Opioids Lopramide for methadone?

[iLLHiLL420]

Hello to anyone reading this. I made a big mistake and got to my methadone clinic late and now im out of luck for a few days. I was wondering if anyone had any real expierences using lopramide for withdrawls from methadone or opiates. Im not trying to get high off lopramide, just feel normal until i get back to the clinic. Any help would be great. Thanks!

 

[negrogesic]

Yes it will help. However there is a big problem with loperamide. The doses required can be dangerous and even fatal.

Don't exceed 60mg, and don't take it if you have a history of heart problems. Avoid high daily doses for an extended period of time.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey buddy! Welcome to Bluelight I'm sorry to hear that you're dealing with this stuff man. The clinic can be a fickle mistress. I'd be interested to know how you ended up without access for days, but I'm not gonna dwell on that. In the United States, clinics are generally open almost every day. The one around here is open 365. Anyway...

The answer to your question is yes. Loperamide (Immodium) is definitely useful for dealing with Opioid withdrawal of any kind really, but you want to make sure you balance your relief with your safety. I understand that your desire is not to get high, but the fact is that being on Methadone Maintenance means you are probably going to require relatively large dosages of Loperamide to get relief. Loperamide, like Methadone, can cause problems with the QT Interval of the heart. People have died as a result of using high dosages. It is not "the norm" for this stuff to kill you, but I feel the disclaimer is necessary.

If I had it my way, I would be using dosages of Loperamide not exceeding 20mg in a single dosage combined with other medications like Cannabis or whatever you have at hand. Clonidine (Catapres)? Gabapentin (Neurontin)?

I understand this is only for a short time, so let us know what you have and what you can do. I wouldn't exceed that 20mg Loperamide. It will probably require more to bring serious relief, but I can't really endorse that because of the health risks.

 

[Keif' Richards]

^I don't disagree with Negrogesic here. I just through that 20mg dosage out as I wasn't really sure what was actually "safe" when using Loperamide like this. I will say that I have done it and it can help, but I worry about the risks.

 

[iLLHiLL420]

Hey guys. Thanks for the info. I woke up late today and will not be able to get my take homes for a few days because i had to go out of town and didnt think i needed to guest dose anywhere because i get 4 take homes a week now. So i woke up later than usual and the clinic closes early on thursday. So now im going out of town for family stuff and am dreading feeling horrbile in front of my family. Should be a true shitshow. So i got a 100 mg of lopramide and will try 25 mg each day and hit the grass an hope for the best until i get back. Ive never tried lopramide and i just heard about it a short time ago, so the information you guys gave is great thank yall and have a happy holiday

 

[Soso78]

Hey guys. Thanks for the info. I woke up late today and will not be able to get my take homes for a few days because i had to go out of town and didnt think i needed to guest dose anywhere because i get 4 take homes a week now. So i woke up later than usual and the clinic closes early on thursday. So now im going out of town for family stuff and am dreading feeling horrbile in front of my family. Should be a true shitshow. So i got a 100 mg of lopramide and will try 25 mg each day and hit the grass an hope for the best until i get back. Ive never tried lopramide and i just heard about it a short time ago, so the information you guys gave is great thank yall and have a happy holiday

How much methadone u take a day?

 

[negrogesic]

^I don't disagree with Negrogesic here. I just through that 20mg dosage out as I wasn't really sure what was actually "safe" when using Loperamide like this. I will say that I have done it and it can help, but I worry about the risks.

I suppose what i meant is that 60mg is probably the highest you can go without clearly entering unequivocally dangerous territory. All instances of hospitalization and/or death involved doses above 100mg, and many of these cases were chronic users. Doesn't mean 60mg couldnt kill you, particularly if you have underlying heart problems (of which many people are unware).

But to be clear, any dose above the 16mg medically advised daily maximum may be unsafe. Loperamide is not a safe drug in high doses, and high doses can lead to electrical irregularities and ventricular fibrillation that can be exceptionally challenging to treat. Lowest effective dose should be used, I should have been more clear.

 

[Painful One]

Loperamide has saved me a few times now.

I take morphine so I am assuming that if it helps (almost takes all the symptoms of withdrawal away for me) with morphine withdrawal.
it will help with methadone withdrawal also.

I think you are going to need the 60 mg but do try and use the lowest dose possible. It is very dangerous and best to just deal with some of the symptoms. Never use Loperamide for more than 4 days top! It has a BAD withdrawal of it’s own. Some say the withdrawal from Loperamide is worse than heroin withdrawal. It is a 6-8 week acute opiate withdrawal.
You do not want to go there. Trust me on this.

Wishing you the best.

 

[Keif' Richards]

I suppose what i meant is that 60mg is probably the highest you can go without clearly entering unequivocally dangerous territory. All instances of hospitalization and/or death involved doses above 100mg, and many of these cases were chronic users. Doesn't mean 60mg couldnt kill you, particularly if you have underlying heart problems (of which many people are unware).

But to be clear, any dose above the 16mg medically advised daily maximum may be unsafe. Loperamide is not a safe drug in high doses, and high doses can lead to electrical irregularities and ventricular fibrillation that can be exceptionally challenging to treat. Lowest effective dose should be used, I should have been more clear.

Agreed. I have a hard time commenting on stuff like this. I have been through a lot of dangerous behavior and managed to survive, but I don't actually know how close I've come to actually killing myself. There was a time I had weekly take-homes of Methadone and a stupid decision led me running out three days early. I had used Loparamide in the past for Opioid withdrawal, but at this time, I was a chronic MMT patient on ~100mg daily. I went and got 2x200ct gigantic-pack of Loperamide knowing it was going to be a difficult time. It must really suck to require 400 Loperamide pills at a time just to keep your diarrhea at bay. I'm guessing that this quantity of medication is aimed at cornering the Cholera market.

