So far, that's actually less bad than I've been fearing. (Though I probably won't think so if I wind up with C. difficile thanks to those doubled chances. :-) ) It at least sounds as if the hypomagnesia issue should be catchable by blood tests, though I'll have to ask at my next checkup if they're watching it.
Not to say that being a test case for long-term heavy omeprazole use doesn't make me nervous. But as you say, it's all about balancing choice of risks in the face of inadequate information. (They'll sure know a lot more about the relative risks of untreated reflux vs. swallowing handfuls of Tums vs. PPI use by the time it's too late for the information to do me much good. :-) )
And yes, generally my reaction to the finger-wagging part of any of these stories is much the same as yours. Whatever may be theoretically possible in individual cases, leaning heavily on recommendations whose compliance rate is, to a first approximation, nil isn't useful. (Compare with quitting smoking, which is by all accounts really hard, but is at least demonstrably both possible and long-term maintainable for double-digit percentages of the target population. If there's a major diet modification with that kind of compliance rate 5 or 10 years out, I haven't run into the study yet.) It's just a stick to beat people up with.
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2012-07-07 03:50 pm (UTC)Not to say that being a test case for long-term heavy omeprazole use doesn't make me nervous. But as you say, it's all about balancing choice of risks in the face of inadequate information. (They'll sure know a lot more about the relative risks of untreated reflux vs. swallowing handfuls of Tums vs. PPI use by the time it's too late for the information to do me much good. :-) )
And yes, generally my reaction to the finger-wagging part of any of these stories is much the same as yours. Whatever may be theoretically possible in individual cases, leaning heavily on recommendations whose compliance rate is, to a first approximation, nil isn't useful. (Compare with quitting smoking, which is by all accounts really hard, but is at least demonstrably both possible and long-term maintainable for double-digit percentages of the target population. If there's a major diet modification with that kind of compliance rate 5 or 10 years out, I haven't run into the study yet.) It's just a stick to beat people up with.