescriptions, the pharmacist said I could just take Prolosec OTC instead of the prescription omeprazole. I see it's the same medication, but the OTC has magnesium in it, and says to only take in once a day, where I've been instructed to take it twice a day. The pharmacist said that was fine - I tried to get ahold of my doctor and ask, but he has gone on vacation! Anyone know??

Answer 1

You should talk to the pharmacist again to make sure of dosing. You can take Prilosec OTC twice a day if your dr. oks it. The OTC formulas of prescription meds are always lower in dosage or are taken less often than prescriptions. If the dr. isn't in just talk to the pharmacist and he/she should be able to give more detailed instructions.

Answer 2

yeah, your pharmacist knows and already told you the correct answer! Prilosec OTC and presciption are the precise same drug. One is a tablet, one is a capsule. The dose of 20 mg is identical (not always lower as a previous answer incorrectly stated).

Why do you think your Pharmacist is lying about it? What possible reason could there be? In fact, the only incentive is for them to tell you there actually is a difference because then you will buy the prescription form and he'll make money!

Answer 3

I also take Prilosec OTC for long-term use. I believe the box says stop after 14 days because this is the recommendation for people who aren't taking it under a doctor's advice. As one of the proton pump inhibiting meds, Prilosec OTC can be useful for treatment of such conditions as GERD (reflux) in the long-term.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Hi usually if the acid reflux is bad you can take a PPI twice a day, I take nexium 2x a day, and i was told to take prilosec 2x a day but it didnt help.

Answer 6

Helicobacter pylori

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that infects the mucus lining of the stomach and duodenum. Many cases of peptic ulcers, gastritis, and duodenitis are caused by H. pylori infection. However, many who are infected do not show any symptoms of disease. Helicobacter bacteria are the only known microorganisms that can thrive in the highly acidic environment of the stomach. Its helical shape (hence the name helicobacter) is thought to have evolved to penetrate and colonize the mucus lining.

With its flagella, the bacterium moves through gastric acid and drills into the mucus gel layer of the stomach. It then finds ways to live in a variety of locations including inside the mucus, above epithelial cells, or inside vacuoles in epithelial cells. It produces adhesins which bind to membrane-associated lipids and carbohydrates and help its adhesion to epithelial cells. It produces urease enzymes which are inside and outside of the bacterium which convert urea to ammonia and carbon dioxide. The production of ammonia and carbon dioxide is beneficial to the bacterium since it neutralizes the very acidic environment of the stomach (which is capable of killing it given adequate time). However, ammonia is toxic to the epithelial cells, and with other products of H. pylori, including protease, catalase, and phospholipases, causes damage to those cells.

Some strains of the bacteria have a particular mechanism for "injecting" the inflammatory agent peptidoglycan from their own cell wall into epithelial stomach cells. (See below for "cagA pathogenicity island" in the section "Genome studies of different strains".) This factor may play a role in allowing certain strains to invade host tissue

Treatment

In patients who are asymptomatic, treatment is not usually recommended.

In gastric ulcer patients where H. pylori is detected, normal procedure is eradication to allow the ulcer to heal. The standard first-line therapy is a one week triple-therapy. The Sydney gastroenterolgist Thomas Borody invented the first triple therapy in 1987. Today the standard triple therapy is amoxicillin, clarithromycin and a proton pump inhibitor such as omeprazole – though sometimes a different proton pump inhibitor is substituted, or metronidazole is used in place of amoxicillin in those allergic to penicillin. Such a therapy has revolutionised the treatment of gastric ulcers and has made a cure to the disease possible, where previously symptom-control using antacids, H2-antagonists or proton pump inhibitors alone was the only option

Unfortunately, an increasing number of infected individuals are found to harbour bacteria resistant to first-line antibiotics. This results in initial treatment failure and requires additional rounds of antibiotic therapy. For resistant cases, a quadruple therapy may be used. Bismuth compounds are also effective in combination with the above drugs. For the treatment of clarithromycin- resistant strains of H. pylori the use of levofloxacin as part of the therapy has been recommended.

There is some preliminary evidence that regular consumption of broccoli sprouts might eradicate H. pylori.

Some evidence suggested that consumption of mastic gum might be able to control or even eradicate H. pylori, but later studies showed this not to be the case.

A study done on Mongolian gerbils indicates that green tea extract can suppress H. pylori growth. Another study done in South Korea suggests that the acidic polysaccharide found in green tea was significantly effective in preventing adhesion of H. pylori to human cultures of epithelial cells.

As explained below, some authors suggest that an H. pylori infection may be protective against certain diseases of the esophagus and cardia. Therefore, a more cautious approach than complete eradication may be necessary in some cases.