Acid Reflux - Zantac causing dry eye?

[NYer]

Hi All,
I've been taking Zantac for acid reflux (heartburn, etc.) and realized today that the dry mouth and constant urinating that I've had all week is actually from the Zantac. This leads me to assume this is also affecting my dry eyes, even though I haven't seen that specifically mentioned as a side effect (but dry mouth IS).
Anyone else here have this problem with Zantac? If so, did you find one of the other H2-Blockers to work without bad side effects?
Thanks!

[eva b]

I think you'll find that all those type of medications produce dry mouth. I was on Zantac for 7 years until I discovered the blood type diet - and cured myself of my reflux problems..but you know about that However, I never had dry eyes when I was taking it - this was several years ago anyway.

I presume you're still fighting the after affects of the doxy you were prescribed?

hope it passes soon.

[stella]

A consultant psychiatrist put me on low dose tricyclic antidepressants'cos of various chronic pain issues i was having - I was scared to death it would make my eyes worse and was very reluctant to go on them.( being scared to death was the main reason i needed to go on the antidepressants .I felt i could not cope with all the pain i was having ) He kept assuring me that although dry mouth was a problem with all antidepressants that in all his years experience he had not come across anyone who complained it made their eyes dry. He also said that it was a different nerve supply to the mouth than the eyes
Well i am on the antidepressant for two weeks now and NO WORSENING of my eyes - In fact my eyes are much better (they had been getting better before i went on the anti depressants ) but i am coping very much better already with the eyes and arthritis and allergic condition i had developed, and my anxiety levels have dropped ---- so if you need other drugs like zantac do take them if the literature says they dry the mouth they may not neccesarily dry the eyes and why have to suffer heart burn on top of dry eye

[NYer]

Oh, Stella, I can completely empathize with you. I'm so glad to hear that the antidepressant is helping you. There is a heartburn bulletin board website (very much like this one - in fact, it even looks the same) that I check out (almost as much as this one!). And it's amazing how many threads and posts have to do with anxiety.
First of all, many people (like myself) get chest pains and if it's the first time you've had it, you think you're having a heart attack.
But more closely related to the types of things we deal with with dry eyes, if you tend to be someone who gets side effects, the thought of taking a new drug makes you anxious. Then, when you get a side effect, you get scared and anxious. (In the case of the acid reflux drugs, so many of them actually list anxiety/nervousness as a side effect of the drug itself.)
Certainly, putting something in your eye that you are unfamiliar with can be pretty scary.
Overall, I've been finding that I'm generally more anxious than I was before all this.

Thanks both of you, Eva and Stella, for the points you made about the H2 Blockers not affecting the eyes, just because they affect the mouth.
Dr. Bazen feels that they might be a problem (in the same way that an antihistamine would). I did experience more dryness than usual last night and my eyes looked kind of red. So I suspect it was from the Zantac.
We're all different - and my body seems to love to search out any odd side-effects and get them whenever possible!

Thank you, both of you, for the input and Stella, I'm glad you're feeling better.

[stella]

Nyer - Maybe you have hiatus hernia - have you tried sipping milk (skimmed or semi skimmed is less fattening)My daughter cured her peptic ulcer sipping milk which soothes the mucous membrane of the oesophagus /stomach.What about gaviscon - a good antacid which coats the linings of oesophagus /stomach and neutralizes the acid rather than supressing it as zantac does, and definately would'nt dry either mouth or eyes.
I have to take NSAIDS
for arthritis so i always take cytotec with it which i think is an H2 blocker and certainly has never in my opinion dried my eyes
If you get epigastric pain and you are uncertain whether it is heart related or not there is an easy way to find out - take antacid tablets and if they relieve the pain it is not heart related.
All the best and take care

[NYer]

Thanks, Stella. I'll take this off-line in a PM because this is too unrelated to dry eyes.

[rubyslippers]

Prilosec for acid reflux made mine worse. I could not figure out why my dry eye was worse every other day. I took Prilosec only every other day. Once I made the connection and quit, I don't have the variation between days.

[NYer]

Thank you, Ruby. It totally makes sense, since it works in a similar way to an antihistamine. It's funny how you figured it out because it was every other day. And you probably never would have made that link if you'd been taking them every day. Thank goodness for small things, sometimes!