Immodium no longer working

[sue85]

Hi
I've been taking immodium 3-4 times a week since I had a small bowel resection in July 2011, I suffered really badly with diarrhea after the surgery and the Dr said the only thing that would help would be immodium.
It's worked fine up to about a month ago and now it only lasts for a few hours and then the diarrhea is back, does anyone know if there's something else I can take that works the same as immodium?

 

[acheallova]

Hi Sue, welcome.
Sorry to hear about your d issues. Have you spoke to your doc about Lomotil®? It is much stronger than Immodium® but is prescription and requires close symptom monitoring as it can slow down GI motilty ( duh, thats what you're looking for). But it may slow it more than wanted, thus the need for a diary of symptom improvement/change/worsening.
Hope this helps. Best of luck to you! Thoughts and prayers. -hugs-

 

[DustyKat]

Hey Sue,

You may be needing something to actually target the cause of the diarrhoea. Since you have had a small bowel resection the likely cause of your problem is diarrhoea due to bile salt malabsorption. There are prescription medications that can help, Questran (powder) or Colestid (capsule), that are designed to absorb the excess bile in your small bowel and therefore reduce the diarrhoea and bulk up the stool.

Both of my children have had small bowel resections with my daughter being the first. She was prescribed Quetsran but found it too unpalatable (I don't her age at the time, 14, helped). It did help but she refused to take it, something the GI was not the least bit surprised about! Any how, as time passed she came across psyllium husks and decided to try those. They have the same action as Questran has, absorb bile salts and bulk the stool, and they have worked a treat for her. Please have a read through this thread.

Products like Metamucil are primarily psyllium so they may also work for you. Sarah did try Metamucil but found it gave her pain and cramping. The only thing that I could think of that would be different from the natural psyllium husks she uses is ??additives. This was some time ago though and I have noticed that far more Metamucil products are the on the market now so there may something suitable amongst them??

If you do go down the path of Questran/Psyllium just take note of the time restrictions when using these products with other medication and supplements.

Oh and my son just went straight to using psyllium post op. They also work well for him.

Good luck!

Dusty. xxx

 

[CheerBear12]

Oh sorry to hear of your problems not sure what could be causing it but I'm thinking of you and hope it gets better soon. I've been using Imodium for over a year and its fine for me. I've got an ileostomy xx

 

[sue85]

thanks everyone, i had tried questran but they didnt agree with me i have an appointment with my gp this week so ill ask him what he thinks of the things you've suggested and see if we can get the problem sorted, thanks again and happy new year everyone x

 

[Susan2]

When I went to Botswana last year (it being now 2013!) my GP gave me Lofenoxal, which is basically the same as Lomotil, but, here in Australia anyway, works out cheaper. It, like Lomotil, is only available on prescription.

 

[CheerBear12]

Happy new year x

 

[UnXmas]

I also take Lomotil (co-phenotrope) in combination with Immodium. I'd really recommend trying it - it doesn't have too many side effects (I haven't had any side effects from it). It works better than Immodium for me. It doesn't just slow the diarrhoea ('though it doesn't stop it completely), it also seems to calm the churning in my intestines. I do find it isn't working as well as when I first started taking it though. I don't know if it's a drug people build an intolerance to, but it appears that's what's happened. I started using it about a year and a half ago, and it still works moderately well.