Is your heartburn med setting you up for a fatal infection?

It’s hard to believe that a class of drugs that can do so much harm can be so easy to obtain.

I’m talking about those acid-reducing meds that are sold everywhere — and, for the most part, without a prescription.

And when I say cause harm, I’m referring to some very serious health issues, such as heart disease and stroke, broken bones, cancer of the esophagus, kidney disease and even dementia.

There are so many side effects, in fact, that the list is starting to sound like a reference book of diseases!

And now, a group of UK researchers have added to the already terrifying evidence incriminating these meds. The team has linked them to a pair of devastating intestinal infections that are becoming more commonplace than ever.

In fact, 80 percent of those who die from one of them are over 65.

A low blow to the gut

“There’s still a myth that these drugs are benign,” said Dr. F. Paul Buckley, an acid reflux specialist who practices in Texas – but “it’s not true.”

I’ll take that a step further. Not only are they not benign, but they are downright dangerous.

The latest study was about two kinds of acid-blocking meds: proton pump inhibitors like Nexium and Prilosec and H2 blockers like Zantac and Pepcid.

The researchers crunched the data on well over 500,000 adults, finding that those taking these meds were four times more likely to come down with food poisoning from a bacteria found in poultry called Campylobacter.

That’s an unpleasant infection that can cause nausea, vomiting and bloody diarrhea.

But that may be a walk in the park compared to what else they found: Popping these drugs can also make you 70 percent more likely to develop a potentially deadly infection called C. diff. And that number wasn’t even for people in the hospital, where you’re much more apt to come down with the infection.

Now, if you’re not all that familiar with C. diff, consider yourself lucky. It’s an especially nasty illness that many sufferers have found almost impossible to get rid of. Its classic symptoms are acute abdominal pain and watery, bloody diarrhea that can strike as many as 30 times a day, despite numerous rounds of antibiotics.

Currently, C. diff is killing around 15,000 people a year, with the lion’s share of the fatalities being those over 65.

So, you would think that confirming that these drugs can contribute to this deadly total would be cause for the FDA to take some urgent action.

But don’t hold your breath. The agency appears to have washed its hands of the problem back five years ago when it put a “safety announcement” up on its website. That’s right, it’s known full well that this horrible infection is connected with PPI drugs for at least that long!

And if you’re wondering how both these classes of heartburn meds – PPIs and H2 blockers — can cause such devastating side effects, it’s all about how they change the balance of your gut bacteria.

Also, as one of the researchers said, stomach acid “acts as a barrier.” Your stomach acid can actually protect you if you happen to eat something contaminated with Campylobacter. And that could happen either at home or in a restaurant. All it takes is some cross-contamination from raw poultry – and if you’re taking one of these drugs, you’re practically a sitting duck to come down with it.

Incredibly, the answer according to lead researcher Thomas MacDonald is to be “vigilant about food hygiene.” But while that’s always important, considering everything we now know about these drugs, a much better way to protect yourself is to slowly and carefully wean yourself off of them.

Once you’re off of these drugs for good, there are numerous ways to keep heartburn at bay without risking your life in the process, for example:

• Taking probiotics, such as kefir, yogurt or as a supplement.
• Sipping a glass of water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar every day.
• Raising your head higher in bed and cutting down on high-acid drinks, such as coffee.

  “Heartburn drugs may raise risk of stomach infections: study” Amy Norton, January 5, 2017, CBS, cbsnews.com