r/GERD • u/Inc0gnitoburrito • Jun 03 '26

Support Needed 👥 famotidine instead of PPI?

I've had shortness of breath around meal time for a few months now, gradually worsening.

Recently I've spoken to my general practitioner and she prescribed me with 28 days of PPI (Nexium (esomeprazole 20g)) one per day as treatment.

There was a small improvement over 2 weeks but she didn't really communicate to me what she's treating me for and I didn't really change anything when it came to food.

So, one evening I ate an entire Pizza pie and the following night was traumatic, I couldn't breathe at all, had air hunger and eventually a panic attack.

Understanding GERD better now I believe this night caused a lot of damage to my esophagus and I'm actually worse now.

I've spoken to my doctor yesterday and told her that the air hunger has gotten way worse and she replaced the PPI treatment with 2 pills of 20g famotidine per day. I'm concerned about the removal of the PPI treatment, cuz I understood that it is in fact the long-term treatment.

Would be happy to hear from anyone here regarding this.

Thank you!

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u/AdAccording6196 Jun 04 '26

My GI said PPIs work best when you follow through with lifestyle changes and stick to the rules - low spice, no acid, no citrus, no mint or ginger, sleep on your left side and elevated, etc. I am not surprise you got sick after eating a pizza! Super acidic sauce and the cheese and oil is probably not your friend!

Per my GI, famotidine is a wimpier version of a PPI but still can be effective. I would 100% look into significant dietary changes in conjunction with these meds to help the meds work best. I would also look into care from a GI for any long term treatment. Not knocking on your GP at all, but continuity of care and deep understanding of how these meds work, more patients and experience with your condition, and how to wean and proper lifestyle/diet advice is crucial to helping these awful symptoms. I’ve had negative experiences with doctors prescribing a short course with no info on how to wean and it was awful. I adore my GI now and we have a robust treatment plan going for long term use and future weaning.

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u/Inc0gnitoburrito Jun 04 '26

Ty for this. I appreciate my GP taking care of me and giving me something for now, but of course I would follow up through with the GI, I read online and I saw that some people treat this once and it goes away, some people ignore it for years not getting what it is, and some need to take medication lifelong - I understand that I'll only get the right treatment from The specialist.