Is Your Antacid Medication Ruining Your Gut?
Proton Pump Inhibitors are a class of Antacid Medication that are so common and considered to be so safe that they were even declassified as prescription drugs and are now available over-the-counter so that anyone can use them if they happen to have heartburn. With names like Omeprazole, Nexium, and Prilosec, the ‘little purple pill’ is advertised everywhere on billboards and TV ads with barely a mention that their might be consequences to suppressing stomach acid. There are consequences of any Acid Reflux Medication, however, like the Side Effects of Omeprazole and other proton pump inhibitors can lead to osteoporosis...
Source: Immune Health Blog - March 2, 2016 Category: Nutrition Authors: Kerri Knox, RN Tags: Digestive Health Infections Source Type: blogs

Can Your Antacid Cause Alzheimer ’s Disease?
Can your antacid really cause Alzheimer’s Disease? Recent research suggests that, indeed, proton pump inhibitors, some of the most common drugs for reducing feelings of heartburn, can cause an increase in the ‘beta amyloid’ deposits in the brain that are indicative of Alzheimer’s Disease. This is in addition to some of the other serious Proton Pump Inhibitor Side Effects, like osteoporosis, magnesium deficiency and  heart rhythm problems; Antacid Medications can Even Ruin Your Gut. These problems can occur even when these heartburn relieving drugs are taken for short amounts of time. All too often, though, these d...
Source: Immune Health Blog - February 26, 2016 Category: Nutrition Authors: Kerri Knox, RN Tags: Brain Health/ Neurologic Digestive Health Vitamin B12 alzheimers disease causes cause alzheimer's disease cause of alzheimers disease causes of alzheimers omeprazole side effects proton pump inhibitors proton pump inhibitors cause alzhei Source Type: blogs

Can Your Antacid Cause Alzheimer’s Disease?
Can your antacid really cause Alzheimer’s Disease? Recent research suggests that, indeed, proton pump inhibitors, some of the most common drugs for reducing feelings of heartburn, can cause an increase in the ‘beta amyloid’ deposits in the brain that are indicative of Alzheimer’s Disease. This is in addition to some of the other serious Proton Pump Inhibitor Side Effects, like osteoporosis, magnesium deficiency and  heart rhythm problems; Antacid Medications can Even Ruin Your Gut. These problems can occur even when these heartburn relieving drugs are taken for short amounts of time. All too often, though, these d...
Source: Immune Health Blog - February 26, 2016 Category: Nutrition Authors: Kerri Knox, RN Tags: Brain Health/ Neurologic Digestive Health Vitamin B12 alzheimers disease causes cause alzheimer's disease cause of alzheimers disease causes of alzheimers omeprazole side effects proton pump inhibitors proton pump inhibitors cause alzhei Source Type: blogs

Can Your Antacid Cause Alzheimer ’s Disease?
Can your antacid really cause Alzheimer’s Disease? Recent research suggests that, indeed, proton pump inhibitors, some of the most common drugs for reducing feelings of heartburn, can cause an increase in the ‘beta amyloid’ deposits in the brain that are indicative of Alzheimer’s Disease. This is in addition to some of the other serious Proton Pump Inhibitor Side Effects, like osteoporosis, magnesium deficiency and  heart rhythm problems; Antacid Medications can Even Ruin Your Gut. These problems can occur even when these heartburn relieving drugs are taken for short amounts of time. All too often, though, these d...
Source: Immune Health Blog - February 26, 2016 Category: Nutrition Authors: Kerri Knox, RN Tags: Brain Health/ Neurologic Digestive Health Vitamin B12 alzheimers disease causes cause alzheimer's disease cause of alzheimers disease causes of alzheimers omeprazole side effects proton pump inhibitors proton pump inhibitors cause alzhei Source Type: blogs

Matthew’s incredible Wheat Belly transformation
Remember Matthew? I previously shared his story and photos, including his 80-pound weight loss and change in cholesterol values. But there is much more to his story that he has been sharing on the Official Wheat Belly Facebook page. Because the changes he described were so extensive, I’ve collected his comments here. Put together, Matthew’s health transformation is nothing short of astounding. He previously told us that hypertension and pre-diabetes have reversed with now normal blood pressure and blood sugars. But just read on and see how much more happened. Matthew’s experience is a terrific example of ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - November 27, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Success Stories acid reflux allergy asthma cholesterol cramps gerd gluten grains heartburn IBS indigestion spastic colon Weight Loss Source Type: blogs

‘Growth Clouds’ On The Horizon For Health Spending?
I was honored to work with the National Health Expenditures (NHE) Team in the CMS Office of the Actuary throughout 1995-2012, and I am honored again to have the opportunity to provide some thoughts on long-range spending trends in the U.S. Many health policy experts have referred to these accounts as the “gold standard” for comprehensive and authoritative information about the cost of health care in the United States, and the NHE Team’s articles on both the historical and projected NHE accounts routinely appear at the top of Health Affairs’ “most frequently read” list. The current focus on the long history of t...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - November 23, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Richard Foster Tags: Costs and Spending Drugs and Medical Technology Featured Health Professionals Hospitals Medicaid and CHIP Medicare Payment Policy Aging Cadillac tax Nurses PCORI physician assistants Physicians States Source Type: blogs

