Over the counter?!
Saturday 26 January 2008 at 10:28 am.He's confined to bed for the last couple of days and asked me to bring him 'something' to ease his heartburn. As a medical student I learned you should advice your patients to adjust their diet and lifestyle, and prescribe a plain antacid (e.g. calcium carbonate better known as rennie). If the antacid doesn't work properly, you can prescribe a H2-receptor antagonist (e.g. ranitidine). Due to the wide availability of these antacids, GP's are currently adviced to skip the antacids and start with a H2-receptor antagonist right away to relief symptoms and prevent future heartburn.
But I'm not his GP, so I decided I would just get 'something' from the local drugstore. And indeed, they sell rennie's. But to my horror, on the shelf next to the rennie's is Zantac... also known as ranitidine! What should we do next? Give everybody pantoprazol right away?
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