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Opioids Need Guidance For Loperamide Withrawal

S

S2S

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
7
Hello everyone. This is my first post on these forums but I have been reading them for several years.

Unfortunately, I've also been an opiate addict for several years. I'll save the long back-story about how I got started and instead just tell you the "flow chart" about the progression of my addiction:

Vicodin --> Oxycontin --> Suboxone --> Loperamide

I used the illegal opiates for about two years, then was prescribed Suboxone for about three years, then made the very foolish decision to stop going to my Suboxone doctor and try to go cold-turkey off of 4mg per day. I originally started at 16mg and gradually tapered down over that three year period with no problems. However, once the Suboxone withdrawal fully set in, I panicked and looked everywhere online in order to find something that might help...welp, it ended up being Loperamide. Long story short, I traded one addiction for another as many of us do. The good news is that my comfortable dosage of Loperamide wasn't all that high compared to most people whom I've read about while researching this topic. I usually took about 40mg per day (20 of the 2mg pills) and never once exceeded that amount over a six month period. Sometimes when I was running low, I could take as little as 25mg and still feel alright.

However, last Friday I decided that enough was enough and that I was committed to not taking any type of opioid medication whatsoever. The whole idea behind starting to take Loperamide was to get through Suboxone withdrawal, yet I quickly just found myself taking Loperamide everyday once I knew that it kept withdrawal symptoms away effectively and also made me feel "good". I took my last 40mg dose last Friday morning (six days ago) and then started yet another cold-turkey withdrawal from an opioid medication. I made it to Day 3 before the sweating, restless legs, insomnia, etc. became too much for me, so of course I cracked and bought a small package of Loperamide containing 12 of the 2mg pills. I take 6mg (or three pills) once per day whenever the symptoms peak and it does an alright job of making me feel a bit better for a few hours. However, I definitely still experience withdrawal symptoms around the clock even if I take them.

The point of this thread and back-story is to ask if I have erased any progress that I made over the first three days by taking very small amounts of the Loperamide while withdrawing from it over the last three days? Did taking any at all (even such a small quantity) set me back to square one? Am I just making this process longer? How long does Loperamide withdrawal actually last?

Please try to offer guidance without judgement. I didn't just go to the store one day and decide to get hooked on diarrhea meds, I've used strong opiates for years before this and I know what being a "true addict" is just in case anybody thinks that I'm a pansy. Loperamide addiction and withdrawal are VERY REAL and it feels very similar to withdrawing from "traditional" opiates. Thank you in advance for any help regarding this topic. I just want to be normal, healthy, clean, and ultimately get my life back. :(
 
By the way, I have read the entire Loperamide Mega-Thread and did not feel that it answered any of my specific questions.
 
I would suggest trading for another addiction: Kratom. And then tapering off that. It sucks too, but it's much less drawn out than loperamide.
 
drewbocop said:
I would suggest trading for another addiction: Kratom. And then tapering off that. It sucks too, but it's much less drawn out than loperamide.
Click to expand...

True that. The main substance in kratom is mitragynine which has a half life of 2.5-3 hours. Find some red bali kratom, and a dose of that that'll get you well. I say red bali, because I feel like it is the most "opiate" like, and less stimulating than other strains that will worsen insomnia and anxiety.

Once you find your dose, only take it when you cant hold off anymore. The short half life will help, and it also has opiate antagonists in it, to help prevent tolerance, as there is a ceiling affect. Lower your dose by .3-.5 grams every other day. Should take you 2 weeks at most, as the ceiling effect of decent kratom hits around 6-8 grams depending on strain.

Any red strain will do, just use red bali if possible. Red sumatra and Red Borneo could work, but bali is by far the most opiate like.
 
K.

Well OP,

My answers on Bluelight are a synergy of help and a percieved audience. This is designed to shorten the amount of time and money spent in a store or a google search when deciding what to do when short for time and money or trying to not soil your pants.

This is what a friend has told me who has experience with this.

The pull with the substance LOPERAMIDE is its price and bulk. You must do a RAPID TAPER. once this is down, cold turkey UNTIL you NEED it to not diahrea in your pants. Then, take two pills like the normal dosage directions, but CHEW them regardless of which internet troll tells you it tastes icky who has never had sex with a woman.

Congratulations, you have now in TWO days, reset the tolerance to how it is meant to be used.

