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542867 tn?1214172629

Imodium for Withdrawals

Question.  Has anyone used Imodium to ease opiate withdrawals?  If so, was it effective for you?  Did you have a secondary withdrawal from Imodium when detoxing?  Overall, would you say it helped or hindered your detox.  Just curious.  Thanks.
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Avatar universal
for the love of god, please do not listen to anyone who is in disbelief of this Imodium trick. It is not a placebo and does a lot more than take away the runs. It takes away 90% of the withdraws. I have been trying for 4 years to stop my $150.00 habit. It was agonizing trying but this time around I took the 50 to 60 lil green pills at a time and they work! and I slept! and hardly any depression or paws! I am sickened by those who say it does not work when they have not tried it. This stuff works! Save ur freaking life and get off the opioids! Proof that it works is in my clean time. You may still get the spasms (I did when taking it) but other than that the rest of the pain simply disappears. I took the tagament an hr before, not sure if that helped it along.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
One more word of advice..  if you smoke or drink coffee... DON'T stop these things at the same time you are suffering from opiate WD... I'm not saying you shouldn't quit smoking, because it's terrible for you, but take one step at a time.. caffeine and nicotine are both drugs that you can indeed suffer WD from if you stop suddenly... so take it slow...you don't need to deal with WD from multiple substances at the same time.

IMHO of course.
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Avatar universal
I am NOT a Doctor or Health Professional!!!

Loperamide helped me A LOT with the withdrawals from prescription pain killers, I was using apprx 80 - 100 mg of perc per day, and of course, like almost everyone else who is on them, eventually, you get to a point where you'llI run out early.  I took immodium and within a half hour I felt MUCH better... nausea, panic, anxiety, cramps, all that awful stuff that goes with WD...were alleviated by at least 70%.

  I've done research that shows that Lope is an opioid agonist, which apparently means that it can "mimic" other opiates and fool your body into thinking you are on your meds.  Apparently, there are mu receptors in your GI tract as well as your brain, and the lope seems to handle the GI receptors. As far as the BBB - Blood Brain Barrier, you need to use Lope with white grapefruit juice to assist the lope into crossing the BBB.  I tried it once and felt pretty amped, but honestly, not in a GOOD way. It made me VERY edgy and uncomfortable..  It wasn't anything that was enjoyable, so for now I'll keep using the lope alone, and taper that off over a few days.  I have to say that if you are suffering from WD symptoms, go get some immodium.. it'll help in a huge way.  Also.. Cal Mag or "CALM" - available at any health food store -which are calcium magnesium supplements that you drink, and it helps a bunch with leg cramps.

IMHO of course.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I  agree. I was on suboxone for 4 years and I quit taking it a week ago. Liquid Imodium helped me a LOT!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I agree with u. I was on suboxone for 4 years and I quit taking it a week ago. My WD's were horrible the first 3 days. I couldn't even stand up. I discovered the imodium trick 2 days ago and it worked! It got rid of 80% of the WD's. The pills didn't work for me but the liquid did.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Unfortunately I couldn't take it because when I did I would burn up all over my body and got a fever from it.
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Avatar universal
You will have withdrawals if you drop that fast. How long have you been at those doses and why such a large drop? What is your overall plan?

Immodium helped me a lot. I would take 10 at once every few days so I could function normally. I never used it daily, as I wanted my normal body functions to start back up.

