# Any potential downside to long-term use of Immodium?



## rmiller1985 (Sep 13, 2011)

Hi all,I'm new here. One of these days I'll get around to posting my IBS-D story. In the meantime, do studies show any long-term negative side effects from using Immodium on a daily basis? I'm currently experimenting with 1mg (half an OTC caplet) twice daily, and it seems to be helping. But I'm concerned about long-term effects, either related to gastro-intestinal function (e.g., dependence, rebound, etc.) or not related (e.g., liver damage, etc.).Thanks,Rich


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

No..none that I am aware of.


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## rmiller1985 (Sep 13, 2011)

Thanks! I've got a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks, but wanted to check before I was on it too long.Rich


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## bracara21 (Dec 14, 2011)

sorry to say but immodium its a opioid drug so it cause depedence as far as i know. try to use probiotics and the calcium+vit.d


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Immodium dependence is very rare as almost none of it gets out of the gut nerves. The point of Imodium is to get all the constipating side effect of opium-based drugs without the central nervous system involvement.A similar drug with a very slight addiction risk (older and wasn't as specific) remains on prescription. The only way Imodium went over the counter was that it was virtually no risk rather than a rather low risk.That being said some people (at least one report in the medical literature but this is very rare) can get in trouble and need methadone to come off it like with other opiod addictions. However I don't think many IBSers take 100-200 pills at a time that it takes to get that kind of effect. Getting constipated is just as painful as the diarrhea is disruptive.That being said, if you find your typical dose stops working it may be time to use other things in addition to it rather than just upping the dose continually.Unfortunately Calcium and probiotics are not effective for everyone, and nothing is completely risk free.1/2 a cap twice a day is unlikely to be a long term problem as the dose is very low. People with IBD (that tend to have more severe diarrhea) sometimes take as many as 6-8 2X a day when they need it.


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## rmiller1985 (Sep 13, 2011)

Sorry it's taken so long to get back here. Thanks very much for the advice, Kathleen.I did quite a bit of reading about Immodium and Lomotil prior to taking Immodium. Based on the generally good results and the concurrence of my doctor, that's what I'm going with.I hate having to take something for the rest of my life for something that shouldn't be happening in the first place, but my case is very mild, and if this is what it takes to give me back some sort of normalcy, so be it.My heart goes out to those who suffer much more than I do from this terrible syndrome. This board has been a great resource for me so far.Thanks again,Rich


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