# imodium and the liver?



## 13540 (Aug 18, 2005)

Imodium works for me but iam alway worried of taking it because it can cause liver problems when taking it all the time i have read the back of the box and it says do not take it you have liver problems and how many of us dont know if we really might have liver problems because liver problems can cause the same symptoms of ibs i have had my liver fuction test ran eight times in one year always coming back normal but all my reading i have found is you can have normal labs and still have liver problems and the only true dx for liver problems is a biopy of the liver its self so it always raises red flags for me when i take it even when i do benfit from it so i was hoping some one can put some insite on this problem i am having about imodium!And i pretty sure alot of us havnt had a biopy done of are livers


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Those warnings (which are on most medications) is NOT IN ANY WAY because it causes liver damage.The side effect profile does not indicate any liver damage.The problem with this (and almost every other drug on the planet) is your liver either activates the drug or helps you body gets rid of the drug.When the liver can't do either job you need to be much more careful about medications even the ones that DO NOT DAMAGE the liver. If you can't activate or get rid of the drug you can end up with dosage problems that people with normal livers do not have.K.


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## 20250 (Jul 14, 2005)

Just to add to this, I have liver problems, Hep C for at least 20 years now and have taken 2 imodium a day for at least 18 of these years and to this day My hep c has hardly progressed at all. I think Alcohol causes more damage than anything alse when you have liver problems.


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## 13540 (Aug 18, 2005)

so with me always having normal liver blood tests it wouldnt hurt to take the pills i know my gi doctor told me its ok to drink a few beers at night because i use to drink pretty heavy for about 6 years and that is why i thought my liver was bad because of my drinking but my gi doctor has told me my liver is just fine!I havnt drank in over a year and when i did drink i only drank beer!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Just because you drank doesn't mean automatically your liver is now bad and will be bad forever more.Only certain people get liver damage and the liver regenerates itself pretty well most of the time.That is why they can take a part of your liver and use you as a live donor for someone else. The part they transplant will regenerate a whole liver in the new person and what was taken out of the donor will also regenerate.Ongoing disease (like a virus) or continued drinking may prevent it from recovering from any damage, but the normal state is that it heals itself up pretty well. Sometimes you can damage it so much it cannot recover but in that case you do not have normal liver values on the blood tests.If your tests are normal then you should be just fine and stop worrying about it. Even if your tests had been abnormal (if you were tested) when you were drinking a lot, the liver can recover.


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## 13540 (Aug 18, 2005)

well thanks you pretty much some that one up!!My gi doctor told me the same thing as you did and iam sorry about about your hep-c brett i have a few family and friends with it its a pretty tuff thing to deal with i was tested for hep a-b-c and thank god i didnt have that but for the three weeks iam have been doing very well with the hole bowell thing just a few more axiety things i need to work on and i should be back on my game and back to a normal life its crazy how ones mind can do so much to ones body thank god for postive thinking!


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