I have had IBS for about as long as I can remember (Im 22). Needless to say that being 22 and living in London means that my life-style is not too healthy! My particular condition is mostly sparked off by spicy food, or excessive alcohol, and results in very bad stomach cramps (usually in the morning) followed by a total evacuation. I have been taking Immodium for years to combat this, (this usually happens once a week). Is this too often to use this drug? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have to totally disagree with you on this one. It is bad to get hooked on taking drugs such as Immodium for IBS. It really does nothing at all to help you get to grips with the underlying issues involved which you have to do. In the long term it can have side effects too. Sometimes drugs such as Immodium can make your stomach cramps a lot worse.
Also, whatever happened to treating the cause of your IBS rather than just treating the symptoms? You need to think holistic here. Taking Immodium to treat your symptoms when they occur is just that, but by treating the cause you can achieve and maintain a cure.
As a young man living in London, you actually need to take a look and radically change your lifestyle. Changing your lifestyle means changing your diet too and this means cutting out spicy food, coffee and reducing your alcohol intake, especially if it is lager or beer. All these things contribute strongly to IBS. Do this and you may find that you won't have to take Immodium any longer, as you won't need to.
I think that you need to practice a little bit of preventative medicine here. Prevention is better than cure as they say and if you make these changes now and deal with the problem now, it will prevent longer term problems in later life.
You need to get out there and just be your own man, rather than getting stuck in the rat race of life and going for curry's and beer swilling just because all your mates do it. If you break free and start living your life the way you want to, you will feel a whole lot better. Surely this has to be better than eating spicy food and drinking beer and then ending up with severe bellyache and diarrhea because of it and having to take Immodium to try and help?
From my experience, I would have to agree with Sarah. Although taking Immodium does help, long term use may cause other problems to develop, especially if the problem attacks your intestines, such as Celiac Spruce.
My question would be do you know what spices cause the problem.
Alcohol gives me problem but I believe all people with IBS are affected to some degree with alcohol.
But at the crux of the matter if these problems are long lasting and create severe symptoms, at the very minimum a diet change is in order.
What other symptoms do you get, joint cramps, severe fatigue, constipation?
i think the question was "is it safe to take this drug this often?"no matter wich rout you use to treat your ibs the answer to your question is yes you can take as much immodium as you need to safely everyday.i base this answer on two of the best gi docs in ohio who both told me it was safe because immodium doesnt affect the brain. it stays in the bowel only.both of these docs told me it was safe to take everyday if needed.as far as the cramps and such go everyone is different and if you take too much you can really clog yourself up wich is not a good thing.take in moderation and you will be fine. i have taken two a day for about five years now problem free and it makes my life a lot more easier and stress free
Maybe the original poster did ask the question you have just answered. However, you answer still makes me feel very sad.
Don't you think that you are really missing the whole point here. Rather than taking Immodium, should you not be tackling the real issues behind it? This can be diet and emotional issues too. I have to say that very seldom is IBS just related to any one particular organ such as the stomach and the bowels. It has wide ranging effects, from bad diet, to too much stress and anxiety and also I would have to say that suppressed anger and the function of the Liver plays a very large part too.
A GI doc can probably give you hard medical facts about drugs and your inner workings, but they just become very focussed on fixing this one part of your body, whereas they should be looking at you as a whole person. If you fix the whole person, then you can help to fix the rest too.
The container says "do not take for more than two days unless directed by a Doctor"
I don't think Imodium is intended to be used on an on--going basis.
Call the manufacturer -- their phone number is on the box.
In my opinion you should avoid taking any drugs for IBS (my doctor thinks so also), especially ones like Immodium. You should really do something about your diet and make it work for you. If you continue abusing your system, you are going to pay the price. So start exploring the possibilities and start eating healthy, you will feel a lot better. Good luck to you!
I have taken Imodium for years as a preventive med. I take at least 4 per day. Two in the am, one before lunch, and another at dinner. I also take Levbid twice a day and that has helped immensely. According to my GI doc I can take up to 8 imodium per day.
Those who think we shouldn't take any meds...well, walk a mile in our shoes. Some of us have to function at jobs, etc.
Well, maybe you should consider getting a new GI then. He is doing you a great disservice by telling you that it is ok to be taking 8 Immodium a day continuouly. It most certainly is not and he should be helping you identify and treat the cause of your diarrhea problems in the first place rather than just filling you full of tablets that will only treat the symptoms. Immodium will only treat the symptoms and not the cause. The only way to a cure is to treat the underlying cause.
You do not need to take Immodium when there are lots of other natural methods available to help that work.
