Kicking the Omeprazole / Nexium / PPI Habit

So, lately I've been wondering if it would have been better to not stop my nexium/omeprazole (started on Nexium) medication.  I went on a hunt to see what other people found to work best.  In reading, I found that simply stopping the PPI or H2 blockers because this may cause a sudden and nasty rebound effect.  It seems that gradually stopping may work best.  Take a look at the following schedule that was suggested for stopping Omeprazole:

1.

Week 1: Alternate 20mg of Prilosec (Omeprazole) with 100mg Prilosec
Week 2: 10mg Prilosec
Week 3: Alternate 10mg of Prilosec with 80mg Pepsid (Famotidine)
Week 4: 80mg Pepcid
Week 5: Alternate 80mg Pepsid with 40Mg Pepsid
Week 6: 40mg Pepcid

2.

Week 1 : alternate 10 mg Prilosec with 20 mg Pepcid
Week 2 : alternate 20 mg Pepcid with 10 mg Pepcid
Week 3 : same as week 3
Week 4 : 10 mg Pepcid
Week 5:  Use Apple Cider vinegar, DGL Licorice & ginger.

3.

Week 1: 40mg Omeprazole
Week 2: 20mg Omeprazole
Week 2: Alternate 20mg of Prilosec (Omeprazole) with 10mg Prilosec
Week 3: Alternate 10mg Prilosec, 40mg Pepsid
Week 4: Alternate 40mg Pepcid (Famotidine), 20mg Pepcid
Week 5: 20mg Pepsid, 10mg Pepcid
Week 6: 20mg Pepsid, 10mg Pepcid
Week 7: 10mg Pepsid
Week 8: 10mg Peps, Off (take DGL Licorice, apple cider vinegar at night, ginger)

4.

Take your Omeprazole/Nexium/Etc. capsule and begin to remove 1, then  2, then 3,  then 4, etc., of the capsule's content every day, until you're down to none.  This takes some effort, but has been known to work.

Alkaline Water Healing Properties for GERD

Unlike conventional drinking water, pH 8.8 alkaline water instantly denatures pepsin, rendering it permanently inactive. In addition, it has good acid-buffering capacity. Thus, the consumption of alkaline water may have therapeutic benefits for patients with reflux disease.
Other Warnings
Do not consume alkaline water with any medicines, supplements, or other additives. The alkaline water is reactive, and can form potentially dangerous by-products when mixed with a drug or other chemical compounds.
You should store ionised water in sealed glass bottles rather than plastic bottles, because it is reactive and can react with some plastics. It also reacts with the air and loses its ionisation if it is left exposed (of course, the alkaline minerals remain).


Others say that alkaline water helps:
http://www.alkalinediseasecure.com/acid-reflux/

From what I've read, it seems that alkaline water may help but only where you in fact have High Stomach Acid GERD.  Where you have Low Stomach Acid GERD, it appears that alkaline water may make the problem worse.

So, if you've determined that you have High Stomach Acid GERD, which you can do by doing the HCL test, then you may want to try alkaline water.  When you do, make sure you pay attention to how you feel and how your body reacts to the alkaline water.