Saturday, May 01, 2010 Darlene Mae asks

Q: Why do I have a reaction to Prilosec OTC that I do not have with Prilosec RX

My insurance company recently stopped paying for proton pump inhibitors. In the past I have tried all of them and found that generic omeprezole worked as well as any and have taken it for several years.

I have been on OTC Prilosec for several days and have had some slight nausea. More distressing is a fluttering or spasm right over my left breast bone. It dosen't seem to be related to my heart but it is uncomfortable. It occurs every couple of minutes. I compare it to when you have a twich in your eyelid.

I stopped taking the OTC Prilosec yesterday and within 24 hours the fluttering stopped.

Even though some websites tell you there is no difference between the OTC and the RX my pharmacist says the inert ingredients are different. This seems to be a problem for me. Have there been other complaints about this? It would be difficult to pay for the RX version. Any suggestions for me?

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Answers (1)

Stephanie, Health Guide

5/ 3/10 4:41pm

You are not the first person to mention this. I looked up the inactive ingredients and this is what I found:

Prescription Prilosec: inactive ingredients: cellulose, disodium hydrogen phosphate, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hypromellose, lactose, mannitol, sodium lauryl sulfate and other ingredients. The capsule shells have the following inactive ingredients: gelatin-NF, FD&C Blue #1, FD&C Red #40, D&C Red #28, titanium dioxide, synthetic black iron oxide, isopropanol, butyl alcohol, FD&C Blue #2, D&C Red #7 Calcium Lake, and, in addition, the 10 mg and 40 mg capsule shells also contain D&C Yellow #10.

OTC Prilosec: Inactive ingredients glyceryl monostearate, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hypromellose, iron oxide, magnesium stearate, methacrylic acid copolymer, microcrystalline cellulose, paraffin, polyethylene glycol 6000, polysorbate 80, polyvinylpyrrolidone, sodium stearyl fumarate, starch, sucrose, talc, titanium dioxide, triethyl citrate

So they are indeed different. Some of the ingredients are in both some are not. That said - you may be having trouble with one of the ingredients or it could have been a complete fluke. You should talk to your doctor about options which may include trying the OTC prilosec again to see if you have the same result. Try other OTC generic equivalents. Or try another medication all together which may be approved by insurance.

Best of Luck - Stephanie

Stephanie, Health Guide

5/ 3/10 4:42pm

Whoa! sorry about that. It didn't look like that on my post. But the most important thing was to realize that they are different and that you may be having a reaction to one of the inactive ingredients.

Stephanie

Q: Why do I have a reaction to Prilosec OTC that I do not have with Prilosec RX

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