I have also heard of inmodium to be safe long term use. I do agree that you also need to diet to not need to take as much inmodium too. If eliminating the alcohol and spicy foods its the problem this is an easy case. Now for most of us we do not eat spicy foods, we eat healthy, we do excersice, we do not drink alcohol and still remain with the problem. Preventive medicine just doesnt work here and we need to rely on drugs like inmodium because simply there is no cure. Its a functional disorder therefore the only thing you can do is treat the symptoms and pray that miracously one day will go away.
You do not need to rely on drugs such as Immodium. There are lots of other natural alternatives to having to take Immodium other than diet.
It really is not safe to rely on it long term at all.
You do not have to hope that one day it will go away either. If you take this attitude you will never be cured. You need to be proactive and have a look into the alternative therapy treatments available. You would really be surprised at the other underlying causes that contribute to IBS. It is not just a functional disorder at all.
You just need to take some time out and think about what was going on when your first attack happened and I am sure that you will come up with some kind of answer.
For some of us, IBS is a fact of life. We've made a conscientious effort to eliminate risk factors from our lifestyles. We exercise. We watch what we eat. Yet still, the condition remains. Why do some people crusade against the use of safe and effective treatments?
You do people with the condition a disservice by mongering doom about the dangers of immodium, when in truth you have no data to back up your claim. Perhaps your zeal camouflages an alterior motive?
"When you find disagreement from a person who shows an emotional response, unsupported by a logical explanation for their popsition, it is a surety they have been indoctrinated with a lie." - Anon
I completely agree with NYYankee. I have to get up at 6 in the morning and get ready for school every day, and going to school in the mornings without Immodium is virtually impossible because of my IBS-D. I have to be at school for 9 hours a day. The doctor I go to, as well as the 4 others I've seen, have all told me that using Immodium is perfectly fine, especially since I don't take it on the weekends. So, all-in-all, we're not babies. We're normal people trying to live relatively normal lives. I'm 15 years old and I can't go to parties because I can't eat pizza, potato chips, chocolate, candy, or soda. Not even once in a while. I wake every morning feeling horrible until 11 in the morning, while everyone around me is happy and jumpy. I think that if you don't have IBS or IBS-D, you shouldn't tell us we're babies, because we're not. We're trying to be normal people doing normal activities, and in order to do so we need some medicine to control our symptoms. So please don't comment on this board unless you know a better way for us to live, because my life sucks more than a lot of people know, and I don't appreciate people saying it's wrong for me to take medicines.
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Everything's ok in the end. If it's not ok, then it's not the end.
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Everything's ok in the end. If it's not ok, then it's not the end.
Did I actually say 'babies' anywhere in my post? No, I don't think so.
Also, I do not have any other motive at all. What I am saying is that perhaps you should try to find the cause of your IBS and treat this rather than just taking Immodium which only treats the symptoms and not the causes. If you treat the causes you are more likely to find a resolution to your symptoms.
I would strongly suggest that you go and see an ND (Naturopathic Doctor) in your area. They practice HOMEOPATHY which is extremely hepful for treating most conditions. They also practice herbal medicine and acupuncture, which can also be extremely helpful.
All these therapies will help to stimulate your body to help its own inate healing processes, which we all have in us.
You should also consider Craniosacral Therapy treatment which could also be extremely helpful too. It is very gentle and yet very powerful.
The difference between a drug and an "herbal" medicine is that synthetic drugs are thoroughly tested for safety and efficacy, and are therefore potentially safer than "herbal" medicines or "nutritional supplements."
You assume that an herbal witch doctor will be able to find the source of IBS. You have no data to suggest that one of these practitioners actually can do this. The truth: immodium is VERY safe. For certain people, it's VERY effective. There are volumes of good peer-reviewed scientific data to support this. There is NO evidence that witch doctors can help.
I never understood why some people assume that if it comes from a plant, it's automatically safe. Strychnine, cyanide, nightshade all come from natural sources. Oh yeah, chewing tobacco...causes throat cancer. There are lots of herbal products that not only don't work, but are potentially quite hazardous to your health, simply because all of the naturally-occurring chemicals have not been tested for safety. This is in stark contrast with FDA-approved drugs, which have gone through rigorous and comprehensive safety testing.
You will forgive me if I put my trust in peer-reviewed scientific data instead of voodoo.
It is quite obvious that you did not read my post at all did you.
Did I actually mention anything about herbs? I think not. I actually typed HOMEOPATHY and may be you actually need to read the science because herbs and homeopathy are two completely different things.
HOMEOPATHIC remedies are taken from animal, vegetable and mineral sources and are not harmful at all and they are not the same as herbs either.
Also, homeopathic remedies have been fully tested too, and they are called 'provings'.