How a Simple Little Pill Ended Up Costing 1000 Percent More Than Its Ingredients
By DEVON HERRICK A recent New York Times article profiled a pair of ultra-expensive pain medications designed to go easy on the stomach. Common pain relievers, like aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen are prone to irritate the stomach if taken repeatedly throughout the day. A newer class of pain medication, called cox-2 inhibitors, are the preferred pain relievers for those who cannot take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on a long term basis. Celecoxib, the generic version of Celebrex, is now available at a cost of about $2 per tablet, but that can add up to about $700 to $1000 per year. More than a decade ago...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB aspirin Devon Herrick Duexis Ibuprofen Naproxen New York Times Vimovo Source Type: blogs

How a Simple Little Pill Ended Up Costing 99 Percent More Than Its Ingredients
By DEVON HERRICK A recent New York Times article profiled a pair of ultra-expensive pain medications designed to go easy on the stomach. Common pain relievers, like aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen are prone to irritate the stomach if taken repeatedly throughout the day. A newer class of pain medication, called cox-2 inhibitors, are the preferred pain relievers for those who cannot take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on a long term basis. Celecoxib, the generic version of Celebrex, is now available at a cost of about $2 per tablet, but that can add up to about $700 to $1000 per year. More than a decade ago...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 4, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB aspirin Devon Herrick Duexis Ibuprofen Naproxen New York Times Vimovo Source Type: blogs

How Government Policy Promotes High Drug Prices
It is a bedrock principle of capitalism that as competition erodes profits on established products, enterprises will invest in innovation to earn higher profits from new products. US law governing prescription pharmaceutical markets abandons that principle and gives every new drug a long-term monopoly that prohibits competition. It also discourages competition between medicines based on comparative price or effectiveness. High prices and slow innovation cycles are the inevitable result and will remain so unless Congress makes fundamental changes in existing law. According to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, it...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - October 29, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Alfred Engelberg Tags: Costs and Spending Drugs and Medical Technology Featured Payment Policy Quality 21st Century Cures Act Big Pharma Comparative Effectiveness FDA generic drugs Hatch-Waxman Act Prescription Drugs Source Type: blogs

What medications have you been able to stop on the Wheat Belly lifestyle?
I posed this question on the Wheat Belly Facebook page recently and received an overwhelming response. Here, I share a partial list of the responses: medications people have been able to stop by following the Wheat Belly lifestyle. Just take a look at this incredible list: these represent medications prescribed by doctors to, in effect, “treat” the consequences of consuming wheat and grains. They prescribe drugs to treat the inflammation, swelling, skin rashes, gastrointestinal irritation, high blood sugars, airway allergy, and other abnormal effects all caused by wheat and grains. The list includes anti-inf...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - October 6, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle asthma cholesterol diabetes drugs gluten grains hypertension prescription medication reflux Source Type: blogs

A drug to treat a drug to treat a drug . . .
Stacy shared her story of wheat- and grain-free success after experiencing the all-too-common disaster called modern healthcare. “I had been having gastrointestinal problems off and on for quite a while (a year or so). I would have days where I could barely function. Since I am a middle-aged woman, I kept thinking it was a combination of hormonal issues and ‘something I ate’–turns out it was! On June 22nd, everything came to a head and I was absolutely miserable. Long story short, the EGD showed I had gastritis and my scans and colonoscopy confirmed I had ileitis. The gastroenterologist put me on N...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - October 3, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle colitis gastritis gluten grains ileitis Source Type: blogs

Data-Mining Study Explores Health Outcomes from Common Heartburn Drugs
Results of a data-mining study suggest a link between a common heartburn drug and heart attacks. Credit: Stock image. Scouring through anonymized health records of millions of Americans, data-mining scientists found an association between a common heartburn drug and an elevated risk for heart attacks. Their preliminary results suggest that there may be a link between the two factors. For 60 million Americans, heartburn is a painful and common occurrence caused by stomach acid rising through the esophagus. It’s treated by drugs such as proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) that lower acid production in the stomach. Taken by abou...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 12, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Srivalli Subbaramaiah Tags: Computers in Biology Pharmacology Big Data Bioinformatics Drug Response Medicines Source Type: blogs

Do proton pump inhibitors cause heart attacks?
This study used a technique called “data-mining” to extract information from years of electronic medical records (EMRs) and included about 70 thousand patients in their primary analysis.  They describe the data-mining technique in the article, which seems to boil down to assigning a mathematical function to certain defined variables (patients taking PPIs) and an outcome (heart attack) to see if the two events are associated. Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 18, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Meds GI Heart Source Type: blogs

Do heartburn drugs cause osteoporosis? A gastroenterologist answers.
Every week, I am asked by patients if their heartburn medicine causes osteoporosis. The most effective heartburn medicines are called proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs. If you watch more than an hour of TV per week, then you have seen ads for some of them. Nexium, Prilosec, and Protonix are three examples of these medicines. Many of them are now available over-the-counter at reduced dosages. Patients today are incredibly informed, and sometimes misinformed, about their medical conditions and their treatments. Most of their information is from the internet, and it’s easy for patients to become unwittingly trapped in the wor...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 7, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Meds Endocrinology GI Source Type: blogs