concerns about ppi and long term intake ?!

[mustafa811]

i am 38 years old now , i developed gerd in my twenties

i have been on ppi for like 10 years and they completely controlled my symptoms all this period

i was on pantoprazole 40 mg daily and every time i try to dc for a month or two the gerd settles in and heart burn starts in episodes about 2-4 times daily

so i eventually returned to ppi , every while i try to lower the dose to 20 mg for a period till i get the feeling of a slight discomfort so i return to the 40 mg dose again

i tried h2 blockers but ppi was much better

a week ago i stumbled across a medical topic warning about the long term effects of ppi and now i have concerns about this since i had a disc prolapse a year ago

so i want to hear about your personal experiences

also is there any agent of these ppi that is better than pantoprazole in terms of safety and lower side effects, i am not concerned about potency since pantoprazole completely covers my needs