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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT | paranoid android

Is loperamide really just delaying the inevitable?

A

annachronism

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Messages
65
Ok first off I'm not interested in starting another " does lope work or not thread" I've been fighting an ongoing battle against withdrawals from a variety of opiates, tramadol and very high doses of kratom. More than anything I want to be completely free from having to use anything to feel normal. However it seems all the resolve it the world only seems to get me past the 24 hour mark. Yesterday however after being just ravaged from withdrawal symptoms at work I took about 70-75 mg of loperamide without any chasers like quinine grapefruit juice etc. very very gradually the symptoms subsided and I slept though the night with some help from phenibut and melatonin. Today however I woke up groggy had a cup if coffee and am now at work feeling absolutely 100 percent like my old self. Not a trace of withdrawal or anxiety just a little tiredness. My question is this just the effect of the lope....am I going to wake up tomorrow feeling like shit all over again or worse yet having creep up on me in the evening. I have to be prepared because I have alot of work responsibilities and can't afford to be a wreck at work. The last thing I want is to be hooked of reading lope though because it hurt my stomach real bad. It's the weirdest thing though I don't feel high in the slightest just completely normal. Too good to be true?
 
IMH opinion it is the result of the Lope.. thats not to say lope doesn't have it place in detox. Generally I think its best to avoid the lope in order to promote the quickest detox and to avoid just switching the physical dependence from one substance to another. But if people lives prevent them from being sick for a period of time then this is an option people may want to use. I think people can have an easier time tapering the lope as it doesn't produce much if any of a "high." You may want to identify the lowest dose you can function on relatively comfortably and then identify a rate of tapper that will allow you to eventually tapper off the lope. Maybe someone who has been successful at this will share the schedule they used.

Hang in there getting off the opiates is tough but you can do this!!
 
Thanks neversickanymore....not what I wanted to hear but I suspected as much. I have some kratom which will also keep the sickness at bay for work purposes but I know I'll end up taking too much to feel good and I want this to be done so bad. I'm worried about how long lope lasts for because I assume it will result in withdrawals from the lope just taking foooorever. I'm thinking I need to just take off work and suffer through it.
 
That's a pretty high dose of loperamide and yeah I think you are delaying the inevitable. If you need to just get by so you can work, it's understandable but I wouldn't recommend taking more than 8-12 mg in a sitting. You're better off taking the time off work if you can and detoxing at home so you can get this over with. You will feel so much better not having to depend on opiates every day. You're stronger than you think! <3
 
annachronism said:
Thanks neversickanymore....not what I wanted to hear but I suspected as much. I have some kratom which will also keep the sickness at bay for work purposes but I know I'll end up taking too much to feel good and I want this to be done so bad. I'm worried about how long lope lasts for because I assume it will result in withdrawals from the lope just taking foooorever. I'm thinking I need to just take off work and suffer through it.
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You;re thinking is spot on; Take the time off, You're SO close, don't walk backward : ) Lope scares me because of to MPTP- even if I was sick as shit again (which I will be when I do this taper) I wouldn't take a high dose of it. I had parkinsons'-type symptoms after a high dose. Taing Ubiquinol can protect your brain from Some of the damage to the dopamine system, but how much I wouldn't know. Parkinsons=worse then opioid withdrawl, agreed?
 
lo and behold open my eyes at 9 this morning with the all too familiar sweaty anxiety riddled heavy body feeling...but have to feed and bathe the kid and then rush to work. Funny thing is I don't feel all that bad just really dismal and irritable. I think a big part of it is everything imaginable is going to shit in my life right now relationship is falling apart, finances are in disarray, getting served divorce papers etc. every part of me screams at me to just attempt to do this at another time when things are more stable. Obviously they won't stabilize so long as I'm still dealing with this. Uck...just a rant I guess
 
^Well there you go. For me, when I was in severe heroin withdrawal, all that loperamide did was ease the bowel discomfort, which as we all know, is really really fucking bad. Once my guts were sorted, I found my level of anxiety would decrease a lot and I could relax a bit more. I never found that I would get rebound w/d from loperamide myself. It never staved off the chills, sweating and depression of withdrawal. YMMV :)
 
