I had an endoscopy 2 years ago & I wasn’t on PPIs prior to that. This time , I’ve been taking a PPI for several months now. I once read somewhere that taking PPIs before an endoscopy can cause the results to be tampered with & produce false negatives (if your doctor is testing for H.Pylori).

I called the GI doctor office this morning , after receiving the colonoscopy instructions in the mail. The team lead had an attitude & wasn’t very easy to talk to .. I let her know that there was no instructions regarding the endoscopy written on the pre-exam forms, only instructions for colonoscopy. She said that I’m clearly supposed to use the instructions for both. It was obviously not made clear , it was written in print “Instructions for Colonoscopy”. So I asked her if I’m supposed to stop taking Pantoprazole (ppi) before the procedure. She told me I can take it up until the procedure but not the day of.

She’s in charge of scheduling appointments for these procedures, so I want to trust what she’s telling me is accurate.

I’m just frustrated because during my first endoscopy with a different GI doctor , they tested me for H.Pylori & it was negative, according to them. But I’ve been on PPIs & they can’t seem to find the cause of the chronic gastritis.

I would be very upset to continue taking Pantoprazole if it’s going to keep them from getting a good look at what’s causing the overproduction of acid in my system or if it’s going to keep them from seeing if H.Pylori is indeed present in my body.

Any thoughts or advice?

The day before the procedure, they told me to take : Miralax , Ducolax , & Lactulose