Opioids Accidentally the whole Imodium

[killakillakam]

Background
Over the course of ~2 weeks, I was quite successfully executing a rather rapid reverse taper from my DOC. To supplement the process, I was also drinking about ~2 glasses of tonic water for RLS.
Eventually, I went cold turkey and started taking loperamide and a PPI for the expected stomach issues of withdrawal.

First night Cold Turkey,
I take 30 mg Loperamide (w PPI earlier that morning)...
BAMMM...
I barely wake up the next morning with a very mild but very noticeable opiate buzz. It was extremely sedating but only very slightly euphoric. This buzz persisted for about 20+hours. As I tapered down from the loperamide the 20+ hr long buzzes kept coming.

I suspect that the reverse taper sensitized my opioid receptors + the combination of two P-glycoprotein inhibitors moved enough of the Loperamide across the BBB to do the trick.

My conclusions? Yes, it is possible to get high from loperamide.
Is it pleasurable? Not really; too sedating and barely euphoric.

However, it is a rather good way to ease withdrawals and may help you from relapsing afterwards. Please consider my findings in the spirit of harm reduction; it is not worth to get high on it.. trust me.

A word of caution, 30mg produced a significant effect.. I have seen some of you experimenting with loperamide at 150mg+. I strongly advise against this.. the buzz is so sedating that it may cause significant respiratory depression and well, you know..

Thank you for your time.

 

[amapola]

Thanks for the good post killakillakam. There a bunch of threads in ADD about how to get loperamide to cross the BBB. The answer is nobody would ever want it too .

 

[blackie123]

Hey man, thanks for this. I have always been curious about what I've read regarding loperamide for a taper. Here is my question: I've only ever seen it sold in blister packs with a relatively small number of pills. Is that how you were buying it, or is there a bulk product somewhere?

 

[Baldwin]

Loperamide is excellent, it has saved me from many days of agony. The ease of tapering down from it is also a big plus if you really want to quit or take a longer break.

But I wouldn't try to get high from it, good old DXM is a better, also legal alternative if you're really that desperate. Non-tripping doses give me a very nice body high, also great to take your mind off the WDs.

Too bad lope is so expensive here in Germany (like all meds, it's completely ridiculous compared to other countries, fuck our pharma lobby ). I always have to stock up if it's on special offer. It's also only sold in blisters containing 10 tabs with 2mg each, you should see the pharmacists face when I order 10 packs of constipation medicine %)

I've yet to find a place that ships lope to Germany in bulk, the gov has very strict laws regarding the import of (even completely legal) meds, ostensibly to protect customers from counterfeit products, but in reality it's just protecting the interests of national companies.

 

[killakillakam]

Hey man, thanks for this. I have always been curious about what I've read regarding loperamide for a taper. Here is my question: I've only ever seen it sold in blister packs with a relatively small number of pills. Is that how you were buying it, or is there a bulk product somewhere?

Yes, bulk is available. I understand no discussion of sources is technically allowed but I'm sure its not too harmful if I advise you to check EBay.

 

[Rx_]

Lope

Hey man, thanks for this. I have always been curious about what I've read regarding loperamide for a taper. Here is my question: I've only ever seen it sold in blister packs with a relatively small number of pills. Is that how you were buying it, or is there a bulk product somewhere?

This is not sourcing..!! Yes you can buy it in generic brand "Loperamide" at walmart or Dollar General in bottles of 48 for around $4. This med has saved my ass many times as well. I wait a few days for the withdrawals to start. I never really get a buzz from it, but feeling normal is a buzz all its own when withdrawaling

 

[Lady Codone]

I definitely get some sedation with even smaller doses of lope. Last time I was deathly ill and couldn't keep anything down I dissolved a pill under my tongue. Not only did my tummy calm down, but I fell asleep almost instantly. Very good for vomiting/diarrhea and glad it's OTC.

 

[Rx_]

dissolved

I definitely get some sedation with even smaller doses of lope. Last time I was deathly ill and couldn't keep anything down I dissolved a pill under my tongue. Not only did my tummy calm down, but I fell asleep almost instantly. Very good for vomiting/diarrhea and glad it's OTC.

I will have to try that next time. Many of my friends dissolve pills that way and swear by it.! Good thing I live in Tennessee ..here we can buy codeine cough syrup otc. Most major stores don't carry it, but the mom and pop pharmacies do. You can only by 4 oz every 72 hours by law. Not all states do this, and yes you have to show id, and sign a log. Only 240mg codeine per bottle. Not bad for otc

 

[StaffWriter]

That codeine syrup doesn't do shit for withdrawals. We have it here in Georgia and it just doesn't do the job. You gotta remember that along with that codeine is tons of Guafinesin. And sorbitol. Yuck.

 

[Rx_]

does fo me

That codeine syrup doesn't do shit for withdrawals. We have it here in Georgia and it just doesn't do the job. You gotta remember that along with that codeine is tons of Guafinesin. And sorbitol. Yuck.

