Swimmingdancer
Bluelight Crew
I thought loperamide passed in small amounts when taken after a PGP inhibitor? H2 antagonists such as cimetidine and proton pump inhibitors like omeprazole were mentioned. Quinine, also. From my experience and that of my boyfriend, the cimetidine and large doses of lope were effective. He enjoyed it somewhat, while I was relieved from withdraws but felt very uneasy and suffered faintness. The faintness may have been unrelated, as my BP runs low, but it's only been that bad while taking lope.
Yes, as I said in my post above:
Loperamide DOES cross the blood brain barrier. The problem is, MOST of the loperamide is rapidly REMOVED from your brain, giving it very little CNS effect unless taken in huge doses or with a p-glycoprotein inhibitor (p-glycoprotein is what removes loperamide from the brain).
Thomas29 - that sounds like a good plan. Some people when using loperamide to taper opioids use WAY more than the recommended dose on the package because the recommended dose on the package is for using it for a non-opioid-dependent person to treat diarrhea, but it's a good idea to try to use as little loperamide as possible, then taper off the loperamide.
Can you slowly taper off the valerian? If not, perhaps a taper using kava or something would help. I still think dealing with the hydromorphone taper/withdrawal and the valerian taper/withdrawal at separate times would make it easier to bear.