I ended up taking ~70mg Loperamide in the morning and then more to get to sleep. By the 3rd day, I assume I was taking ~120mg in a 24hr period. I was concerned about being functional for my job, which led me to be so aggressive in medicating my withdrawal. I ended up with some troubling side-effects like blurred vision. Maybe 2 years later is when I first heard about the potential for serious consequences and it obviously freaked me out. So, while I survived, I don't want anyone to take that as encouragement. I say I didn't know about the true consequences at that time, but the truth is that even if I had known, I probably would've done it anyway.

This makes it really hard to address the community in a confident way about any of this. I think using Loperamide in high doses like I and others have is a symptom of treatments like Methadone not being accessible to the extent that they need to be. This can be dangerous and there have been documented deaths so we can only do our best to help centralize some of the knowledge about Loperamide. Hopefully we can reach a point where folks will not feel the need to pursue dangerous solutions to their dependency. Being involved in Harm Reduction, it's really tough to hear of people dying or getting seriously injured over something like Loperamide

 

[Wilson Wilson]

Instead of using crazy doses of lope I just used normal doses like 2-4mg then combined it with pregabalin, benzos, and weed. This held back the worst of withdrawals and let me sleep.

I can't speak for methadone specifically but it helped greatly with oxy withdrawal.

Also keep in mind methadone's long half-life means withdrawal will take longer to kick in compared to most opioids.

 

[Painful One]

I am low on my prescription of morphine right now and I am in mild withdrawal from having to stretch out the pills I have left.

My doctor is only in one day I found out. December 30th and if I can’t get into him, I will probably die.
He isn’t going to be back in the office until a week after the New Year!

I had no idea he would be out of the office for so long!
I don’t even have an appointment with him either.
I am just going to have to call and beg them to get me in on the 30 th!

I don’t want to have to turn to Loperamide. I know how dangerous it is and I also know how bad the withdrawal is from it.
But the sad truth is, that if I cannot get in and get my prescription refilled I know I will turn to high dose loperamide.
The withdrawal is just too much!

Even though using high dose Loperamide Could end me up in The Shrine!
How sad would that be to loose “Painful One” over stupid shit like this!

It irritates me that help is not always available!

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

I've voted 'no' because it is very unlikely to make any difference unless your methadone dose Is so low that it's placebo.

The real trick here is to get to your fuckin appointments on time. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but if you really want to be helped then that's the least you can do...

 

[Battlelines]

I've voted 'no' because it is very unlikely to make any difference unless your methadone dose Is so low that it's placebo.

The real trick here is to get to your fuckin appointments on time. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but if you really want to be helped then that's the least you can do...

Not only are you being harsh you are being completely rude. She didn’t know her doctor was going on vacation and accidents happen. No need to be an unhelpful prick.

It does help with withdrawals. You are the only person I’ve seen on here that says it doesn’t.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Not only are you being harsh you are being completely rude. She didn’t know her doctor was going on vacation and accidents happen. No need to be an unhelpful prick.

It does help with withdrawals. You are the only person I’ve seen on here that says it doesn’t.

Yep, that might have come across as rude, but I didnt see anything about their doctor going on vacation, only that they woke up late and missed the appointment. IME, you need to take very high doses of loperamide to alleviate a low dose methadone withdrawal. The OP didn't state their dose so it's hard to evaluate their situation. But due to the long half life of methadone, it can take days before proper withdrawal kicks in. However, psychological withdrawal can kick in a lot earlier which is where taking a weak opiate like loperamide might help.

Just trying to make the point that when on treatment for opiate addiction, it's in your own interests not to fuck up.


Edit: Ah, I see, you thought I was responding to Painful One. I wasn't, I was responding to the OP.

 

[Painful One]

I was able to get in to my doctor yesterday so I am all good!

No worries for me. I got it taken care of.
Im so glad I did not have to turn to Loperamide! Nasty stuff really.

I should have checked their holiday schedule long before I did!
I was lucky they had mercy on me!
I just did not expect for them to be out of the office for so long.

I am sure many of their patients are crying right now. Poor kids!

 

[ComfortablyNumb95]

Loperamide eliminates 100% of my withdrawals, whether they be from methadone, heroin or any other opioid.
The thing is I have to take 90mg at the very least, usually 120mg the first day and then 90 for a few more, I've done this so many times with heroin that at some point i started to get WDs from the loperamide.

On the one hand it's great because I can just drive to the pharmacy, get some diarrhea medication, swallow a bunch of pills and not feel any withdrawal at all, it makes me feel completely normal; on the other hand a big problem is that you WILL get physically addicted to the lope if you take it too often.

Loperamide is a legit opioid if taken in large enough doses, that's just a fact.
I've even tried downing 160mg to see what would happen and after 4 hours I got a mild high similar to codeine. I have 7 years of experience with several different opioids and i know what a high feels like.

I want to stress that abusing loperamide to get high is dangerous, it should be used only for a few days to ease withdrawals from other opioids, loperamide addiction is real and extremely nasty, the high isn't even that pleasant and the substance itself is cardiotoxic and could kill you.

 

[negrogesic]

I would describe loperamide as being meperidine like at high doses (like loperamide, meperidine is a 4-phenylpiperidine). It is a dirty high but at 100mg+ it becomes centrally acting. Avoid this however as it has resulted in deaths.