Gastric Acid Meds

Hello it's Medical Tuesday! Today I'm gonna talk about meds for gastric pain. There are few types of medicines for gastric pain, the main classes including Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI), H2 Antagonist (H2A) and antacids.

To easily differentiate them, PPI and H2A are mostly taken half an hour before food. Antacids are more effective when taken after food. Why?

PPI and H2A function by reducing the gastric acid production in the stomach, therefore they will stop the secretion of acids in the stomach. In result of that, when food is taken, the stomach will not produce too much acids which can result in gastric pain.

Antacids work by neutralizing the acids in the stomach. In this case, it will be more effective when gastric acids present. When food is taken, the stomach will secrete gastric acids to breakdown the food. So after eating, there will be more gastric acid compared to before eating. As a result of that, antacids will neutralize more acids when taken after food, in another word it will be more effective.

Antacids also have a few cautions to look for:

1) There are Magnesium based and Calcium based solution. Magnesium based antacid can cause diarrhoea while Calcium based antacid can cause constipation. Therefore the side effects will differ quite widely depends on the formulation of the antacids.

2) People with high blood pressure will need to be cautious about the content of the antacids. It will be better if you do not take antacids with Sodium content as it will cause the blood pressure to raise.

Lastly, some other medications can also cause overproduction of gastric acid therefore consult a doctor or pharmacist when you are not sure about the reason why, e.g. NSAIDS.