To achieve euphoria, some people use and abuse drugs of different kinds. This intense feeling of well-being can be addictive and lead to addiction. Only because of a lack of means or sources or as a precautionary measure, more and more people are consuming high-dose pain medicines that give them the same effect as strong drugs. Today, in the United States, anti-diarrheal drugs are used to take drugs, especially Immodium.
Immodium is a medication prescribed to people who suffer from chronic or acute diarrhea, often caused by an inflammatory disease such as Crohn's disease. This medicine is present on the market in the form of capsules and is strictly forbidden to children who are less than 8 years old.
The active ingredient of Immodium is loperamide. It is a material which makes it possible to increase the transit period in the intestines, to make the fecal matter more solid and to diminish its quantities by acting on the nerves of the intestines. However, this same substance with therapeutic benefits can also have euphoric effects when used at very high doses.
Indeed, loperamide is the most accessible and affordable alternative to drug use. It can be purchased without a prescription in pharmacies or supermarkets in the United States, and is obviously not illegal. For addicts with heroin or painkillers, in particular, this ingredient can do the job and calm them in a state of lack.
Normally, the recommended daily doses differ according to the age of the subject and the type of diarrhea, but in general, doctors prescribe between 1 to 3 capsules per day. To take drugs, these doses are multiplied by 10 or even more, which allows to reach the euphoria, but certainly is not without health hazard.
The abuse of Immodium causes a strong constipation, which is quite normal for an antidiarrheal drug, but can also be toxic to the heart.
Loperamide a toxic and lethal substance:
A report published in the journal Annuals of Emmergency Medicine, looked at the effects of this substance and postponed the case of two deaths in New York, following an abuse of loperamide. But these two cases are not the only ones recorded. Overdose of loperamide has been linked to many other cases of death and no less than a dozen cases that have developed heart problems.
According to Dr. Willian Eggleston, a toxicologist at the Upstate New York Poison Control Center, many people consume loperamide for drug use, while others use it to relieve their deficiency and the symptoms that accompany it when they Do not get their dose of morphine or heroin.
Ingested, loperamide acts on opiate receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, and does not penetrate the central nervous system. When the recommended doses are respected, there is no risk of abuse, but very high doses may on the contrary have a euphoric effect.
Dr. Eggleston and his colleagues also reported the death of a 24-year-old man who, in a state of intense lack, abused loperamide and lost his life. After the analyzes, the researchers found in his blood a dose of loperamide 25 times greater than that recommended. According to the same team of researchers, cases of abuse of loperamide increased between 2011 and 2015. The poison control center Upstate New York, in the United States would have received 7 times more call for overdoses of loperamide during these years.
Alarming figures, to which are added the many testimonies of mothers who found boxes of Immodium in the rooms of their adolescent children. Thus, it is very important to educate adults and young people about the dangers of these drugs, which can be fatal in some cases.