Someone actually challenged me to provide an alternative to the Immodium and I have.
I really would not critizise something which you obviously know nothing about and before you do, please go and do some reading about the subject so you actually know what you are talking about.
It is not voodoo as you call it. If it is, how do you think people survived thousands of years ago? In those days there were only natural remedies around and not all this synthetic stuff.
I hope that you also realise that a lot of the conventional drugs that you take have actually been taken from plant sources in the first place and all the drug companies do is take the plant and add something sythetic to it so that they can patent it and sell it for a massive profit. They actually make it more dangerous than it was before when it was in plant form. Think about that. There are also lots of drugs out on the market currently that have not been properly tested and there are lots of drugs that have to be withdrawn due to side effects.
News flash: There is lots of research out there to back up what I have said. Where is your research to prove that conventional meds are any better?
Perhaps you would like to go and get educated before you start to post the rubbish that you have done here!!
Also, perhaps you would like to go and get educated about the differences between herbal medicine and homeopathy of which there are plenty before picking up on the herbal theme. Although I did mention herbs as part of talking about what ND's do (who are in fact qualified doctors and not voodoo practitioners - I think you might need to go to another country for that) I put HOMEOPATHY in capitals. Please take note of the difference.
Sarah,
Homeopathic medicine does not need to be defended. Many people regardless of what you say will never believe in the magic of the minnie dose or the principles of Homeopathy. I truly believe that in time It will be widely accepted.
To quote your post, "They also practice herbal medicine and acupuncture, which can also be extremely helpful." You indeed DID talk about herbal remedies.
These substances you speak of that "are taken from animal, vegetable and mineral sources" are called "nutritional supplements." The reason they are called this, instead of being called drugs, is because due to a loophole in the law, as long as they bear this label, they don't have to be proven safe or effective.
Something else you say about FDA-approved drugs: "They actually make it more dangerous than it was before when it was in plant form. Think about that." OK, I will think about that. Let's use the example of immodium.
Immodium is a synthetic opioid called loperamide hydrochloride. Opioids are called opioids because they are similar to morphine, a naturally-occurring (read: homeopathic) chemical derived from the opium poppy. In addition to relieving diarrhea, morphine kills pain, is addictive, alters personality and consciousness, depresses respiration, and affects heartbeat. It is usually only prescribed in hospital settings so that the patient can be monitored for dangerous reactions. Some gifted chemists were able to engineer a form of this drug that retained its constipating effects while eliminating its effect on the central nervous system, thus eliminating most of the dangerous side effects.
The FDA requires drug companies to jump through a number of hoops in order to get a drug approved. Safety must be proved in excruciating detail. The drug was used by prescription for many years, with a very good safety record. Indeed, immodium was so safe, it was later approved for use over-the-counter, without a prescription. Only a small fraction of prescription drugs are ever considered safe enough to be sold OTC.
Could you imagine buying morphine over the counter at your local drug store, right next to the cough medicine? You actually can buy the homeopathic, plant-derived form of morphine without a prescription. It's called opium. It's sold on the black market. You will go to jail if you get caught with it. It's harder to find in this raw form, however, because the American black market prefers a somewhat more refined version of this product: heroin.
So, in the case of immodium, chemical engineers were able to modify a naturally-occurring (homeopathic) chemical, and made it FAR safer than it was in its natural form.
You conveniently failed to mention such safe and effective homeopathic remedies as belladonna, foxglove, ephedra, strychnine, tobacco, etc. Oh, and what did people do before modern medicine, when they got sick? They DIED!
Hey there - let's stop being so defensive here. Sarah has some very good ideas on this board; some I've agreed with, and some I haven't, but this is no reason to attack her beliefs!!!!!!!!!!!
If the original poster was asking for advice about chronic use (or abuse) of Immodium, obviously he thinks it's not normal to have to take it daily. So any advice/suggestions offered here can be accepted or rejected, but rudeness does not have to be part of it.
I don't believe that Immodium is something to be taken daily on a long-standing basis myself, but that is just my opinion. The original poster talks about "trigger" foods/beverages - why is he not trying to cut these things out to see if his situation improves? If someone has to take Immodium on a long-term basis, that person needs to find out what is causing the diarrhea. I too could have been an Immodium taker for my chronic diarrhea, but found out that my small intestine couldn't handle the bile being dumped in from the liver. Therefore, I'm taking calcium supplements, Metamucil, and a prescription drug called Colestid just to maintain normal stools.
My post here may make some of you angry too, but I don't think we should use this board to snipe at each other. We are here to support each other, and even if you don't agree with one opinion doesn't give you automatic license to be rude.
I wish all those suffering from IBS-D to find what works for them.
Using Immodium... 
