Watching this thread with interest. Hubby is on omeprazole and we had no idea about the risks. A few months ago, out of the blue the pharmacist phoned him to tell him they were halving his dose.
I can only relate what happened to me, but it might help your husband and others recognise the signs, which I didn't at the time. I was first prescribed omeprazole prophalytically ( I didn't and don't have any problems with stomach acid reflux) in about July last year. Everything seemed fine at first, but then after a month or so I began to get really severe cramps in my hands and legs, so painful that it would wake me up if it happened during the night. At the time I was on a reduced salt diet, so I put the cramps down to a lack of salt, but I now know that cramp is a fairly common side effect of omeprazole. About a month after that my distance vision started to become a bit blurred, and I had episodes of a day or so of raging thirst. Although I knew that unusual thirst can be a symptom of diabetes I really didn't think too much about it, as after a day or so everything would return to normal.
But gradually things started to deteriorate, culminating in me losing all the strength in my legs and collapsing at a checkout in Tesco, completely unable to get up. I ended up in our local casualty department, where they quickly identified my problem as being caused by a very high blood sugar level, way up over 100 units. I was put on twice-daily insulin injections and things started to improve quite quickly, to the point where I was able to walk out of hospital with the aid of a stick after about a week or so. I kept taking the insulin for about three months, but had to keep reducing the dose to maintain my blood sugar in my target range until I was able to do without it completely. I've still got some of the symptoms that developed during my diabetic phase, such as a numbness and tingling in my feet,but that's getting better too.
So the good news for me was the effects of omeprazole reversed spontaneously and fairly quickly after I stopped taking it. My warning to others taking the drug is to keep a careful watch for any of the listed side effects, such as itchy skin, cramps and so on, and consider an alternative with your doctor as a matter of urgency should you encounter any of them. If I'd taken my own advice I wouldn't have ended up in hospital.
I'm sorry this is so long,but I just wanted to flag this issue up in case anyone else is in the same position that I was. I'll just add that all this happened without me making any changes at all to my diet, exercise regime or weight.