When I have an especially bad morning and have somewhere to go, I take 3 immodium and for three days I feel normal and good. No Bm until the 4th day however.
Why does it work so well?
What is it about Immodium that it works so well
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What is it about Immodium that it works so well
MC diagnosed 2007
It simply slows down motility. That's all it does. Most people get good results with just 1 tablet, but if that doesn't work, then they take more, until they find a dose that works for them. Be careful, because if you take too many you can have problems with constipation. IOW, it's usually best to take no more than you need to get through the day.
Tex
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
I don't know what it is about Immodium, but I've been having success with it lately too. I tried the Pepto treatment with no luck whatsover...tried 1 Immodium an hour after eating breakfast and I'm down to 1-3 BM's a day, soft, but no D, and no urgency at all. I'm almost afraid to stop popping them, but know I'm going to have to.
Diagnosed with MC in June of 2011. Prescribed 0.375 grams of Apriso. Experienced remission within 3 weeks while still eating whatever I wanted. Flare up in May of 2013. Digesting all the information on this board and developing a food strategy.
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Chipilonadog
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I believe that you are talking about Lomotil. Immmodium is not an opioid drug. If it were, it would not be sold over the counter. The anti diarrheal medication Lomotil (diphenoxylate-atropine), on the other hand, is a Schedule V controlled substance which is chemically related to the narcotic analgesic meperidine. The atropine that is added to the diphenoxylate is there to deter its potential for being abused. ( Atropine causes, among other things, a very dry mouth.) Both of these medications have been of use to me on days when the only way I could make it through a day of teaching was by taking one of these meds. There are time, though, when my LC is so out of control that neither of these medications put a dent in the problem.dfpowell wrote:Immodium is a an opioid drug. You can google it and get more information.
Hope that helps.While it is true that loperamide (Imodium) is not listed as a controlled substance, it does indeed have opioid-like characteristics. To save time, I'll just quote from Wikipedia:
Tex
The red emphasis is mine, of course. So yes, Imodium is obviously not nearly as potent as most of the opioid receptor agonists that are treated as controlled substances, but it does indeed have some degree of opioid-like characteristics sufficient to induce at least mild withdrawal symptoms in some individuals, upon discontinuation after long-term use. It is probably in the same class as gliadorphin (or gluteomorphin), which is a peptide that is cleaved from the wheat protein gluten, and casomorphin, a peptide found in the molecule of the milk protein, casein. They are also capable of causing withdrawal symptoms in some individuals when the respective foods are withdrawn from the diet.Loperamide is an opioid-receptor agonist and acts on the μ-opioid receptors in the myenteric plexus of the large intestine; by itself it does not affect the central nervous system. It works similarly to morphine, by decreasing the activity of the myenteric plexus, which in turn decreases the tone of the longitudinal and circular smooth muscles of the intestinal wall.[5][6] This increases the amount of time substances stay in the intestine, allowing for more water to be absorbed out of the fecal matter. Loperamide also decreases colonic mass movements and suppresses the gastrocolic reflex.[7]
Ability to cross the blood–brain barrier
It is a misconception that loperamide does not cross the blood–brain barrier. Loperamide does cross this barrier, although it is immediately pumped back out into non–central nervous system (CNS) circulation by P-glycoprotein. While this mechanism effectively shields the CNS from exposure (and thus risk of CNS tolerance/dependence) to loperamide, many drugs are known to inhibit P-glycoprotein and may thus render the CNS vulnerable to opiate agonism by loperamide.[8]
Concurrent administration of P-glycoprotein inhibitors such as quinidine and its other isomer quinine (although much higher doses must be used), PPIs like omeprazole (Prilosec OTC) and even black pepper (piperine as the active ingredient) could potentially allow loperamide to cross the blood–brain barrier. It should however be noted that only quinidine with loperamide was found to produce respiratory depression, indicative of central opioid action.[9]
Loperamide has been shown to cause a mild physical dependence during preclinical studies, specifically in mice, rats, and rhesus monkeys. Symptoms of mild opiate withdrawal have been observed following abrupt discontinuation of long-term therapy with loperamide.[10][11]
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.