Can Loperamide Hinder Brain Recovery?

[David Wooderson]

I have been an opiate addict for the past 13 years. The longest clean time I had before now was 4-6 months. I had been on suboxone since 08' and was able to ween myself down to .25mg/day before cessation. I thought I would be fine but was having a ruff time with psychological withdrawals, heavy depression, irritability, insomnia and lethargy.

I wasn't able to get out of bed for the most part and began to take loperamide to help with those symptoms.

It worked for the most part taking care of everything except my lethargy, but I am worried if this is hindering my brain's ability to recover from the abuse.
I couldn't find any information that answered my question.

Is loperamide use after addiction as bad as using a low potency opiate?
Is the use counterproductive in recovery?

I was under the impression that because my brain is so susceptible to opiates, that loperamide gives more of an effect than normal, but I am beginning to think that is nonsense.
Does loperamide truly effect the opiate receptors?

Thank you in advance for your response.

 

[pharmarat]

My understanding is that while the loperamide will help you deal with the gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g. diarrhoea and cramping), it is actively pumped out of the central nervous system, so will not have a chance to bind to the mu-opioid receptors in the brain. This is why it doesn't get you high. For the same reason, I wouldn't really count on it working for some of your other symptoms such as insomnia. In essence, I don't believe that you will find it to be counterproductive, just perhaps not overly effective for the majority of your withdrawal symptoms. Good luck

 

[Nagelfar]

I take megadoses of lope and I can even at times catch a nod off it it. Being it has an affinity for P-glycoprotein doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't cross the BBB (Even buprenorphine, i.e. subutex/suboxone has some slight affinity for P-glycoprotein). However I did read that methylnaltrexone (an opioid active antagonist/inverse agonist which "doesn't cross the BBB") isn't used to ease constipation from opioids *because* upward of 60% of analgesic potency is actually mediated by the peripheral receptors. Meaning Lope eases a lot more than just the gastrointestinal symptoms. As many who've used loperamide to maintenance or taper a habit have confirmed colloquially.

 

[endotropic]

It probably depends on the dose. Like Nagelfar said it WILL reach your brain if you take enough of it, so in that sense it works like any other low potency opioid but with more peripheral side effects.

If the lope is helping you don't do anything drastic like cutting it out right away, but you might want to consider tapering it down over time, especially if the side effects bother you.

Is the use counterproductive in recovery?

If it helps you not to take anything else then in my opinion it's helping your recovery. Just be aware of how much you're taking and try to reduce over time.