6.Medicines for diarrhea - Irritable Bowel Syndrome

If the primary symptom from which you suffer is diarrhea, your doctor is likely to prescribe one or a mixture of several different types of medicine.
The initial medicines to consider are anti-diarrheal pharmaceuticals such as Lomotil or Imodium.

The first of these brand-named products is a mixture of two chemicals, diphenoxylate and atropine. In combination, these two drugs slow intestinal movements, thereby interfering with the passage of matter through the digestive system as a method of reducing diarrhea.

In general terms, the worst side-effects that most people suffer after taking diphenoxylate are headaches, dizziness and drowsiness. However, you should be aware that this particular substance is treated as a regulated narcotic drug in most Western countries, and that like all other narcotics, it can cause a feeling of being ‘high’ and euphoria with worsening drug dependency not being unknown either.

Furthermore, if you are taking a Monoamine oxidase inhibitor (an MOA) like phenelzine (Nardil) or procarbazine (Matulane), you should be aware that taken in combination, these drugs can cause severe high blood pressure which might in the worst case scenario lead to a stroke and/or death.

The active chemical ingredient in Imodium is Loperamide which works by putting the brakes on the muscular contractions in your intestine by limiting the activity of the opioid receptors in the muscles lining them.

As with most medicines, at normal dosage levels, Imodium is safe for 99.9% of people who take it. However, as it is a drug that is often available over the counter as well as by prescription, you do need to exercise a little more care if you are not under medical attention was taking this drug.

For example, if you start to take Imodium and your diarrhea persists for more than 24 hours, you should seek medical advice as the medicine is apparently not working.

In addition, Imodium can cause adverse side-effects such as dizziness, abdominal cramps or swelling, constipation, indigestion, nausea and vomiting and in a very small number of cases, total paralysis of the intestine. In all of these situations, you should seek immediate medical attention.

The next type of drug that your doctor might prescribe or recommend for getting rid of diarrhea is a bile binding agent such as cholestyramine. It is bile that stimulates the digestive actions of your colon so a drug of this nature that slows down the production of bile helps to prevent diarrhea.

The most common side-effect of taking this drug is perhaps the one that you might anticipate which is constipation.

However, in less common cases, prolonged exposure might cause tooth discoloration and decay. Some people might suffer severe stomach pains, unexplained bleeding and have difficulty swallowing.

Furthermore, similarly prolonged exposure to the drug might increase the risk of suffering gallstones.