Do not use Kratom except for getting high. This is a scheme designed through headshop culture, which if anything, is reinforced with information on places like Bluelight.

I hope it goes well for you. :D
 
Swapping Loperamide for anything else was totally out of the question, but regardless, I:

A.) Don't have any money to order Kratom
B.) Tried it a few times while I was just starting to get hooked on Vicodin/Percocet and felt that it left a lot to be desired, even with a (back then) low tolerance for opioids
C.) Want to completely rid my body of anything that could in any way give me an "opiate buzz"

That being said, it's been about 30 hours since the last time I took 6mg of Loperamide and I actually still feel pretty good. I was basically already doing what Parappa suggested above before I even posted about this, so if I can go through another full day and still be feeling pretty decent then I would say that he was spot on with his analysis. I went cold turkey from six straight months of taking 40mg per day for three full days (which SUCKED), then spent the next four days up until now taking just 6mg whenever I really started to hurt. It was enough to take most of the nasty symptoms away and I also got some sleep and exercise for the first time in days. What makes me extra hopeful that he was correct is that I've been going to the bathroom normally for the first time in sooooooo long and yet I still don't feel sick! I'm not sure if this is a sign that it's mostly out of my system but only time will tell. I will update either way!
 
I made it through three more days feeling relatively decent until I woke up this morning feeling some pretty good withdrawal symptoms. I tried my best to ignore it but I ended up taking 2 pills of Loperamide this evening...it hasn't eased any of the symptoms but my diarrhea. I feel like this is never going to end and I'm getting severely depressed. At least I've severely limited my intake over the past ten days but I thought that maybe the physical withdrawal would be winding down by now. Not sure what to think but I just gotta keep going if I want my life back...
 
Good luck to you. Hang in there and your body will return to normal.
 
Sincerely, thank you very much for the support.

After giving it some more time, the 4mg of Loperamide that I took actually did calm a lot of the other symptoms, but what's killing me the most is that I'm so worried that taking it here and there is resetting my withdrawal time back to Day 1 every time I do it. I really don't know if that's going to be the case or not, but 36 hours after taking it, I feel light withdrawal symptoms creeping back on.

What I had considered "Day 1" of attempting a cold turkey detox was Friday, August 15th. From that point until now, I would make it a few days with nothing, take 2mg-3mg of Lope, make it another few days with nothing, take that same dose, make it another few days, take that dose, and now here I am. Like I said, it's killing me inside to think that I might have reset myself to the beginning every time I took a little bit. If I really went cold turkey this entire time and never "cheated", then my withdrawal should have been winding down as it would be Day 11 of the process.

Even if I am back on Day 2 because of it, I am determined to dig deep and do everything in my power to never put any type of opioid into my body. I just want to be a normal person who doesn't have to think about opioid dependence ever again. I am young and I want to build a life instead of hide from the world because I'm too scared to go through withdrawal. It's time to own this and accept the pain of withdrawal as something that I did to myself through years of opioid abuse. I'll update again in a couple of days if anyone is interested or is going through Loperamide addiction themselves and wants to know what to expect.
 
S2S, I am not sure if you are still keeping up with this post, but I have far better experience and advice than anyone else who has posted so far (I do not take pride in this fact however).

FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:::: You are ABSOLUTELY NOT going backwards with the occasional dosing you have been doing. In fact, I think you have accidentally gotten yourself onto a GREAT rapid taper, as you have only dosed when you absolutely need to.

So heres my background to make you feel better. As of late June this year, I was taking 200-250mg loperamide each day, or 100-125 pills. I started with 100mg/day (like a complete fool) and worked my way up to 200+mg a day over 8 months. Loperamide has a very long half-life, comparable to methadone/suboxone, so the insane doses I were steadily increasing the amount of loperamide in my body. Upon seeing a number of studies and reports about the dangers of Parkinson's, severe heart conditions, and other deadly health conditions that are NOT AT ALL typical of more traditional opiates, I realized I had to get off that shit. I can expand on the dangers present in high-dose loperamide consumption if you would like in a PM or another reply.

