When Imodium Stops Working

[MKat]

My diarrhea has increased to about 10-15 times a day, and that's after taking 4 imodium! It's scary when imodium stops working. I need to find the underlying cause, of course, but until I figure out which of the many paths to take I was hoping to count on imodium. Bummer.

So, how many imodium to some people take in a day??

[AliB]

Your body is trying to reject something it can't digest. The Imodium might even be making things worse.

Are you already on an elimination diet? The first things to remove would be grains, starches, sugar and dairy and start from there. I know you mentioned about removing dairy in your other thread but why not just cut straight to the chase and start from scratch? It would be a lot easier to establish what it is that is triggering your issues.

I was like that until I dumped gluten and started the SCD. Dumping gluten and dairy stopped the diarrhea and the awful stomach pains, but didn't address the other intolerances I had, especially to carbs in general.

Following the SCD has helped a lot, but it wasn't until I realised that the real issue was the acute underlying dehydration and have started to address that, that everything is finally coming together.

Along with drinking the water and taking a little unrefined sea/rock salt, I am also Alkalizing my body by eating plenty of fresh vegetables, drinking lemon water and taking a little (quarter teaspoon in some water) sodium bicarb every day, and that does seem to be helping considerably.

I never did use anything like Imodium - I hate drugs of any kind as my body is already toxic and the last thing I want to do is add to the burden, but I too was often on the toilet 10 or more times a day before my digestion finally collapsed.

In a way, I am glad it did, otherwise I would never have discovered the gluten connection or started following the Specific Carb Diet or have discovered the real reason why I was having so many problems.

I have now realised that the dehydration has been with me for a long time - gradually getting worse as the years have gone by until my body couldn't cope any longer. It's obvious really. As most of the food I was eating (the carbs and sugar) and the drinks I was drinking (the tea, coffee, squashes, fruit juices, soft drinks and alcohol) were also very dehydrating, I was just never topping up my water 'bank' but was getting deeper and deeper into debt.

Although the diarrhea stopped after removing gluten and dairy (my body was probably using what little water was available to it to get what it couldn't digest straight through and out of my body as quickly as possible) I then went on to develop constipation - another indicator that I was still dehydrated, although I didn't realise it until now.

Now I am drinking plenty of water, everything is moving much better - the only problem I have now is clearing the backlog of accumulated 'crud'!

[ann72601]

  MKat said:

My diarrhea has increased to about 10-15 times a day, and that's after taking 4 imodium! It's scary when imodium stops working. I need to find the underlying cause, of course, but until I figure out which of the many paths to take I was hoping to count on imodium. Bummer.

So, how many imodium to some people take in a day??

[ann72601]

It's not uncommon for celiac to come as a package deal. SCD diet is a good choice and so is GAPS. Both have online summaries that you can view. I had the same experience of the gluten-free not working after a time and other issues surfacing. Don't give up. www.gapsdiet.com and www.pecanbread.com or www.breakingtheviciouscycle.com.

Take care

[mainsail1974]

Hey Mkat,

I had a similar problem, although my issues were frequent, solid BMs. Sometimes I would go 4-6 times in a day, one right after another. I lived on Immodium (2-3 a day), and started taking Bentyl in addition when the Imodium stopped working. I'm five and a half months into the gluten-free, dairy-free diet and not on immodium or bentyl anymore. It was tough in the beginning, especially when I was trying to wean myself off the immodium (on it for 9 years) or bentyl (on it for only about 6 months). My GI system is much better behaved, but I still have occasional problems. For me, I got better with the gluten-free diet, but it took me a good 4 months before I saw much progress. I am Celiac panel/biopsy negative, but IGG highly reactive to wheat.

Good luck!

Tom

[mainsail1974]

Just wanted to add, I recommend that you work with your doctor on this issue. I worked quite closely with mine, as well as with a nutritionist.