XEROSTOMIA - Dry Mouth

Who would have thought that you could say Dry Mouth in a really complicated, obscure way by using the word xerostomia - try using that in scrable and see everyone object.

The January 2010 edition of Mayo Clinic Health Letter had advice for people like me who take omeprazole to stop acid reflux which was not that welcome. When one stops taking omeprazole (or the alternatives like Nexium; Prevacid; Prilosec; Protonix; Aciphex) the stomach plays a good trick - it now produces even more acid than before.
I've been trying to gradually taper off Omeprazole and what Mayo tells me is "I'm wasting my time." Tapering doesn't reduce the impact of coming off Omeprazole - sad! I'm now down to taking Omeprazole on Sunday and Wednesday. I have been feeling acid reflux more but how long will it last ?

My interest in xerostomia is because I often wake up in the middle of the night, and the morning, with a very dry mouth. It turns out that this can be bad for teeth enamel because saliva neutralizes acid (coming up from the stomach) that could dissolves tooth enamel and the saliva also stops bacteria that can grow on the teeth surface and also dissolve tooth enamel.

Making sure that tooth enamel does not get wrecked due to easing back on Omeprazole involves getting enough fluoride. Luckily I don't drink much bottled water - I can drink tap water without any trouble. If you do drink a lot of bottled water you might be low on fluoride. Then again if you drink all of your water filtered then that can be a problem; filtration takes fluoride out of the water.

It's never easy.

Nexium and Osteoporosis

I take a Nexium capsule every morning so I'm interested in news about Nexium.

This month's issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter has a piece about the increased risk of osteoporosis from taking drugs like Nexium to stop acid reflux. The Mayo Clinic Health Letter come to be through the mail and I don't know whether there is an electronic version available - hence to way to let you click through to read the piece for yourself.

The issue is that to stop acid reflux you either take one of the proton pump inhibitors (like Nexium, Aciphex, Prevacid, Prilosec, Protonix, Zegerid) or take one of the H-2 receptor blockers (like Pepcid, Zantac) but they reduce proper absorbtion of calcium from food. As a result bones become weaker and down the line there is the possibility of a fractured hip.

Not taking Nexium or one of the others is not a good option because you get acid reflux back and left untreated you could eventually be dealing with a cancer in the throat.

The Mayo Clinic answer is to:

• keep taking the pill for acid reflux
• take your calcium supplement in the form of calcium citrate
  
• take the calcium supplement multiple times spread through the day
• increase calcium from food e.g. dairy if dairy is part of your diet, dark green veggies
• make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D (for most people that means supplementing with Vitamin D in Winter and even in Summer if you always go out with sunblock already applied.)

Nexium and Osteoporosis

I take a Nexium capsule every morning so I'm interested in news about Nexium.

This month's issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter has a piece about the increased risk of osteoporosis from taking drugs like Nexium to stop acid reflux. The Mayo Clinic Health Letter comes to me through the mail and I don't know whether there is an electronic version available - hence no way to let you click through to read the piece for yourself.

The issue is that to stop acid reflux you either take one of the proton pump inhibitors (like Nexium, Aciphex, Prevacid, Prilosec, Protonix, Zegerid) or take one of the H-2 receptor blockers (like Pepcid, Zantac) but they reduce proper absorption of calcium from food. As a result bones become weaker and down the line there is the possibility of a fractured hip.

Not taking Nexium, or one of the others, is not a good option because you get acid reflux back and untreated you could eventually be dealing with a cancer in the throat.

The Mayo Clinic answer is to:

• keep taking the pill for acid reflux
• take your calcium supplement in the form of calcium citrate
  
• take the calcium supplement multiple times spread through the day
• increase calcium from food e.g. dairy if dairy is part of your diet, dark green veggies
• make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D (for most people that means supplementing with Vitamin D in Winter and even in Summer if you always go out with sunblock already applied.)

Nothing these days is simple - even taking something as low tech as calcium.
If you might have kidney stones, parathyroid disease even taking specific antibiotics, then you'll need detailed medical advice.