I have been taking omeprazole for a LONG time, years and now the news comes out about causing dementia or kidney problems and such. Anyway, I tried taking ranitidine and it didn't work at all. So today is the first day I am trying it without my omeprazole. Does anyone else use this and gotten off of it or know other ways to help? I am worried about Barrett's esophagus because of the burning. I always get the burning in my throat along with the horrible taste and then the cough and rattling that lasts for about a week. I so much want to get off the medicine but don't know how to replace it.

Thanks for your help.

Cold turkey is too fast with Omeprazole. Last month I was on a diet, eating small meals, none of the things that give me bad GERD like ice-cream, orange juice, etc. So I thought it was time to get off the Omeprazole.

Here is how you do it: Open the capsule and count all the little white beads. Throw away three of them, close the capsule and take what's left. After a week or a few days if you're feeling fine, throw away six of them, etc. until you are down to just about three beads at which point you can quit.

I did this method and was completely off Omeprazole for about a week -- when I blew my diet, stared binging and had to return to the drug.

I'm going to start over soon, but first I need to get control of my food.

geniebear, I had acid reflux really bad. I had one very doubled over in pain episode that lasted a couple of days before I started taking Omeprazole. I was overweight, eating lots of sugary, fried and processed foods.

I started back on the South Beach diet and quit taking Omeprazole about 3 months into following the diet religiously. I no longer have acid reflux because I have probably eliminated any foods that may have been causing it.

I've been taking omeprazole (AKA Nexium) for years also. I had GERD. Funny thing is all the doctors keep asking me about my heartburn but I never had heartburn. My problem was I couldn't keep my food down. It was so bad I was getting sick in the car. Last year I had really bad stomach pain and had to go to the doctor and they did an endoscopy and said I had gastritis. He gave me a different medication Pantoprazole. I recently asked my doctor how long I would have to take this and he said to take it if I'm taking my celebrex because that can cause stomach problems. Well I've been taking Celebrex for years and it never caused me stomach problems. Anyway it just so happen that this past week I didn't take the Pantoprazole at all. I wanted to see how my stomach would fee. I feel a little queasy today so I took it. ...... it funny how after awhile you just get sick of taking meds and just want to stop. Since these aren't life threatening if I stop sometimes I just stop.

I was on Omeprazole for years. When I was diagnosed with Celiac disease 3 years ago and cut wheat from my diet, it improved. Then I changed to a low carb diet and now I need no medication and have no symptoms. Diet definitely has its part in it. The doc had me taper off. I had been on 2 a day so went to 1, then after a week to 1 every other day, then every third day and then stop.