Never stop taking Imodium suddenly!

Wow.....I have not heard this. My son takes imodium on and off and never has any issue. Our surgeon told him never to not be worried about taking up to 8/day. So far she has been spot on with all her advice. Have you spoken with your surgeon? I know you posted earlier that you were not feeling the best....maybe something else is going on? Hope you are feeling better soon.

Sue, from what I have read, I am not sure if Imodium actually contains opiods. Some sites say it does, others say it is just structually similar to opiods and has a similar affect. What the websites do agree on, is that Imodium is able to be sold OTC because the (potential) opiod that it contains is not able to pass the blood-brain barrier; it does not affect the brain, cannot create a high, and therefore cannot be abused for recreational purposes. They also agree that stopping imodium after taking it a long time can produce withdrawal symptoms similar to mild opiate withdrawal. In fact, it seems it is widely used among herion addicts trying to kick the habit to help ease their withdrawal symptoms.

I may have been particularly sensitive because I am a very little person (89 lb), have been taking 8 imodium a day for about 5 months, and (stupidly) quit it cold turkey a few days ago. After reading what I did, I took two imodum and my symptoms cleared up in a couple of hours. I'm feeling fine now.

Post Edited (elddiReMsihT) : 9/23/2011 7:51:12 AM (GMT-6)

This may be a stupid question, but why take Imodium when you have the ileostomy?  My son only puts out liquid or "sludge".  Is the output from the stoma supposed to be thicker? 

Also, when you had the Ileo, did you also have output from the rectum?  Is it normal to have mucous and a little blood coming out from the rectum after having an ileostomy?  He goes to the bathroom (from the rectum) about 3-4 times a week.  Not sure if that is normal or not.

Thanks!

 

I take immodium with my ileo as have had a lot of the small bowel removed and so this makes the output very, very watery and constant. Taking the immodium means things slow down and are thicker which helps guard me against dehydration/malabsorbtion. Others who have normal ileo output take immodium on occasion if they want to really slow output down for maybe a few hours like if travelling long distance or going somewhere where toilets are not plentiful or easily accessible.

Never had a problem stopping it suddenly though. With everything else weird that is going on with my body at the moment I don't know if I would notice any other symptoms :)

Thanks everyone for the feedback... this is all new to us. 

elddiReMsihT, I am so grateful that I saw your post. I have been taking Imodium daily so that I can take Excedrin, which really upsets my stomach. I take 8 Imodium for every Excedrin, taking about three Excedrin every day for about six months (if not more). I just got antiobiotics for a sinus infection, shocker the headaches got better I stopped taking the Excedrin and therefore the Imodium. Besides the effect on my digestive system trying to return to normal, I have had hot and cold spells, very difficult to sleep, I feel jittery, I have a tingling feeling in the small of my back that radiates out to all of my extremeties. I got scared that I was having a stroke or something terrible, but I saw your post and immediately went and got some Imodium  so that I can safely wean my body off of it. PS My doctor knew that I was taking this much Imodium and never said a word about any bad effects or withdrawal effects.  Thank you again for your post!

 

Wow. This is definitely good to know as I just started taking Imodium. My hubby takes it quite often too but he has his colon! Guess it's always smart not to stop anything suddenly!