I am on MS Contin aka Morphine. Codeine breaks down to morphine after passing through the liver. So it helps me It has saved me from withdrawals many, many Times.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

Tonic water and whatever PPI you're referring to (omeprazole I'm guessing) are not strong enough P-glycoprotein inhibitors to have appreciable effects. Quinidine can but it's a far superior P-gp inhibitor.

30mg is not a tiny dose though, what's your opioid tolerance like to other opioids at the moment? When I was coming off 150mg/day oral morphine, 24mg of loperamide had me rather sedated and some people get even stronger effects than I did (which others get weaker ones).

 

[love2party]

I was kind of the fence on loperamide but now I'm convinced. I ran out of oxycodone the day before and I was having mild withrawals, my tolerance is only about 90-120mg of oxycodone throuhgout the day. I was laying down at night after smoking some marijuana, I was having some RLS and i was feeling crappy, so I popped 20mg of lope and they went almost completely away and I was able to fall the sleep. The sleep wasn't all too comfortable but its was sleep nonetheless. Woke up feeling almost normal.

Might pop another 10mg here in a little bit, my mood is starting to go down.

 

[BlueLightBeam]

I had never heard of loperamide before. Is that Imodium, or what?

 

[Cane2theLeft]

l2p - I'd say find the dose that holds you the best and then dose it once per day dropping 1-2mg per day (that's pretty slow but you could even go slower if you wanted).

That is if you're looking to get off.

BLB - yes, it's the opioid in imodium. In the gut it has classic constipating opioid effects but when it crosses the BBB, most is exported back by P-glycoprotein so at therapeutic doses it doesn't produce central effects (euphoria, analgesia, etc).

In much larger doses, enough isn't exported to produce limited central effects. Few feel it's worth it to use recreationally, but it's rather helpful in withdrawal.

 

[love2party]

^I have used loperamide previously and I find I can taper fairly quickly. I only take it for the first 4-5 days, when the withdrawals are at their worst. Loperamide gives me stomach aches sometimes, so I'm always hesitant to take large doses.

 

[killakillakam]

Tonic water and whatever PPI you're referring to (omeprazole I'm guessing) are not strong enough P-glycoprotein inhibitors to have appreciable effects. Quinidine can but it's a far superior P-gp inhibitor.

30mg is not a tiny dose though, what's your opioid tolerance like to other opioids at the moment? When I was coming off 150mg/day oral morphine, 24mg of loperamide had me rather sedated and some people get even stronger effects than I did (which others get weaker ones).

Oral morphine in the 60-75 mg range.

To clarify, I am not saying that the PPI (pantoprazole) + tonic water did this alone.. I believe that the ultra-low dose naltrexone was a very important factor. I suspect that a highly sensitized receptor did interact with the little bit of loperamide that crosses the BBB + the additional bit that came with the P-GP's.

Previously, with much lower tolerance... 40mg of loperamide just barely helped the withdrawals. In this case, it stopped the withdrawals and produced a very slight yet perceptible opiate buzz.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

^ So you took a bunch of things you believed would make it stronger but are realistically-speaking not likely to have much impact at all and you believe they increased the effects a lot... sounds like a placebo effect. It might be, it might not be but there's no way to know.

It's still probably worth it for people w/ding to try it for a little relief (whether that be real or placebo) so thanks for sharing

^I have used loperamide previously and I find I can taper fairly quickly. I only take it for the first 4-5 days, when the withdrawals are at their worst. Loperamide gives me stomach aches sometimes, so I'm always hesitant to take large doses.

I found that taking anticholinergics with them helped a lot. I was hesitant because most make me restless NOT in withdrawal and are torture during but a little doxylamine succinate with enough loperamide, maybe a little dxm and other sedatives I could get helped a lot. I never had the stomach cramping if I took a little doxylamine.

 

[killakillakam]

^ So you took a bunch of things you believed would make it stronger but are realistically-speaking not likely to have much impact at all and you believe they increased the effects a lot... sounds like a placebo effect. It might be, it might not be but there's no way to know.

It's still probably worth it for people w/ding to try it for a little relief (whether that be real or placebo) so thanks for sharing

Placebo-effect is always a possibility. In this case, I did not expect much from the loperamide or the P-GPs (I did not know the PPI had potential for inhibiting p-GP until researching it after the fact).

I did have high expectations for a lighter withdrawal due to the up-regulation of the receptors from the reverse taper with the naltrexone. Admittedly, I am a very strong proponent of the reverse taper for cessation of opiate use.

I was just extremely surprised by my perceived effects from the loperamide! As as someone that was previously a Lope-skeptic and very dismissive of its value beyond diarrhea and stomach cramps, I am now a convert.

 

[love2party]

I found that taking anticholinergics with them helped a lot. I was hesitant because most make me restless NOT in withdrawal and are torture during but a little doxylamine succinate with enough loperamide, maybe a little dxm and other sedatives I could get helped a lot. I never had the stomach cramping if I took a little doxylamine.

I just took 10mg a little bit ago. I'm a little bloated but so far no stomach ache. But I'm going to try that next time I dose.