If you have questions about using other treatments with Imodium, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. Diarrhea causes you to lose more fluid and electrolytes than usual. Electrolytes are salts, such as sodium and potassium.
Drinking a rehydration solution is a good way to replace fluids and electrolytes lost through diarrhea. Rehydration solutions are drinks that contain both glucose sugar and electrolytes. You can buy these drinks at drugstores and grocery stores. But they especially recommend these drinks for children and older people with diarrhea. And Imodium can help shorten the amount of time that you have diarrhea.
In addition, Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief treats gas, cramps, and bloating that can occur with diarrhea. With diarrhea, you pass loose or watery stools much more often than usual. The most common cause of diarrhea is an infection in your digestive system called gastroenteritis. This infection can be caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites. With diarrhea, the muscular contractions in your intestine that move food through it become faster than usual. So food moves through your system much more quickly than normal.
This leads to frequent watery bowel movements. The fast contractions in your intestine can also lead to a buildup of gas. And this can cause symptoms such as cramps, bloating, and pressure in your belly. Imodium products all contain the antimotility drug loperamide, which helps to control diarrhea. The drug works by slowing down the muscular contractions in your intestine. This slows the movement of food through your intestine.
And it allows more time for water to be reabsorbed back into your body. This is how Imodium use leads to firmer stools and fewer bowel movements. In addition to loperamide, Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief contains the antiflatulent drug simethicone. This drug reduces symptoms of gas. It works by causing small bubbles of gas that are trapped in your intestines to merge into larger bubbles. These larger bubbles are more easily expelled from your body.
After you stop taking Imodium, it takes about 11 hours for the level of Imodium in your body to be reduced by half. After this amount of time, Imodium will have less and less of an effect on controlling your diarrhea. Instead, it only works inside your intestine.
And if it enters your brain, it may make you feel high. Some people misuse Imodium in this way to make themselves feel high. See the following question for more details. In fact, misusing Imodium can cause serious heart problems, such as an irregular heartbeat or heart attack.
It can also cause loss of consciousness and slow, weak breathing. And it can sometimes even lead to death. If you have questions about the correct dosage for you, ask your doctor or pharmacist. But only take doses up to the maximum daily dose.
If you still have diarrhea after using Imodium for 2 days 48 hours , see your doctor. And they may recommend a treatment other than Imodium, depending on the results of those tests. Yes, you should be able to. Imodium slows down the contractions in your intestine so that you pass firmer stools less often. You should take Imodium as recommended on its product label or as instructed by your doctor or pharmacist.
And if your diarrhea clears up with Imodium, but you get another episode of diarrhea soon after, you can take Imodium again. But if you keep having episodes of diarrhea for more than 2 weeks, you should see your doctor. Sometimes doctors prescribe Imodium to treat chronic diarrhea. In this case, they might recommend either:. You should take Imodium every day only if your doctor recommends doing so. Taking Imodium every day is generally considered safe.
However, using this drug daily may increase your risk for side effects, particularly constipation. However, Imodium Multi-Symptom Relief caplets should be taken on an empty stomach. Imodium A-D softgels should be swallowed whole. If you have trouble swallowing Imodium pills, you may find it easier to take Imodium A-D oral solution.
Imodium can cause mild or serious side effects. The following lists contain some of the key side effects that may occur while taking Imodium. For more information on the possible side effects of Imodium, talk with your doctor or pharmacist.
They can give you tips on how to deal with any side effects that may be bothersome. Most of these side effects may go away within a few days or a couple of weeks. To learn about other mild side effects, talk with your doctor or pharmacist, or view the prescribing information for loperamide, the active ingredient in Imodium. Serious side effects from Imodium are rare, but they can occur. Call your doctor right away if you have serious side effects.
Imodium side effects are similar for both children and adults. See the side effect lists above for more information. You may wonder how often certain side effects occur with this drug, or whether certain side effects pertain to it. As with most drugs, some people can have an allergic reaction after taking Imodium. A more severe allergic reaction is rare but possible. Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction can include:. Call your doctor right away if you have a severe allergic reaction to Imodium.
Some people have constipation after taking Imodium. Imodium slows down the movement of food through your intestine, helping you to pass firmer stools less often. While this action reduces diarrhea , it may also lead to constipation in some people. If you have constipation with Imodium, stop taking the drug. Constipation may last for a few days after you take Imodium, but it typically goes away on its own.
And drinking plenty of water can help ease constipation. On rare occasions, constipation can be a symptom of a serious side effect called paralytic ileus.
Once you're on the right dose, your doctor will usually recommend dividing your daily dose, so you take half in the morning and half in the afternoon or evening. Occasionally patients with a colostomy stoma need a higher dose. Only take a higher dose if your doctor tells you to.
Do not give loperamide to children under 12 years old unless their doctor prescribes it. If a doctor prescribes loperamide for your child, they will use their weight or age to work out the right dose. The dose also depends on their symptoms. If you miss a dose of loperamide, do not worry. Just take a dose after you next go to the toilet and have a runny poo. If you take 1 extra dose of loperamide as a one-off, it's unlikely to harm you. But taking higher doses can cause serious heart problems.
The signs include having a fast or irregular heartbeat. Like all medicines, loperamide can cause side effects, but many people have no side effects or only minor ones.