That's the trouble with opiates- there's that hungry little beast that demands you to keep feeding it and telling you it's never a good time. How did today go? Don't be afraid to rant, we're here for you! And you will get there eventually. :)
 
Today has been one of those days that causes one to question if their higher power doesn't have a sense of humor that is ironic bordering on sadistic. Really just beyond my level of being able to handle it. I'm literally counting the minutes till I can feed and put my child to bed and I can take some xanax go to sleep and deal with it tomorrow. Funny thing is I went to work with about 25 grams of kratom in my bag and managed to not take any. I really oughtta just toss the stuff but can't brings myself to. So strange how the addiction addled mind works. I want to be free so bad but I keep the stuff afraid I just won't be able to cope tomorrow or maybe the next day
 
Keep at it and keep it simple. Try and keep your thoughts just in the moment.. dont worry about all that shit as worry wil make an addict nuts and does no good.. for a little bit just get up, do the best you can and give yourself the credit for doing this, do only what needs to be done.. take a deep breath, and try to make a promise to yourself that you will never take anything serious again,m as it can make life a serious drag. There is a big difference between promoting a real good life and taking life seriously.;)

Your doing absolutely amazing keep at it!!!<3
 
Two days after lope. Just so so restless. Tomorrow will be tough a huge storm is preventing any sort of mobility and Sat is the only day me and the old man both have off...so usually sleeping in cuddling and lazing around is in order. Which of course on opiates is my favorite thing in existence off...not so much
 
Loperamide was a huge help in getting me off of Subutex... I started off with pretty massive doses, but it's (physically) very easy to taper off of once the withdrawal from the other opiates have had enough time to subside.
 
I don't think I could have gotten off of sub or anything else without loperamide. Even if you do a really slow taper and then jump off at a real low dose, loperamide still helps a lot.

I never took a lot though. Possibly because I've never tried it, but I just don't understand the point of taking so much of it. I only ever take it to help with the stomach discomfort and diarrhea, and a small amount can go a long way. I sometimes start with splitting a pill in half and taking 1mg. Or I might just take one 2mg pill. Is there really that much of an upside to taking so much more? If you're worried that you're taking too much and it's just delaying your progress then I'd start tapering with the loperamide. See if you can be comfortable (within reason, there's usually going to be some discomfort no matter what) with a low dose. Start low and if you need to take more take it. You can always take more, you can never take less. That was the first lesson I had when I joined BL in 2005, and it's still some of the most sensible advice I've ever gotten in relation to dosing.

Do you have anything else that can aid your recovery? Marijuana is sooo helpful for my stomach and for the anxiety, temperature fluctuations, and a number of other symptoms. I know not everyone likes weed or has the ability to use it. If you're comfortable with it and you can use it (meaning you don't have a drug test or anything like that) then I would highly recommend it. I don't think I could have stopped opiates without weed. Marijuana's ability to ease my stomach pain and to put me in a more positive mindset are incredibly important in order to prevent a relapse. Can you get clonidine or any benzos? They also seemed to help my stomach a bit. The clonidine I noticed actually made me not have diarrhea, even when bad WDs would start hitting. Both clonidine and benzos also seem to give me more of an appetite.


Taking supplements may help. Peppermint oil pills are useful for the stomach discomfort, though you'll probably burp a number of times and it will feel like you ate five candy canes, but it is helpful on the stomach. Taking a supplement with magnesium is a good idea. During WD the body can get low on magnesium, and magnesium deficiency symptoms include dizziness, muscle cramps, muscle weakness, and fatigue.
 
Hanging in there but just barely. I'm down to quite a small dose of kratom a couple times a day and about half a mil xanax at night. You'd think at this dose I'd be able to just jump no problem but I just feel so shitty without the little bit. Last night I kept throwing up and couldn't keep any kratom down so settled into a sweaty miserable restless benzo induced sleep. This morning after ingesting a very small dose I feel alright. I think a large part at this point is really psychological everything imaginable in my life is going to shit I lost my primary source of income and am terrified at the though of job hunting in this condition, my relationship is on shaky ground, I have a bunch of family events to attend ( his not mine) that just make me tremble at the thought, I think my 4 year old is showing signs of emotional stress. The need to just pull it all together is pressing but I can't seem to summon the strength.
 
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