Omeprazole

[Purist]

Can Omeprazole taken long term 40mg per day cause a chronic dry cough or frequent lung infections? My mother has been taking Omeprazole for the last 3 years and has progressively gone downhill, she has a chronic cough and occasional breathing issues, she has had a several lung infections which have been treated by antibiotics and she has had a test for asthma and an xray which we assume was clear.

[Sqad]

One should never say never.......but i have never heard of Omeprazole causing a dry cough and certainly not causing repeated chest infections.

[douglas9401]

I've taken it for much longer with none of those symptoms.

[NoMercy]

I've not heard of Omeprazole or any other PPIs causing those symptoms. But as Sqad says, never say never.

[woofgang]

It occurs to me (Sqad where are you?) that while omeprazole may not cause the cough and chest infections, acid reflux can......Are you sure your Mum is taking her medication correctly or indeed at all?

[Sqad]

woofgang........I'm here ;-)

[Sqad]

"been taking Omeprazole for the last 3 years and has progressively gone downhill,"
woofgang, if you are correct and you may well be, then one doesn't go "downhill" with GERD.
If it were my mother, i would ask for a bronchoscopy (camera down the lungs) and it looks as though we are unsure of the result of her chest X-Ray.

[Purist]

She has been taking it religiously! In fact her dose was increased from 20 to 40 because of the cough, she has an appointment in 10 days to see the doctor as her coughing fits have been really bad, the cough is much worse when she goes outside, does any sort of exercise or movement, at night and in the morning.

[Purist]

They never contacted her regarding the Xray result so she assumed it must have been okay the Asthma test was negative.

[NoMercy]

This sounds like a strange question, purist, but has she tried antihistamines. I've recently found that these give me substantial relief when I'm wheezing, crackling and coughing up stringy bits. I find, symptomatically, I'm worse first thing and after lying down, but my symptoms can occur at any time of the day.

Garden mint has recently been a big trigger for me.

[Sqad]

Assuming the chest X-Ray was normal.
Assuming the "allergy test" whatever that was , was meaningful, then one would try a course of steroids.....inhaled or orally.
I also presume she has had blood tests?
Sometime.....someone....needs to have a look into her lungs.

[albaqwerty]

never, ever assume anything.

Doctors and others are human beings and things (ie patients) can get overlooked or missed.

Mr Alba has been taking omeprazole for years and doesn't have a cough.

[Purist]

Thank you for the helpful replies.

Sorry it was a Lung function test, it came out okay..no problems
She has tried Antihistamines so not an odd question. They made no difference.
She has not had a blood test, she was just given a chest Xray and 2 courses of Antibiotics. I am hoping to accompany her to the Doctors as she is worried about being fobbed off.

[NoMercy]

Odd. Her spirometry was normal and antibiotics have not given her any benefit. Antihistamines have not made a difference.

I think Sqad is right - it's time she was scoped.

The other thing she could try is coming off her Omeprazole for a period of time so see if that makes a difference to her symptoms.

[Purist]

Im hoping the GP will suggest some sort of scope! in the meantime I will see if I can pursued her to stop taking the Omeprazole to see if it makes a difference.

[anneasquith]

May I just make an observation for Answerbank, A medical secretary has suggested to an aber his mother stop taking prescribed medication. Is AB covered if this abers mother should have adverse effects .?

[anneasquith]

I see no disclaimer for body and soul topic on this new site .

[jno]

in my experience, if you stop taking medicine for acid reflux, you get it within 24 hours. That may not be why she's taking it, but I'd be wary of coming off it unsupervised.

[Sqad]

"and has progressively gone downhill,"

I have said this once and i make no apology for repeating myself, the above is a worrying comment by the OP of his mother.

[bednobs]

how old is your mum?
what caused her to have lung function tests?
2 lots of chest infections i 3 yeasr in an elderly (if she is!) person seems reasonably normal and not frequent

[jourdain2]

I've never heard of Omaprazole cause problems. What Asthma test was it? Often Asthma sneaks up and my GP diagnosed it after me keeping records.