Prilosec

Prilosec is used to treat stomach ulcer, duodenal ulcer, erosive esophagitis, heartburn and other symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease. It also functions to maintain healing of erosive esophagitis, and conditions in which too much acid is secreted like zollinger-ellison syndrome, multiple endocrine adenomas, and systematic mastocytosis. With the combination of other antibiotics, it is used to treat patients with ulcers caused by infection of germ H. pylori. Prilosec OTC is used to treat frequent heartburn.

Take the medication according to the prescription of your doctor and for better effect, take it before meal. You can take it with antacid and you can swallow the whole tablet, but it should not be chewed or crushed. If you feel some difficulty taking the capsules then you should take a spoonful of applesauce and sprinkle the drug on it and swallow it with a cold glass of water. Applesauce should be cool and soft and don’t chew the pellets and use it immediately. If you are taking Prilosec then avoid excessive amount of caffeine. You should take the medication regularly to get better results. If you miss a dose then take it as you get remembered. If it is almost the time of next dose then skip the missed dose and continue your regular schedule of dose. Keep the medication at room temperature and away from heat and moisture.



There are no severe side effects of this drug, but if they occur then you should contact with your doctor and ask him whether it is safe to continue the medication or not. The common side effects are abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, nausea, and vomiting. If you take Prilosec with Biaxin, then there is a chance of some side effects, like flu symptoms, nasal inflammation, sore throat, taste alteration, and tongue discoloration.

You should take the medication if you have ever got allergic reaction to Prilosec and its other ingredients. You should avoid Prilosec/Biaxin combination treatment if you are allergic to some antibiotics like macrolides.

There are certain drugs and foods with which, the effect of the medication might be reduced, increased or altered, therefore you should tell your doctor if you are taking following drugs like ampicillin, cyclosporine, diazepam, disulfiram, iron, ketoconazole, phenytoin, and warfarin. If you are pregnant or want to be pregnant then you should inform your doctor. The medication also passes from milk of nursing mother, so if the treatment is necessary, then you should stop the breastfeeding for sometime, until your treatment is finished.

In case of duodenal ulcer, it is a short term treatment and usually dose is 20 mg once a day and the duration of treatment is about 4 weeks and it can be extended to several weeks. For gastric ulcer, the dose is usually 40 mg a day and duration of treatment is 4 to 8 weeks. People with gastroesophageal reflux disease should take dose of 20 mg for 4 weeks. Don’t take overdose of the medication. If you have taken overdose of the medication then you should have medical help. The symptoms of overdose include blurred vision, confusion, drowsiness, dry mouth, flushing, headache, and nausea, rapid heartbeat, sweating, and vomiting.