The thing about long half-lives is that you almost need to taper, or C/T can cause you over a month of some EXTREMELY SHITTY withdrawals. I began my taper by rapidly dropping from 200mgs to 100mgs in around a week. The true effects of a dose drop of loperamide are not felt for at least 3 days for me, also due to it's long half life. Once I was down to 100mgs, the W/D started to get extremely shitty. I could still sleep, but I went into a complete depression for a few weeks, as well as typical physical symptoms such as gooseflesh, cold sweats while sleeping, and terrible anxiety. Honestly, it sucked, but I could still sleep 5-6 hours a night usually, and I decided NOT to stabilize at any dose. Loperamide has such a low bioavailability that dropping by 2mg a day will not worsen withdrawals, and I figured I might as well be making progress if I am still feeling like shit. At around 20-25 pills (40-50mg), my body seemed to have caught up with my quick taper and I managed to pull myself out of the depression. Loperamide caused THE WORST depression issues of any opiate I have withdrawn from, and honestly I was in such a bad depression I did not recognize that it was just w/d symptoms until I got my dose lower.

So around the 20 pill mark (right where you started!) I just felt SO much better about not taking massive handfuls of pills, and I could feel my mind and body beginning to heal from the abuse I had put it through. Some people say to slow your taper there, but I was able to keep dropping 1-2 pills a day down to 3 pills or 6mg a day in around 2 weeks. During this time, I still experienced the gooseflesh, irritability, high anxiety, but I noticed that EVEN as my dose dropped, my symptoms were actually getting better. I TRULY believe that loperamide stays in your system so long that it will do its own sort of taper (like subs, methadone, and even valium). Once at 5pills/10mg a day, I started to feel kind of FREAKIN NORMAL finally. I still get night sweats, sneezing and yawning like crazy, and have some shitty mornings, but everything is very minor at this point.

I took 3 pills/6mg a day for around a week, mainly to not feel like shit when visiting my old university buddies, and the w/ds are very minor. The past two days I took 1mg of loperamide, and today I have still not had to take ANY loperamide, though I will take 1mg if I feel the need to later. As I said earlier, it takes a few days for the dose drop to kick in, but surprisingly I feel no worse than I did taking 6mg a day.

The point of my story is that you should not be afraid to wean! I have talked to a number of people who have C/Ted loperamide, and their w/ds were so bad and lasted so long, that EVERY ONE of them has completely advised against jumping off at a high dose. You were at a great starting point (40mg) compared to many people, and you have already weaned yourself down whether you realized it or not. Personally, I had to dose every day for my wean, but you are able to do make it a few days and dose which is AWESOME and will only help you to get off this shit faster!

I am telling you, even if you went completely C/T you would still feel like absolute shit today. Most people report about 4 weeks for symptoms to start significantly improving, so why not just get to a lower dose first? The jump off 2mg a day will be much shorter and easier than 40mg a day. You are NOT GOING BACKWARDS, loperamide is a strange drug, but it really is not too bad to taper from.

My advice to you is to keep up the alternating day dosing schedule if you can, but reduce by 1mg each time. You can even break the pills in 1/4ths and reduce even slower, but keep it up if you can handle it. Personally, I did not have comfort meds and I have been fine. Kava kava is a great aid as it is non-addictive but very effective in reducing anxiety, so it helps for some people. I too am young; just graduated with my B.S. two weeks ago, and starting my big boy job Tuesday. At the start of this summer I was hopeless and depressed due to my addiction, but enduring the pain and bullshit of coming off the drugs has made me feel MUCH better than I ever was while taking them.

Just keep it up, you are doing great. Don't get anxious and try to rush things, just stay on the path you are on and you will be free from the chemical chains before you know it.
 
Wow. I don't know how to thank you enough for that post, but sincerely, thank you.

I haven't taken any Loperamide in seven full days now and it definitely has not been an easy week, though I have to say that my physical symptoms could be a lot worse than they currently are. I think I felt worse physically during the rapid taper that I did over a couple of weeks leading up to this week of trying to cold turkey it. I figured that I probably still had a couple of weeks to go for the physical symptoms to die down so it sounds like I'm correct according to your story.

The one negative thing is the depression/anxiety that it's giving me. Without a doubt, you're definitely not kidding when you say that it's the worst opiate for depression. I've had days where I've been so incredibly depressed and nervous that I had to attempt to sleep all day just to get mental breaks from it. Sometimes the next day I'll wake up and actually feel really positive, but it's only once in a while. It's a crazy up and down game that it plays with your mind, but I'm proud that I've stayed strong for an entire week and I'm still totally committed to never taking any opiates ever again.

Thank you so much for posting that. You have no idea how much better it made me feel.
 
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