Blue Fluoxetine Causes Heartburn (Page 3)
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Recently my pharmacy began giving me a new version of fluoxetine, which I have taken for MANY years with no problems.... however the blue fluoxetine gives me horrible heart burn. I use to take them at night before bed, but couldn't sleep, so decided to start taking them in the morning and still get the heartburn. I don't take them with any other meds. I tried an empty stomach, and after eating, but the results are still the same. I also get a bad headache (I think from the heartburn.) Has anyone figured out how to avoid this problem?

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Re: Drocksc01 (# 194)

It didn't matter how much water I drank, nothing helped. Glad you can do that tho!

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Re: Stella (# 193)

I have been taking prozac 40mg daily for the past 5 years. I have noticed that when i do not drink enough water with my dose i get the horrible heartburn. Throat on fire, ears get red, sour stomach, and nausea. If i drink plenty of water and make sure its good and washed down, i will not get it. A friend of mine had a simular issue and after i told her to drink a full cup of water while taking her meds thr heartburn stopped. Im not going to pretend like i know what causes this but it is thr prozac and this has helped me immensely. Although i still sometimes forget then at the first sign of that burning feeling i start chugging water. Unfortunately once i can feel it coming on water doesn't do anything to help

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Re: Sunny (# 192)

I am also having this problem . I have hearburn all day long and I am taking Fluoxetine 20mg in the morning.

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Wow. I just posted a reply under a similar question on this forum. It seems that the blue capsule is the culprit although I did find research about SSRI's (serotonin reuptake inhibitors) being correlated with reducing the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) tone, which means the round muscle at the bottom of the esophagus) top of the stomach is less able to keep your stomach contents where it's supposed to be, so acid leaks into the esophagus and UGH, unbearable!! I'm looking for that research now because I'm restarting Prozac. That heartburn and nausea was HORRIBLE and debilitating for hours. I would take Alka-Seltzer, tums, Pepto Bismol, drink lots of water, and sit upright for some relief. If I can find the actual research, I'll post it here ASAP.

Blessings, Sunny

PS. I'm SOOOO grateful for this forum!

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YES!! Horrible heartburn! I finally found somewhere online that stated that serotonin reuptake inhibitor's can cause the muscular tone of the esophageal sphincter (upper stomach-esophagus) to be decreased, so acid can reflux upward where it shouldn't be. It never happened when I was taking 20 mg twice a day (for me, 8 am & 1 pm.). When they switched it to 40 mg (the blue capsule) once a day, it was a while before I figured out what the problem was. Evidently, it's not a COMMON side effect, but it is a severe one! I take a smaller dose twice a day, take it with food and stay upright for a while. I hope that helps. Depression is NO laughing matter.
(No PUN intended, but that was pretty good!! Lol )
All the best, Sunny

P.S. SO grateful for this forum!

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I have trouble with the shiny coating on pills, whether it's brand Aleve or Corriciden, or Bayer aspirin, etc. I had heartburn for 15 months and couldn't figure why. Then I asked my pharmacist to change one of my pills. I was taking 3 small white pills, and around 11AM I would get a gnawing in my stomach, nothing would make it go away, not even Previcid or Prisolec. After he changed my synthroid to Levoxyl by King, my symptoms started going away. I have to take generic Aleve. I have to take Amour for thyroid or nature thyroid, have given up on aspirin, will get children's. Also, I can only take one brand of Metformin. To me, it's all in the coating, not fillers. I am having trouble with my Trazodone because TEVA is a manufacturer and I sleep less with their pill. I used to get a different pill from another manufacturer, but apparently TEVA is cornering the market for distribution in America, this trazodone pill is manufactured in CROATIA. I know a lot of generics are made in India. See if you can get that pill manufactured by another vendor.

