Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/09/30/zantac-pulled-from-drugstore-s.html
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PPIs (which Zantac is not one) are also known to have a higher risk of stomach cancer.
So if you have bad reflux (like me) your choice are…take these meds which give you cancer, or deal with the issue and get throat cancer. FUN TIMES!
I have found the homeopathic method of increasing my milk consumption to be a huge help.
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I have found reduction of alcohol, sugar, white flour and tomato-based foods also helps. But even more than that: no more late eating. I eat by 7 at the latest, so that I can get to bed 3 to 4 hours later. Also, buy a bed wedge. That extra angle keeps everything down at night.
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I tried elevation, it did not help and made my sleep way worse. tomato based foods are generally a no for me also.
reduce alcohol???
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Well, I look at it this way. When I’m dead, I can’t drink any more great wine, so I might have to spread out my enjoyment of it over a longer time span.
As for the wedge, it takes some getting used to. I slept in one of those adjustable hospital beds once at somebody’s house. I slept like a baby. It was shizztastick.
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Fucking hell. Zantac is one of the only things that helps without the side-effects of some other drugs. Milk, for me, can make things worse. I don’t drink. There’s very few optionsfor me, other than letting my throat get eaten away from the inside. And I keep it on hand for an emergency allergy kit.
All drugs come with risks. Half the foods we eat cause cancer. And really? Mouse studies? Do they have any human data? Apparently not.
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Let’s not forget esophageal cancer! Oh boy!
I’ve taken to putting an 1/8" teaspoon of baking soda in tomato sauce. It tames the acid some without taking out too much of the flavor.
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The calcium in the milk can buffer stomach acids, but that is not homeopathy.
Unless you’re drinking the milk diluted by…
… well, diluted to the point there’s not actually any milk left in it 
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well. Homeopathic in the sense that it is not a pharmaceutical derived solution, but one found commonly in your home.
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I desperately don’t want to come off condescending or high-handed here, but this is important enough that I’m willing to risk it: that’s not what homeopathy is. Or rather, you are free to call it that, but do be advised that by doing so (i.e. equating perfectly functional home remedies with homeopathy) you are helping promote dangerously useless medication.
Historically, homeopathy indicated (and still largely indicates) a pseudomedical practice in which is it held as axiomatic that those substances which cause a certain symptom also cure it, but in extreme dilution.
Homeopathic sleeping pills (for instance) contain caffeine, except diluted to a preposterous degree. A common dilution level is called ‘30C’ which means diluted to 1 part in a 100… thirty times. This rather implies a total end-product dilution level of one part in 100 to the thirtieth power which is well past the Avogadro limit, meaning that there’s nothing of the original active ingredient remaining in the ‘dilution.’ Originally (it’s an eighteenth century practice if memory serves) nobody knew this fact. Nowadays it’s hand-waved away by some weird ‘water memory’ woo.
Either way, homeopathy is at best useless, most commonly a con, and occasionally given in place of vitally important medicine which actually works.
I am sorry to lecture to you on the topic, and doubly so if you did know all of this and I misread the tenor of your post. Normally I would not have been so pedantic but, firstly, this is something of a hobby-horse of mine and, secondly, it does real harm. I hope I have not annoyed you too much by going off on a rant and that some of this is of some utility to you.
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I think @anon61833566 just means home remedy and is using the word homeopathic incorrectly. No big deal, right?
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Of course. And if it were any other word I’d consider it quite rude to presume to correct (hence all my apologies), but in this instance, the misunderstanding (if it is one) may cause him to take or advise someone to take homeopathic remedies of the ‘water with nothing else in it’ kind.
I’d advise against this course of action, hence my explanation. That’s the extent and compass of my deal.
Again, I hate playing dictionary police in the best possible circumstances, let alone in a language that’s not my native tongue, but I thought that in these narrow circumstances it may be of some use.
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I AM NOT PLEASED. Argh argh argh argh ARGH. BTW while we all try to figure out the best ways to mitigate nighttime reflux in the absence of Zantac, I just want to note that sleeping on your left side can help reduce reflux, due to the shape of stomach anatomy. Now back to argh argh argh argh.
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You can’t write off homeopathy, because it’s worked for someone, somewhere, sometime. Even the placebo effect is powerful. Not all results show up in a timely fashion in double-blind studies. Anecdotal medicine. I’m a medical writer, btw.
I certainly hope Sam’s Club still has some when I can get there… I’ll max out my damned card. Their low price on ranitidine is the sole reason I have a membership. 35 years I’ve taken that drug and I have a great cancer policy…
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See what acid reflux, heartburn, and taking away meds does to people?
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This topic is temporarily closed for at least 4 hours due to a large number of community flags.
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I will chime in with damn it.
I wish there was a way to check the batch but throat cancer/stomach cancer. It is a wash. I like Zantac over the Tagamet as the latter makes feel tired/exhausted all the damn time and could kill my interest in having sex at 23 years old.
I have actually been happy that this stuff is OTC as the lower doses are more than enough for me and way cheaper than prescription.
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Sometimes you just can’t eat everything you want without consequences. There are no cheats for it, though people think this drug is one.
