Benzos Is there a relation to Acid Reflux and benzo use, and has anyone experienced this?

[BourbonMac]

Here's some examples I found online:

https://www.jnmjournal.org/journal/view.html?doi=10.5056/jnm.2010.16.1.22#:~:text=For example, benzodiazepines have been,sleep in an epidemiologic study.&text=In both animal models and,number of gastroesophageal reflux events.

https://www.everydayhealth.com/digestive-health/is-medication-causing-your-heartburn.aspx#:~:textiazepam (Valium) or lorazepam (,another anti-anxiety medication instead.

Effect of alprazolam (Xanax) on esophageal motility and acid reflux - PubMed

Recent studies suggest that psychotropic drugs may help the symptoms associated with spastic esophageal motor disorders. However, the physiologic effects of central nervous system depression (a side effect of such therapy) on esophageal function is not known. Therefore, we studied the effect of...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I seem to have been having acid reflux ever since I started using valium in the past couple weeks. It could be a coincidence, as I don't typically wake up with any feeling of burning. My diet has been messed up for awhile and I'm getting it back in check, but I've never regularly had problems with this before so it could be related. Hard to say. Due to some gut issues I was having last month as a result of an antibiotic I was on, my diet became extremely limited and inconsistent.

Curious if others have experienced this. It seems plausible, it was helping relax my stomach during a period of intense cramping. Some anecdotally say benzos help them with their GERD symptoms. It feels like it actually got worse after the valium I just took, but it just started coming on in the past few hours really. I've been taking a pepcid 20mg each morning and it probably just wore off by the end of my shift. I never really feel the burn in the morning where some of this research would suggest would happen since it's a risk factor while sleeping.

In the first 2 weeks I was on it I didn't really experience this at all. I assume it building up in my body could contribute but I don't know if that's relevant.

 

[Fire&Water]

Yes
I recall having problems w/ valium and the esophagus sphincter flap over relaxing

read that some people experience it more than others ...

Also problems with excessive hiccups

 

[Robi]

i take low dose, no problem..but i noticed SSRI`s and SARI`s sure did make my stomach hurt that way, but seems hardly ever drinking has stopped most of GERD

 

[BourbonMac]

Yes
I recall having problems w/ valium and the esophagus sphincter flap over relaxing

read that some people experience it more than others ...

Also problems with excessive hiccups

What was your dose? I'm talking 2-5mg. I have had hiccups once or twice but it's impossible for me to say if it's related.

And were you experiencing symptoms while the meds were in effect, or specific time of day?

I still can't say if it's related or not, but I have a feeling it is. Specific things could always trigger acid reflux for me like eating a ton of salty snacks before bed, but not to the extent I've been having lately since starting to take closer to 10mg daily (had been at 5mg without this issue).

I have been extremely constipated which might not be helping, either. In general my issues with the burning feeling in the throat (kind of like having a cold except not) have been since October after a round of Biaxin. I've been on quite a few antibiotics the past 6 months and I'm sure my gut balance is completely out of it.

Still, it seems like ever since I upped the dose to 10mg, this is happening more, so who knows. I only took 1mg this morning, took a 20mg pepcid, and felt a slight burn in my throat hours later. Hard to say what's going on really.

i take low dose, no problem..but i noticed SSRI`s and SARI`s sure did make my stomach hurt that way, but seems hardly ever drinking has stopped most of GERD

What's the dose out of curiosity? I generally take 1-2.5mg at a time at the moment. I'm just unsure if the buildup in my body is causing this. As mentioned for the first few weeks taking 4mg, I didn't experience this, but I often had bad stomach cramps and was using valium to help take care of them. Those cramps are gone for the most part

 

[Robi]

.05 sometimes split that, very little, but it seems to actually calm my tummy aches when i get them, my anxiety makes my stomach hurt often, its strange, but im sure you know all about leaky gut, think most meds can feck with tummy, i ate jars of antacid not knowing they are the worst for heartburn and GERD

 

[BourbonMac]

That seems impossibly small for any relief tbh lol. Antacids are the best for heartburn and GERD unless you are talking about TUMS. Onces like pepcid are great and don't cause any rebound reflux

But yeah this kind of sucks if it is my cause... I'll avoid taking any before work tomorrow and keep track of feelings in my throat. You would think this'd happen during valiums peak and not hours after it's worn off, that's why I'm really unsure.

 

[Robi]

well it helped mine, maybe it was the lessening of anxiety.........antacids are bad for your stomach. even my GP told me, and many are full of aluminum, hope you find proper help and advice tbh lol and healing,i have low tolerance for xanax, ive jusr begun them and and very careful not to take them unless horrid anxiety and thats going away, havent taken any in a week, i sure like them, but nawwww dont wanna build tolarance and go thru WD

 

[BourbonMac]

Oh maybe you meant .05 for xanax, I thought you meant valium, but maybe you did. 2mg valium is equivalent to .05 xanax and 2mg, even 1mg valium was often very effective for my severe abdominal cramping. But yeah I didn't realize I only mentioned "benzos" in the title and nothing specific, just the other guy mentioned valium and that's what I'm on.

A lot of antacids don't contain aluminum, I personally haven't used any that do. It sounds like they're ones to avoid based on some quick google searches