Not related to covid, but a few years ago I was prescribed Omeprazole for what my doctor thought was some kind of reflux issue (it turned out to be a muscle strain in my chest that healed on it’s own).

Since I was thrown on a high dose of it without checking my actual symptoms, it TOTALLY screwed up my system. Would get intense bloating, stomach pains, etc. and the rebound if I missed a dose was insane. But, at the time, I thought that these symptoms were caused by the “reflux” I was diagnosed with and didn’t realize it was the meds making me feel that way.

Long story short, once my initial injury healed, I stopped taking the Omeprazole, and all the new symptoms I had went away after a few days.

I’m sure that if you actually have reflux issues it helps, and I’d listen to you doctor over a random person on the internet, but it’s a more intense prescription than some people realize and seems to be prescribed pretty liberally.