Also, this thread is from 2008, if you start a new thread for your questions, I've noticed more responses. Good luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
hi i have been on between 200 and 400 mg of oxycodone each day, i am planning to go to just 30mg per day, will i have w/d's? is this enough to stop total w/d's. i was thinking o f taking immodium, so what do you guys think
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I know this is a very old thread, but I just came across it on a google search and wanted to let you guys know how much immodium has helped me with my opiate withdrawals. I have been addicted to pilld for two years, and when I try to stop, I get terrible restless body syndrome that keeps me from sleeping and literally has me in tears because it is so terrible. I would wake up in the middle of the night and take a bath to feel better for just 30 minutes. Then I heard of immodium. I take about 30mg of loperamide before bed and I can finally sleep soundly without the pain and discomfort of withdrawal. Sure, it doesn't help w/ everything, or make it painless. I still feel tired and depressed and just crappy all around during the day from the w/d's but good rest is key to my sobriety, as I'm freaking out by the morning time needing opiates (pain killers) to numb my poor writhing legs. Its sickening, I know.. but it works for me, that's all I wanted to share!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
im in day three of my oxycodone/dilaudid/opana withdrawals. I have been using immodium and it is tremendously helpful. I was up to about 300mg a day for over a year and a half, i cut myself off cold turkey once, and i was miserable, worst feeling in the world. I felt like taking a hammer to my legs and arms to get rid of the pain haha, and i was taking abath every 45min to keep the pains down, could not sleep for more then 40min and could not do anything but walk around the house to keep the RLS down. Got back on the pills for a month, and now here i am a month later, i tapered to about 50mg a day, and cut myself off three days ago, took immodium this round and i feel nothing other then an occasional feeling in my gut, and sick feeling all the time. other then that i have no other withdrawal symptoms, a tremendous difference from last time
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Avatar universal
will imodium help suboxone withdrawls? will it throw you into suboxone withdrawls?
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Avatar universal
i know this is probably a dead thread by now but jfunk i actually read your little swim story on another website and holy **** did it save me from a few weeks of hell. after a detox from a 3 to 4g (30 to 40 bags iv)  daily heroin habit detox i went into a little mini withdrawal for a few days, finally after days of symptoms and 4 nights without sleep i said enough and went online found your story followed the suggested loperamide doses and boom the next day im out dirt biking. so bottom line as living proof a lope taper can squall small opi/wd
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1017452 tn?1254904998
My hubby's using Imodium at the moment. He says it helps the diarrhoea and THAT's IT!!!  Today is day 5 of his withdrawal off  2 years on methadone.
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Avatar universal
SWIM was detoxing from Oxymorphone (Opana or Numorphan) and was having bad symptoms.   While Loperimide doesn't cross over the bood brain barrier normally, it can in some people.  That is why there is a warning about drowsiness on the bottle.   If a person ingests Loperimide after taking a quantity of grapefruit juice and or black pepper, it will cross the blood brain barrier, though not very much will make it.  It is enough though to cut withdrawals down considerably.  Loperimide was originally meant to be a opioid pain killer, but in 99% of the populationit doesn't cross the barrier and is only an agonist of the Mu opioid receptors in the gut.  The black pepper and grapefruit juice acts as a proton pump inhibitor according to wikipedia.  SWIM doesn't suggest using heavy quantities of Loperimide.  The purpose is to reduce your withdrawal symptoms, and not become addicted to another opioid.   When Loperimide first came out, it was a controlled substance because in some people it was able to cause depression of the CNS indicitive of opioid action occurring.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Okay, let me clear this up for you guys. I use 400mg of oxycodone a day for the last 3 years (prescribed). I'm in severe chronic pain (and now withdrawal). I just took 12mg of Lopermide (The active ingredient in Immodium AD) and it greatly inhibited my opiate withdrawal (about 70%), and withdrawal I describe as the worst possible feeling in existence. I feel incredibly better 30minutes after taking it. So if you are suffering from opiate withdrawal, GO GET SOME LOPERMIDE, it's the only OTC drug that will actually work for opiate withdrawal. (IT IS LIKE OTC METHADONE) If you don't have suboxone, subutex, methadone or any other opioid, lopermide is the next best thing. Also know that lopermide does nothing for pain (NO CNS EFFECT) or muscle aches, use in conjunction with tylonel or NSAIDS. In general, lopermide makes opiate withdrawal go from unbearable to tolerable. TRY IT!!!

There is a lot of controversy over dextromethorphan. In my experience it was barely effective at relieving withdrawals, but it's proven to prevent an increase in tolerance to opioid drugs.
Helpful - 0
542867 tn?1214172629
Thanks for your comments everyone.  Wow, I guess Imodium is very different for everyone.  I am on day 14 free from Soma (2-4/day) and day 9 free from Hydro (6/day).  I stopped Imodium a couple of days ago and haven't taken any advil or tylenol all day.  I feel really good overall and almost 100%.  In fact the soma gave me some withdrawals, but the Hydro almost none.  I do have some problems with sleep (RLS) but that's about it.  The symptoms go away after about 30 minutes, then I sleep through the rest of the night.  Headaches/body aches all gone.  Compared to a lot of stories I've read on this forum, I got off really really easy.  (Why is that?)  Strange.
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Avatar universal
It's ****! Did nothing, and your gonna be sleepless with or without diarhea.
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536882 tn?1225512859
Yes it is purchased otc and generic works just as well as name brand
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Avatar universal
is this the same stuff you buy otc?
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401095 tn?1351391770
yey...I think the concrete stool would probably keep most from abusing it ..during detox i needed it tho...if u dont need it u will feel like a bloated dog i would think...it does sit on some of the same receptors that narcotics do...so it is specualted that there is a little bit of relief from withdrawals...but not a whole lot...the liquid works fastest and was a life save for me...the runs were the worst part of my detox tho
Helpful - 0
199177 tn?1490498534
If you are looking for diarrhea help it works great ,if you are trying it to get rid of withdrawl symptoms all I can say is I tried this once I took tons of it all I got was constipated ..
Helpful - 0
217599 tn?1202850952
it helped me tremendously.  i took it when i needed to get some sleep and the runs were keeping me on the toilet nearly 24/7.  just take it to slow thing down, not to stop them.

Lucy
Helpful - 0
477746 tn?1254784547
There is a lot of misinformation out there about using Immodium that encourages people to take massive amounts of it with the thinking that built-up opiate tolerance means that a person simply has to take a lot of it to benefit. Which is not only incorrect but dangerous (and not only that - it's encouraging the abuse of another drug).

Loperamide does not cross the blood-brain barrier - it has no impact on the brain and cannot result in addiction. It's action is limited to endogenous opioid receptors located along the the GI tract. That's why no matter how much you take it will never relieve general withdrawal symptoms.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I disagree.  I've read that it does help a lot with withdrawals, but I'm not going to get into how to use it on the open forum.  I can help relieve some of the withdrawal.....you dont' take it for more than a week or so as guess what?  you can get addicted to it.  So yes it can help relieve the withdrawal but you will still feel like dookey.

Nauty...........
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