My insurance balks at me getting name brand pills, even, unless the generic isn’t available. On the other hand, the insurance company WILL pay for things like dental and eye exams, and it covers just about all of my doctors’ fees. And I’m happier without most of those damned pills anyway.
If I have two “episodes” within a hour, I look for the immodium. But only a half of one as a one entire will stop me for a couple days.
I am a pretty big guy and 1/2 the recommended dose does more than adequate job. I don’t know what it might do a girl that would weigh half as much as me.
I never self medicate I wait it out.
. My wife has stool softeners, hardeners, pink liquids, and every thing you can imagine. She takes something immediately. Our medicine cabinet is jammed with all the stuff she “needs”.
The answer is, it depends on the disease you have. Which you might not know.
Not taking anti-diarrhoeal can shorten infection time. It may be part of the body’s innate immune system dealing with GI infection.
On the other hand, many pathogens transmit via fecal matter, and diseases that cause particularly bad diarrhoea are more successful at transmitting to other people- via splattering the environment with shit particles- and so may have evolved to make diarrhoea worse than is beneficial for humans.
The fact that diarrhoea accounts for such a large portion of the deaths in developing countries provides some evidence of that- the “cure” being worse the disease is often the sign of pathogen winning the evolutionary battle.
If the diarrhoea is coming from flu or rotavirus, it likely serves little purpose besides making you miserable and infectious. If it’s food poisoning or shigella, than a little pooping might do you good. But clean up after yourself. With bleach. And seek medical help if you have trouble staying hydrated.
If I’m having curry for dinner, before I begin my meal.
araneae, since this thread is a few years old, I think the original poster no longer has diarrhea by now. At least, I hope.
I take 4-5 times the maximum recommended dosage every single day simply to keep myself normal.Without it, i live with constant, unending horrible diahrrea. With it, i have normal, regular bowel movents; no constipation… I have no other alternative, over the years ive tried EVERYTHING
Have you tried quitting alcohol and coffee or seen a doctor?
On the first day of pharmacology class, the professor slapped the following quote on the overhead projector, courtesy of Oliver Wendell Holmes: “If the whole of the materia medica were to be dumped to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind, and all the worse for the fishes.”
For me, I don’t think that Imodium “stops me up” as much as that the diarrhea meant that there was nothing in there to poop out anyway.
Oh yes. I should have added that my problem is a result of spinal cord injury. My physiatrist told me if i works, keep doing it, its not that harmful. Key word “that”.
I think the only time I’ve used it was when I had a case of ‘Dehli Belly’ in Varanasi and was going to travelling on a train that evening (it hit at about 2am - I think everything, including a few internal organs, was emptied out by 6am). The immodium was more of a precaution.
Other than that instance I let everything take its course and remind myself to blot rather than wipe. 
Well, I’m sure it’s better than the side effects a more heavy-duty prescription drug is gonna have. At least more well known.
Anti-diarrhea meds are usually always opiate-based drugs. Imodium is no exception. Supposedly you can experience mild euphoria on high doses but I have been on some massive doses of this stuff and I didn’t feel shit (thankfully ;)).
Diphenoxylate, another morphine derivative used as an antidiarrheal, is listed under schedule V (five) because it’s abusable, and also contains atropine at a subtherapeutic dose because taking enough to cause a buzz would also cause a very unpleasant dry mouth and other effects from the atropine.
Damn, makes me glad I have never needed anything stronger then the basic dose! Wonder what the atropine would do to my malignant hypertension and arrythmia … :eek:
It doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier, which is why I always insert mine after trepanning.
My policy is that I take Immodium or something like it after I’m back in the bathroom for the third time.
For me, the most common cause of this problem is naproxen or ibuprofen. If I take higher doses or forget to eat food at the same time, I can count on my stomach feeling worse than back in no time. I’ve gotten to the point where I won’t even let a doctor prescribe a higher dosage because I know how it will affect me. I can barely handle the OTC dosages.