Sharon Martinez, Chiropractor vs. Prilosec for Stomach Pain

$13,900,000,000.00. That’s 13.9 billion dollars spent in the U.S. on prescriptions for proton pump inhibitors, or PPI’s, yearly, according to a 2010 Archives of Internal Medicine report. Drugs like Prilosec give temporary relief from heartburn, indigestion, or, if you like medical terminology, “gastro-esophageal reflux disorder.” People in the U.S. are the top consumers of prescription drugs, using 40.6% of the global market supply of these drugs. In comparison, Canadians consume 2.5%, while Brazilians use 1.6% of the market supply of prescription drugs.

What on earth…? Are we Americans OK with spending billions of dollars on PPI’s? If the stomach is supposed to be acidic, why take a drug that stops acid? (Standard medical teaching: “the lower esophageal sphincter responds to acid in a dynamic fashion designed to increase sphincteric pressure.” In other words, the muscle at the bottom of the esophagus tightens when it detects stomach acid, preventing acid reflux. If we stop stomach acid, that poor sphincter is going to be really confused.) If PPI’s worked, why are so many people still on them? Finally, if these drugs cause osteoporosis and hip fractures and hinder the absorption of nutrients (and they do), would people want to try alternative methods to deal with stomach pain?

From a chiropractic point of view, the stomach is regulated by the nervous system. Nerves run like electrical wires from the spine to the lower esophageal sphincter, and that sphincter keeps stomach acid from splashing out of the stomach. Tuning the nervous system through chiropractic adjustments can often resolve stomach pain. I recently had a patient who came in for neck pain, but after eight chiropractic adjustments, reported that he no longer needed pills for his long-term stomach pain. Besides adjusting, I might suggest extra acid tablets such as Zypan or Metagest. Sometimes, it really is that simple! If you are anywhere near my office in Rancho Cucamonga, come in and let’s talk.