Has anyone else taken omeprazole long term?

[Anonymous]

I’ve taken it daily for almost 4 years for acid reflux problems, and in the last month I’ve noticed that every night my right pupil gets massive and my left pupil stays normal. It makes it hard to drive at night. My right pupil, because it’s so big, makes light blurry and causes astigmatism with street lights and car lights. Whereas my left eye sees just fine. Is this normal? Should I get my eyes checked? I’ve never had issues with my eyesight before and I don’t take any other medications.

[Avcfhcic]

Hello, I'm someone who has experience with omeprazole, and to be honest it's all good experience.
I can confirm there is no link between omeprazole and the symptoms you're experiencing in your eyes. Long term effects of omeprazole are mainly in magnesium levels and can reduce the level in your blood leading to symptoms of low magnesium, which are tired, shaky, heart palpitations and sometimes confusion. They are the main symptoms.
It's possible your magnesium is low causing some muscle twitching, but this is due to low magnesium and not some effect of omeprazole!
Other long term effects are bone problems and maybe stomach bugs but these aren't related to your eye troubles and I would say have a word with your doctor if you are worried and hopefully get some blood work done!
Any questions feel free to ask me 🙂

[mohojojo]

Heartburn runs in my family apparently. My dad would just eat handfuls of antacids, so that's what I did. Right around the time I turned 30, my family doc suggested I have a specialist make sure I wasn't masking a big problem like cancer. He diagnosed me with GERD and prescribed 40mg Omeprazole. It was cheap, but every 6 months he made me come in for an appointment, $40 copay and a whole damn day of missed work, so I just switched to Prilosec which is 20mg... so I took 2. About 10 years in, a study came out about long term use of pp inhibitors and kidney disease, so I started to wean myself off them. Dropped down to 20mg, then every other day, then 2x a week, once a week, etc. I rarely have heartburn issues anymore, but the biggest factor is what I eat and how late at night

[Asker]

I have an unknown issue with my stomach where if I don’t take 40mg omeprazole daily then I start vomiting uncontrollably up to 20 times a day. Before being prescribed omeprazole, I lost 30kg in 6 months from vomiting so much. I’ve tried other medications but omeprazole works best.

When you were on omeprazole, did you have any issues with your eyes like how I described?

[mohojojo]

Sorry I totally forgot to address your question... the kidney disease thing might be related to that. I have diabetes now and I feel like it's related to kidneys and possibly the Prilosec... too many little things that make me feel like they're connected to list here, but one of the effects of diabetes is damage to the small arteries, which eventually leads to neuropathy in the fingers and toes as well as macular degeneration... so yes, you should absolutely have your eyes checked, as well as a complete physical and GI/colon scans.

[Asker]

Thank you

[Brittanyroseee]

I have GERD and gastritis. I've been taking prilosec for 6 years and so far no side affects. Tell your doctor then go to an opthalmalogist to check your eyes. Try chamomile tea for the heartburn and ask doctor if there's another heartburn medication you can use instead of famotadine.

[chicosuave]

don't trust omeprazole. i had terrible symptons by it. Talk to your doctor about famotidine and he will prescribe it. safest and most effective pill. Good luck.

[Asker]

I tried Famotidine. It gave me severe stomach pain & migraines. I ended in hospital for a week due to the pain, doctors told me to stop taking it and return to omeprazole 😕 I’m glad that Famotidine works for you though

[chicosuave]

talk to your doctor about. they have to have other options