Hi. I would feel tremendous guilt is I left without giving these facts, sorry if it is disappointing but there is still good news. Pharmaceuticals have saved lives in emergencies and rare diseases where time is of the essence and/or nothing else works, it also proves to prolong life but always in exchange for eventual little if no quality of life, and added secondary diseases - because they never address the Cause of disease. If you read your medicine package inserts (available online too), you will find listed Most of the adverse side effects the drug Creates and Some of the diseases they also Create. Notice I said Most, Some, and Create. That is because not ALL of the effects are ever listed. To know more you have to ask your doctor to get the info from the manufacturer - and if you do, the doctor will look at you as if you have two heads. But why even go that far? the list is so long that it will keep you busy for a while and the act itself produce dizziness as a tertiary condition. If you read - did you notice that your doctor only warned you of about maybe 2 or 3 only? And probably no mention of what it Causes? Well PPI (proton-pump inhibitors) is what dexilant60 is to stop the stomach from producing (inhibiting) the acid your stomach is Presumed to be producing too much of. So what happens is that the food that is supposed to be pre digested before the next step, goes into the next step- small intestine - undigested, which then requires the pancreas to work harder to release more enzymes (=acid) to TRY finish digesting the food while it is already in the small intestine. This results in nutrients not being broken down for absorption causing even more problems and more eventual disease. This continues and you have then a degenerated pancreas because it then cannot produce the enzymes for digestion, eventually causing the gallbladder to break down then the liver - and this also causes cancer, a tertiary condition. You are not supposed to be on dexilant60 or any PPI for more than 6 to 12 months. Why? It Causes Osteoporosis because its Side Effect is to prohibit the absorption of calcium. But taking calcium supplementation will not help because the problem is absorbing it. So what are you going to do then? Because the PPI will not solve your initial problem in that year or any year thereafter - because it doesn't solve the Cause. The inserts used to say causes Osteoporosis, now it just says that those with osteoporosis are at a higher risk of hip fractures ( a better way to use the English language to effect a benign impression ). Anything that says "you are at a risk or higher risk" is because the drug itself Produces Creates those results in the body. Why? Like I said, the drugs create disease or degenerates other systems as secondary because that is their nature. Why? Because they are man made substances, composition of molecules that do not exist in all of nature, therefore produce abnormal effects - they are not meant for consumption and therefore toxic leading to disease. That is the state of our resulting health in the US- not insurance. Insurance might get you more lab work - but will not solve the focus on using man made drug or not addressing the causes. This is why you see here so much talk of natural ways to help your body heal. Many have gone through that med journey. But the medicine institution at the turn of the century has ruled that they can only use or claim a drug to heal or cure disease - you cannot claim the healing or curative powers of nature or foods(even though you don't eat you die). Figure out that double talk!! But now you have a double wammy - amitiza also has a long list of side effects and risks. And remember what those two terms really mean. If you look at the list it can cause tumors in your liver which if you read and re-read ever so carefully you will see the side effects of that and read that those tumors ( if you look up their name) may cause a certain cancer later. NONE of these risks is ever discussed with the patient, the assumption, without any kind of testing, is that the lucky YOU will be the one in 67% who will not have those risks developing - until after you take the drug. WHAT kind of science is THAT!!? The doctors also presume themselves to be psychic!!! How about that! They refuse to do real science studies to prove natural medicines pre-existing can heal disease- that's because this costs millions to do and natural is not patentable to own to profit. In other words, to conventional medicine a human life is worth only as much as you can put in your massive corporate bank account. And guess where they extract their molecules from? From natural pre-existing millenia-human-self-tested natural medicine! It becomes abnormal because they take that extract and remove a molecule or two to make it unique in nature = pharmaceuticals. So there is a little depressing history. But the good news is you have that access to natural. Problem is that it doesn't take insurance. So you have to do your own research and also find those practitioners who know how to use them. 1. One source is Naturopathic Physicians (best). 2.Another is Orthomolecular Medicine (especially for mental illness issues and ADD, autism- but best for this is... 3. Neurosurgeon Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride's GAPS book and program - Gut and Psychology Syndrome) . 4. Another is Functional Medicine. Look this up for an MD who does this. 5. Intestinal cleansing Bernard Jensen's way is what helped me long ago. Also Chiropractic can adjust vertebrae that can be interfering with digestion and almost all other issues. I did this too. I no longer have scoliosis. The cheapest that can help you and probably heal your gut problem is the GAPS -search her , buy her book, she also puts the diet online, but the book really explains why. For more good information read online 1. Jon Barron org - he has great easy explanations on articles on how drugs and natural work in our bodies. He also has a free downloadable ebook. He is world renown and also makes his own supplements BaselineNutritionals com. Great probiotics . 2. Also there is a ton of free info at NaturalNews com and free ebook. Also all about natural medicine. 3. MUST see Institute of Responsible Technology. - and GMOs effects on health and gut "Russian Roulette" video also Evidence supports Dr Campbell's theory/facts for GAPS 4. NaturalSolutionsFoundation Dr. Rima - a group who advocate for natural medicine in Congress you can be proactive and sign their petitions to change the corrupt laws and preserve our right to choose natural medicine (she is a natural practicing Psychiatrist and her husband a retired military high official and they work with their own lawyer and others) What Greenbay27 did above will also help. I hope this gives everyone helpful information and a basic understanding of this very confusing health world. To your health!!