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Re: Haley (# 187)

The heartburn is caused by the gelatin in the capsule. Remove the powder and put it into food, or put it into a vegetable based capsule. You can ask your pharmacist or doctor to switch you over to the tablets instead. If you're experiencing heartburn right now you can take a couple of swallows of Apple Cider Vinegar (never use use regular vinegar) and chase it with a sip of water. It will burn as it goes down, but it neutralizes the acid coming up from the stomach that causes the heartburn. You can repeat the process a couple of times.

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Re: Haley (# 187)

Ive been taking my fluoxetine and getting the worst heartburn, I usually will take 3 ranaditine with my fluoxetine and it stop the heartburn in about 30 mins

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Re: Suz (# 186)

Did opening the capsule and putting it in peanut butter help? I am having horrible heartburn and have noticed that when I do get it, it's always a few minutes after I take my pill. It's horrible!

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Yes! Really bad heartburn, an some headaches. It has been horrible to say the least! I just found about this, an yes my capsules we're changed to the bright blue ones. I'm telling my Doctor, an the pharmacist about this definitely. In the mean time I'm opening the capsule an putting the powder into some peanut butter an taking it that way, until I switch to tablets.

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I get it too ... it just started in the last month and a half and my pill r white... my heart it hurts and I even thought up some times...

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I just started taking Prozac a little over a month ago (generic form) and I've had this happen twice which caused me to google it. The pain is unbearable and nothing I've tried has helped. The burning and the discomfort in my chest and stomach is crazy. Both times caused me to panic thinking something was seriously wrong or I was having a side effect. I really hope the pharmacy will change this for me because I'm scared to take it again.

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If you read through the previous comments you'll find that the answer was discovered quite a while ago. The problem is caused by the gelatin capsules. The drug is fine, it's just the gelatin in the capsules which creates an acidic reflux because it floats to the top of the stomach and coats the lower half of the esophagus. The best solution is to switch over from the capsules to the tablets. Until that time, if you are experiencing heartburn right now you can swallow a few gulps of Apple Cider Vinegar followed by a tiny sip of water. It will burn going down, but it gets rid of the heartburn within about 15 minutes. You can repeat the process one or two more times as vinegar is natural and won't cause any harm to you.

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I've been getting heartburn with the blue fluoxetine 20 mg capsule. I just took it and thought I'd google it because it's terrible heartburn right now, and sure enough! Any advice, people? Can the pharmacist provide an alternate? Maybe (2) 10 mg in a different color?

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I've been taking the blue fluoxetine three years and all of a sudden it has started causing me awful heartburn and pains in my chest to the point where I'm scared to take it.

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You and me both same meds I take Prozac and serquil before bed I usually don't have this problem I'm up now with my throat burning
This happens rarely when I don't drink enough water and stay upright for atleast couple minutes

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I just found this thread because I am just back from Hawaii where I was treating a bite with two medicines encased in blue gel capsules. Never in my life have I had trouble swollowing a pill and these continue to get stuck in my throat and cause me great discomfort. It takes a lot of lubrication for pills to go down and I suspect these blue capsules are made of something that is far too sticky to pass easily continuously. When it doesn't stick, I get heartburn. There is something amiss with this blue gelatin.

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I just found this thread because I am just back from Hawaii where I was treating a bite with two medicines encased in blue gel capsules. Never in my life have I had trouble swollowing a pill and these continue to get stuck in my throats and cause me great discomfort. It takes a lot of lubrication for pills to go down and I suspect these blue capsules are made of something that is far too sticky to pass easily continuously. When it doesn't stick, I get heartburn. There is something amiss with this blue gelatin.

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I googled this very issue because I knew it wasn't just me. I'm not sure why but Prozac I usually take at night, no problem, I tried taking it in the morning and I'm getting the throat burning feeling again. I remember this happening in the past, for some reason it doesn't happen when I take it at night. I'm going back to evenings. My psychiatrist suggested I take it in the morning because it can be activating and I have insomnia at times. Oh well, I tried. I take Seroquil for sleep and it's been fine.

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I started cutting mine open and mixing with applesauce....no more heartburn....it's the gelatin in the caps it sits at the top of your stomach

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