What You Need to Know About Protonix
Thousands of people suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease and need relief from their symptoms and the damage it can cause. If you and your doctor are considering Protonix, you should find out everything you can about it.
What is Protonix?
Protonix is a brand name of pantoprazole. Protonix is used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which causes backward flow of acid from the stomach, causing heartburn that can injure the esophagus. Protonix inhibits the production of stomach acid.1
What Does Protonix Do? Does it work?
Studies of pantoprazole (Protonix) have found it to be very effective in suppressing GERD and preventing damage to the esophagus. Adverse effects were rare and of mild or moderate severity. One study resulted in a “healing success” rate of 91% of 1452 patients, and of 1303 patients included in the maintenance phase, 85% remained in remission of their symptoms.2
An eight-week study of 60 children aged one to five years resulted in patients in one group experiencing improvement in one week and patients in the other group were healed in week eight.3
What should I go over with my doctor before I decide to take Protonix?
Protonix may suppress some symptoms that are also signs of stomach cancer. Long-term, daily use of Protonix may increase risk of osteoporosis-related fractures of hip, wrist or spine and may result in chronic inflammation of tissues in the stomach. Protonix may cause low levels of magnesium in the body.4
Sometimes just simple changes in eating will eliminate heartburn or the need for medication. These may just involve not going to bed within an 2 hours of a meal, or just not eating spicy or fatty foods.
Side effects of Protonix, occurring in less than 2% of patients, in adults include are headache, diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, flatulence, dizziness, and arthralgia (joint pain and inflammation). In children, less than 4% of patients, common side effects can include URI, headache, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, rash and abdominal pain.5
What if I’m already taking Protonix?
Never stop taking any prescription medication without talking to your doctor first. If you are already taking Protonix and you experience any adverse effects, talk to your doctor.
Learn everything that you can about Protonix before you start taking it.
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1 PubMed Health, “Pantoprazole” (15 June 2012), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000177/
2 Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol., Goh KL et al., “Efficacy of pantoprazole 20 mg daily compared with esomeprazole 20 mg daily in the maintenance of healed gastroesophageal reflux disease: a randomized, double-blind comparative trial” (19 March 2007), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17301646 ; Clin Drug Investig., Hein J., “Comparison of the efficacy and safety of pantoprazole magnesium and pantoprazole sodium in the treatment of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease: a randomized, double-blind, controlled, multicentre trial” (2011), http://www.druglib.com/abstract/he/hein-j_clin-drug-investig_20110000.html
3 Drug Lib, Baker R., “Clinical results from a randomized, double-blind, dose-ranging study of pantoprazole in children aged 1 through 5 years with symptomatic histologic or erosive esophagitis” (9 December 2011) http://www.druglib.com/abstract/ba/baker-r_clin-pediatr-phila_20100900.html
4 Food and Drug Administration, HIghlights of Prescribing Information, (Revised March 2012), http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2012/020987s045lbl.pdf
5 Ibid.