PPI Use

laurettas
laurettas Member Posts: 372
Hi, I am new to the site. My husband, 58, was recently diagnosed with Stage IV signet ring cell adenocarcinoma of the colon. He had surgery a month ago to remove a tumor from his colon and they say metastases(?) on the diaphragm and peritoneal cavity, as well as substantial lymph node involvement. He starts chemo on Monday. We've done this before as he had Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was 24. Not pleasant memories!

I was just curious as to whether or not many of the people who have gotten colon or other digestive tract cancers were long-term users(over a year) of PPIs such as Prilosec, Nexium, etc.

Comments

  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    welcome to the board
    i got rectal cancer and did not use PPI.

    cheers,
    pete
  • John23
    John23 Member Posts: 2,122 Member
    Oh my..


    Re:
    "I was just curious as to whether or not many of the people who
    have gotten colon or other digestive tract cancers were long-term
    users(over a year) of PPIs such as Prilosec, Nexium, etc."


    There's a warning with all of those types of "helpful" meds:

    Nexium (esomeprazole)

    "Stomach cancer can have similar symptoms to stomach ulcers, and
    these symptoms can also be relieved by esomeprazole. For this
    reason, if your doctor thinks you have a stomach ulcer, they
    should make sure you don't have stomach cancer before you start
    treatment with this medicine. Otherwise, this medicine could mask
    the symptoms of stomach cancer and therefore delay the diagnosis.
    This is particularly important if you are middle aged or older
    and have new or recently changed symptoms."


    That may explain the coincidence of "long term use" and the
    development of a cancer!

    This goes back to my (continual) mantra, that western medicine
    does not fix problems, it only removes the symptoms of problems.
    It's -never- a good idea to ignore a problem by stifling it's symptoms.

    Oh well...

    You guys try to stay well, willya'?

    John
  • smokeyjoe
    smokeyjoe Member Posts: 1,425 Member
    John23 said:

    Oh my..


    Re:
    "I was just curious as to whether or not many of the people who
    have gotten colon or other digestive tract cancers were long-term
    users(over a year) of PPIs such as Prilosec, Nexium, etc."


    There's a warning with all of those types of "helpful" meds:

    Nexium (esomeprazole)

    "Stomach cancer can have similar symptoms to stomach ulcers, and
    these symptoms can also be relieved by esomeprazole. For this
    reason, if your doctor thinks you have a stomach ulcer, they
    should make sure you don't have stomach cancer before you start
    treatment with this medicine. Otherwise, this medicine could mask
    the symptoms of stomach cancer and therefore delay the diagnosis.
    This is particularly important if you are middle aged or older
    and have new or recently changed symptoms."


    That may explain the coincidence of "long term use" and the
    development of a cancer!

    This goes back to my (continual) mantra, that western medicine
    does not fix problems, it only removes the symptoms of problems.
    It's -never- a good idea to ignore a problem by stifling it's symptoms.

    Oh well...

    You guys try to stay well, willya'?

    John

    Interesting John, the day
    Interesting John, the day before I went to the hospital, I had been to a doctor, he felt around my tummy, he thought I'd picked up a stomach bug gave me antibiotics and a PPI. Said I'm very healthy and this should fix my problem in no time. So, goes to show ya!!
  • BettyJoM
    BettyJoM Member Posts: 82
    Hi
    welcome.
    you will get the support you need here, people on here are wonderful to talk to

    I had stage 3C colon cancer, adeno, and never used any of those

    Betty Jo
  • luvmylife
    luvmylife Member Posts: 76
    Welcome - Sorry for your husbands recent diagnosis.
    My husband Jimmy has CRC and has never needed nor used any of those. I hope all goes well for you and your husband.

    Jan
  • laurettas
    laurettas Member Posts: 372
    luvmylife said:

    Welcome - Sorry for your husbands recent diagnosis.
    My husband Jimmy has CRC and has never needed nor used any of those. I hope all goes well for you and your husband.

    Jan

    Thank you
    Thanks for all of the great comments. I was just wondering since my husband had been on them for about ten years. After reading about the side effects, it seemed to me that PPIs might cause some major digestive tract problems. Always looking for a reason for these awful illnesses and diseases to try to help reduce them. So many people seem to get cancer and other serious illnesses that it is almost overwhelming sometimes.