Opioids Does loperamide prolong withdrawals?

[kaosisallwesee]

I've been prescribed 240mg of dhc a day for the past few months. I know it's not a massive dose but I'm finding the withdrawals to be fairly moderate in severity. I've withdrawn from 1.5g of codeine a day and this honestly feels comparable.
Would let's say 16mg of lope a day for a week ish just prolong it? So when I stop taking lope will I still feel withdrawals from that? I don't want to replace one drug with another. Issue is I have a 2 year old this time around, making cold turkey extremely challenging.

 

[MsDiz]

Can you not taper with the dihydrocodeine?

 

[kaosisallwesee]

Can you not taper with the dihydrocodeine?

I've tried but not had success tapering, with everything going on at the minute I can't deal with feeling mild withdrawals everyday for a month or more and just end up taking more than I should. I'd rather just cold turkey it and get it over with as fast as possible. I just wasn't sure if Lope would still cause any symptoms when stopped at doses well under those that would pass the BBB.

 

[MsDiz]

If you use lope you’d have to taper it too but it’d be much easier to taper than the DHC by the sounds of it.

 

[svacheme3]

It's infinitely easier to taper when it's not something that makes you high at all.

But yes, you'll have to taper, because the only way it's stopping those physical symptoms is by temporarily preventing withdrawal in the opioid receptors outside the brain.

 

[kaosisallwesee]

It's infinitely easier to taper when it's not something that makes you high at all.

But yes, you'll have to taper, because the only way it's stopping those physical symptoms is by temporarily preventing withdrawal in the opioid receptors outside the brain.

Thats kind of what I was getting at. So it will help cover some of the psychological effects like insomnia and depression? I can deal with the shit and rls, it's the lack of energy and depression that really gets me.

 

[Pickledlemons]

definitely, but only partially. 16mg is okay but whatever you do, do not start increasing your lope usage because that's a road that leads to heart failure.

 

[kaosisallwesee]

When I started this thread it had been around 36 hours since last dosing, I took 12mg of lope on Wednesday night, and since then nothing. Surprisingly it all died down pretty quick and today I almost feel normal again albeit a bit tired.

 

[MsDiz]

When I started this thread it had been around 36 hours since last dosing, I took 12mg of lope on Wednesday night, and since then nothing. Surprisingly it all died down pretty quick and today I almost feel normal again albeit a bit tired.

Lope is pretty long acting but yeah, you should be good. Glad you came out unscathed!

 

[kaosisallwesee]

Thanks for the help everyone, appreciate it.

 

[MrManners]

Thanks for the help everyone, appreciate it.

@kaosisallwesee Did you suffer from withdrawal after stopping the lope? Did you taper the lope and was the 12mg enough to hold your withdrawals at bay? TIA

 

[Xorkoth]

In my experience you can use lope minimally without really lengthening your withdrawal, but it's a fine line because you can develop dependence to loperamide too. Even th9ough it's an opioid, too, it seems like they are not fully cross-tolerant, somehow.