His heart now burns only for me!

My husband has suffered from terrible heartburn off and on for years. A while back, he was diagnosed with acid reflux disease. Our doctor prescribed a prescription-strength medication---our insurance company said, "uh, no." Since Prilosec Acid Reducer is available OTC, they thought he should use that instead. Oh well, at least we tried.

The Product:

Prilosec OTC comes in an unmistakable, bright purple box, featuring the brand name prominently in big, bold white letters. Since Mr. lllovemakeup takes two tablets every day, we buy the big 42-count box for $24.98 at our local Wal-Mart. I've seen it at other mass-market stores, as well as online, for around the same price.

Treats FREQUENT Heartburn! Occurring 2 or more days a week. (sic) Not intended for immediate relief of heartburn; this drug may take 1 to 4 days for full effect. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before use if you are taking warfarin, prescription antifungal or anti-yeast medicines, diazepam (anxiety medicine), digoxin (heart medicine), tacrolimus (immune system medicine), or atazanavir (medicine for HIV infection) (I added the bold letters for drug interactions as a few of these medicines are pretty common) (info obtained from box)

While the instructions state you are not to take this medicine for more than 14 days, as long as you are under the care and advice of a physician, you can take this every day.

The pills are packaged in those bubble packs where you push the pill out the back through a foil covering. The pills are a little bigger than baby aspirin.

Ingredients: Active ingredient: Omeprazole magnesium delayed-release tablet 20.6 mg (equivalent to 20 mg omeprazole) Inactive ingredients: glyceryl monostearate hydroxypropyl cellulose, hypremellose, iron oxide, magnesium stearate, methacrylic acid copolymer, microcrystalline cellulose, paraffin, polyethylene glycol 6000, polysorbate 80, polyvinylpyrrolidone, sodium stearyl fumurate, starch, sucrose, talc, titanium dioxide, triethyl citrate. (obtained from packaging)

The company:

Distributed by Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, OH. This is a product of Sweden. www.prilosecotc.com. 800-289-9181.

His experience:

My husband has tried other acid-reducing products to no avail. This product has done wonders in treating his acid reflux. Gone are the nights he has to sleep sitting up in a chair, and his consumption of Rolaids has gone down remarkably (except for when he forgets to take his Prilosec).

There is one other thing I'd like to mention---recently, the patent for Prilosec ran out, so now you can find this product in generic form. It's called simply Omeprazole. My husband was pretty jazzed that it would now be cheaper, but be warned...the generic DID NOT WORK. His heartburn came back with a vengeance, so now he's back on the name-brand stuff.

Overall thoughts:

This is a quality product that should help many suffering from acid reflux. It's worth every penny for the sufferers, and is markedly cheaper than paying for prescription medication not covered by insurance.

Five tummy-taming stars.

Thanks for reading and rating!