Heartburn or acid reflex is no fun, especially if you like to eat like I do. Thankfully you have treatment options. Sometimes the treatment is simple and all you need to take is a Tums or Rolaids but sometimes you need long-term therapy with medicines like H2 Blockers or Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs). While PPIs like Omeprazole have an encouraging safety profile, recently they have been in the news for some surprising health risks. Patients now come into the clinic concerned about taking these types of medicines.
What is the difference between these medicines? Tums and Rolaids act by neutralizing stomach acid on contact. They can be taken immediately for relief when you feel heartburn coming on. But as more acid is produced in the stomach you may have to re-dose yourself repeatedly.
For longer acting relief, H2 blockers were invented. H2 blockers include medicines like Pepcid or Zantac. They work on histamine type 2 receptors to reduce acid production in the stomach. You may be thinking what are histamines doing in my stomach when usually we think of them as the cause of our seasonal allergy miseries. Histamine type 1 receptors are involved in allergies but the type 2 receptors secrete acid in the stomach. Pepcid acts to reduce the acid production and can produce relief within 1 hour of taking it and can last for a day.
