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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Heartburn Help

Aired September 15, 2003 - 08:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good news for millions of heartburn sufferers, and there are countless of those in this country. About 10 percent of the population, according to some statistics. The FDA has approved an over-the-counter version of the heartburn drug Prilosec.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta with more on this now at the CNN center.

Good morning, Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, get ready for a huge advertising blitz on this one. Prilosec, it's been advertising blitz about five years in the making. And you were correct, Bill, about 60 million people or so suffer from heartburn about once a month. About 15 million people suffer from it just about every day. And there are all kinds of products out there.

Really quick, let's just go over what the signs of heartburn are, because sometimes it can be confused with chest pain due to heart conditions, all sorts of things. Burning pain that actually radiates towards the neck. The sensation that food or liquid is actually coming up. And a bitter acid taste.

Prilosec is a drug that's been around for quite some time, Bill. The news is that it is going over the counter. That's been anticipated for quite some time. You're already going to start to see some of the commercials. But the question a lot of people are asking themselves is who should take it and who should not? There are some criteria for people who are going to be the best candidates for Prilosec. People who specifically have heartburn more than twice a week, and so not just the guys who go out for pizza and beer, people who have it more than twice a week. Symptoms subside after two weeks. That's to say that the Prilosec actually works. The symptoms go away after two weeks. And no more than two or three courses of this recommended for quite some time. There's also a list of people who should not take Prilosec. That list of people as well.

If the symptoms do not go away with the medication it's time to see your doctor certainly about something potentially more serious. If there's actually pain, not just burning, but actual pain in your GI tract where you have stomach tightness or cramping, you have spasms, or if you're pregnant. A lot of pregnant women do get reflux. Prilosec is not a good medication necessarily for them. Also liver problems. If you have a history of liver disease, Prilosec may not be your option. But it's going to be out there, Bill, it's going to be available over the counter. A lot of people are probably going to take advantage of this -- Bill. HEMMER: You know, when a drug like this, as popular as Prilosec is, when it goes over the counter, it's much more accessible to many more people. Are there fears about abuse? What has happened in the past regarding other drugs that may lay out a course of action here?

GUPTA: The two biggest concerns are misdiagnosis. That is to say people diagnose heartburn when in fact they have something more serious, and they just try and take the Prilosec to mask the symptoms. Again, follow that list. If your symptoms are more serious, persistent, then go to see a doctor about it, just don't take the over the counter. And the other thing is just overuse. People -- Prilosec is not designed to take more than 14 days at a time. Don't do that. Switch over to a different medication.

HEMMER: Let's switch you over to a different story right now, Viagra. There's a report out today that says there may be another use for this. Some people are saying, this is the absolute miracle drug. What is the other use that people are pointing to right now?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting, Bill. It's actually the old use of Viagra. When it was first marketed, it actually uses as a drug that actually opened up blood vessels. So some people in Bolivia actually got kind of interesting. They decided people who suffer from altitude sickness, what happens often is that the blood vessels actually cinch down a bit. You can actually use Viagra to try and open up those blood vessels, to try and decrease the symptoms of altitude sickness. This is in trial stage right now, bill. Hard to say if it will work for sure, but remember, that's exactly what Viagra was originally designed for, was to actually open up blood vessels. And as researchers found out, it opened up blood vessels all over the body.

HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 15, 2003 - 08:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good news for millions of heartburn sufferers, and there are countless of those in this country. About 10 percent of the population, according to some statistics. The FDA has approved an over-the-counter version of the heartburn drug Prilosec.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta with more on this now at the CNN center.

Good morning, Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, get ready for a huge advertising blitz on this one. Prilosec, it's been advertising blitz about five years in the making. And you were correct, Bill, about 60 million people or so suffer from heartburn about once a month. About 15 million people suffer from it just about every day. And there are all kinds of products out there.

Really quick, let's just go over what the signs of heartburn are, because sometimes it can be confused with chest pain due to heart conditions, all sorts of things. Burning pain that actually radiates towards the neck. The sensation that food or liquid is actually coming up. And a bitter acid taste.

Prilosec is a drug that's been around for quite some time, Bill. The news is that it is going over the counter. That's been anticipated for quite some time. You're already going to start to see some of the commercials. But the question a lot of people are asking themselves is who should take it and who should not? There are some criteria for people who are going to be the best candidates for Prilosec. People who specifically have heartburn more than twice a week, and so not just the guys who go out for pizza and beer, people who have it more than twice a week. Symptoms subside after two weeks. That's to say that the Prilosec actually works. The symptoms go away after two weeks. And no more than two or three courses of this recommended for quite some time. There's also a list of people who should not take Prilosec. That list of people as well.

If the symptoms do not go away with the medication it's time to see your doctor certainly about something potentially more serious. If there's actually pain, not just burning, but actual pain in your GI tract where you have stomach tightness or cramping, you have spasms, or if you're pregnant. A lot of pregnant women do get reflux. Prilosec is not a good medication necessarily for them. Also liver problems. If you have a history of liver disease, Prilosec may not be your option. But it's going to be out there, Bill, it's going to be available over the counter. A lot of people are probably going to take advantage of this -- Bill. HEMMER: You know, when a drug like this, as popular as Prilosec is, when it goes over the counter, it's much more accessible to many more people. Are there fears about abuse? What has happened in the past regarding other drugs that may lay out a course of action here?

GUPTA: The two biggest concerns are misdiagnosis. That is to say people diagnose heartburn when in fact they have something more serious, and they just try and take the Prilosec to mask the symptoms. Again, follow that list. If your symptoms are more serious, persistent, then go to see a doctor about it, just don't take the over the counter. And the other thing is just overuse. People -- Prilosec is not designed to take more than 14 days at a time. Don't do that. Switch over to a different medication.

HEMMER: Let's switch you over to a different story right now, Viagra. There's a report out today that says there may be another use for this. Some people are saying, this is the absolute miracle drug. What is the other use that people are pointing to right now?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting, Bill. It's actually the old use of Viagra. When it was first marketed, it actually uses as a drug that actually opened up blood vessels. So some people in Bolivia actually got kind of interesting. They decided people who suffer from altitude sickness, what happens often is that the blood vessels actually cinch down a bit. You can actually use Viagra to try and open up those blood vessels, to try and decrease the symptoms of altitude sickness. This is in trial stage right now, bill. Hard to say if it will work for sure, but remember, that's exactly what Viagra was originally designed for, was to actually open up blood vessels. And as researchers found out, it opened up blood vessels all over the body.

HEMMER: Thank you, Sanjay.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com