Wow, I can't believe these threads about loperamide. I ALWAYS had tons while I was a junkie because I suffered from IBS or possibly NBS (narcotic bowel syndrome). Anyway I quit opiates 2 years ago and am on an insanely low dose of Suboxone. I had been taking 2-4 loperamide 2mg tablets each day while I was addicted and after I quit simply to prevent having the shits. After I got clean the shits slowly went away and I found that I didn't really need to take the loperamide anymore so I started decreasing the dose. Anyway I also noticed that 6mg + 25mg diphenhydramine worked great as an OTC non-herbal sleep aid.
Anyhow fast forward to today... I had been taking 2mg loperamide each night with 25mg diphenhydramine for insomnia for the past 3 months since starting Prozac (which caused the insomnia). Then I stopped the loperamide and diphenhydramine all together once the initial Prozac insomnia went away. Now I am 2 weeks with no loperamide and have felt very tired and have the classic restless, agitated feeling in my body after 10pm up until I fall asleep (if I ever do).
Do you think low dose (2-8mg) daily loperamide use for 4+ years could result in me having W/D symptoms or PAWS for 2+ weeks? By the last 5-6 months I was only taking 2mg a day with the occasional 4mg days.
Symptoms I noticed since stopping loperamide:
-Not feeling refreshed when waking up
-Lack of energy (uncharacteristic of me)
-Horrible insomnia, restlessness, RLS, severe agitation and desire to squirm
-Depression increased
-Yawning during the AM increased
-Runny nose in AM
I didn't think these symptoms had anything to do with me stopping loperamide seeing as i was only taking 1 tablet a day...but after reading about lope W/D on here and thinking to myself night after night of horrible insomnia "this feels exactly like opiate withdrawal (physically at least)" maybe i feel so horrible because i quit a long minor lope habit (non-recreational)....
and just as a FYI I never used loperamide to get high as I thought that was ridiculous but reading these threads maybe i should have.... or at least used 20-50mg when I was DYING from fucking heroin withdrawal...ugh if I had only known back then what I do today....
Should i continue to stay off lope or should I take 1mg every other day to make the insomnia/fatigue go away?