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if these side effects bother you or do not go away:. In rare cases, it's possible to have a serious allergic reaction anaphylaxis to loperamide. These are not all the side effects of loperamide. For a full list, see the leaflet inside your medicines packet. Loperamide is not usually recommended in pregnancy.
This is because there is not enough information to say whether it is safe or not. They'll be able to advise you about the benefits and possible harms of taking it.
This will depend on how many weeks pregnant you are and why you need to take it. It is OK to take loperamide for a couple of days while you're breastfeeding. Hardly any loperamide passes into breast milk, and so it will not affect your baby.
For more information about how taking this medicine can affect you and your baby, read this leaflet about loperamide on the Best Use of Medicines in Pregnancy BUMPs website. Speak to your doctor if your diarrhoea is very severe and you take metformin for diabetes, or medicines for high blood pressure or heart failure. Your doctor may tell you to stop taking these medicines for a few days until your diarrhoea is better. There's very little information about taking herbal remedies and supplements with loperamide.
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you're taking any other medicines, including herbal medicines, vitamins or supplements. Loperamide is an anti-motility medicine. This means that it slows down food as it goes through your gut. Your body can then draw in more water from your intestines, so that your poos get firmer and you poo less often. Loperamide usually starts to work within 1 hour to make your diarrhoea better.
You may need to take it for longer if your diarrhoea is because of a bowel condition such as Crohn's disease , ulcerative colitis or short bowel syndrome. If you've bought loperamide from a shop or pharmacy, do not take it for more than 48 hours without talking to a doctor. Although diarrhoea is usually nothing to worry about, it can sometimes lead to dehydration.
This can be serious if you do not get the correct treatment. Diarrhoea can also sometimes be a warning sign of another problem. For this reason, it's important to see a doctor to find out the cause of your diarrhoea if it continues beyond 7 days.
If you've bought loperamide for short-term diarrhoea, do not take it for longer than 48 hours without talking to a doctor. Loperamide may be used for long-lasting diarrhoea and by people who have a colostomy stoma if their doctor prescribes it. Do not take loperamide to prevent diarrhoea, unless your doctor tells you to. It's not been officially approved and tested for preventing diarrhoea.
For others, it might be a viral or bacterial illness, a reaction to stress, a result of taking certain medications or as a result of having a period. Our Manage Your Diarrhea section is full of tips and advice to help you watch out for triggers, improve your digestive health and avoid the next occurrence of diarrhea. If you have longer-lasting or persistently recurrent diarrhea, it might indicate an underlying medical condition. Norovirus is the leading viral cause of gastroenteritis and a common cause of diarrhea, as well as vomiting.
Gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the stomach and intestines. If you have questions or need to report an adverse event or side effect from using one of our products, please call us on US. It works faster than Loperamide alone. How to treat Why treat? When to treat? Who can treat? Home FAQ.
Janrain Page Share. Title Common questions about diarrhea. QA Text:. QA Question:. What is diarrhea? Back to top. What causes diarrhea? Here are some common factors that could cause diarrhea: Stress. Should I treat diarrhea? Here are some things you can do if you contract diarrhea: A key step is staying hydrated by drinking plenty of fluid. Just like age, the weight of a patient affects the pharmacokinetics what the body does to the drug and pharmacodynamics what the drug does to the body.
This all boils down to the metabolism of the human body. According to a study , the half-life of this drug is prolonged in obese or overweight patients.
People with greater body mass as a result of a slower metabolism retain the drug in their systems for longer. Loperamide is one of the opiate receptor agonist drugs and it works on opioid receptors. However, it only affects the intestines and does not cross into the brain unlike other pain relievers.
Moreover, drug tests, including Loperamide one, are usually a source of worry for many people, especially those misusing a drug. People also wonder whether a standard drug test would turn out positive for the opioids if they are on Loperamide prescription, apart from knowing how long it lasts. The truth of the matter is that Imodium is unlikely to show up in any standard drug test irrespective of whether the right dose or not is taken. Moreover, there are also Imodium AD alternatives which can be considered in case a patient is worrying about how this drug will show up on drug tests.
For a loperamide drug test to be done, a specific blood test must be carried out to screen for the presence of this drug in the circulatory system. This is done by looking for loperamide and the metabolic by-products that it leaves behind when eliminated. Even in high doses, a loperamide drug test will not cause a false positive test result for opioids in any blood, urine, saliva, or hair test given by a medical professional.
The average Imodium half-life value stands at about ten hours. However this varies depending on a number of factors such as age, weight, length of use, frequency of use, and quantity taken.
Furthermore, a loperamide drug test will not produce a false positive result for the opiate class of drugs. However, the patients need to stay cautious not to start misusing Imodium as it can lead to addiction. In this case, it is better to seek help and attend medical professional rehabilitation facilities and join a suitable treatment program. Olivier George is a medical writer and head manager of the rehab center in California. He spends a lot of time in collecting and analyzing the traditional approaches for substance abuse treatment and assessing their efficiency.
He has a particular interest in psychopharmacology, nutritional psychiatry, and alternative treatment options involving particular vitamins, dietary supplements, and administering auricular acupuncture. AddictionResource aims to present the most accurate, trustworthy, and up-to-date medical content to our readers.
Our team does their best for our readers to help them stay informed about vital healthcare decisions.
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