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Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de

81–90 of 104 posts

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#81
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> BNF and Department of Health (England) don't describe addiction to loperamide, but do describe its use as an adjunctive treatment for people trying to come off opioids, which suggests it's not that problematic As someone who suffers from IBS and takes loperamide regularly, while its not necessarily an addiction, I see forums of people (especially on /r/ibs) saying that it causes a dependency. I saw posts where peop…

after an accident ~15 years ago, I was discharged after 6 months on 120mg of Oxycontin daily (40mg 3x a day) After being frustrated being tethered to the oxy bottle, I went cold turkey. The first thing that happened after the withdrawal symptoms subsided was I found I had chronic diarrhea. After years with my doctor trying different things, I found that the symptoms could be managed with about 16mg of loperamide. Tha…

Wow, cant imagine being in your situation. I would say try to ease yourself into lowering your dose slowly. I am not sure if its even possible with your situation but with IBS I try to control everything else including stress, food and sleep. I take loperamide if those dont work and it allows me to reset myself into being normal for sometime, that way I can retry. I try to go as long as I can without one and see if I can push myself. But I dont get too far due to work stress anyway.

Honestly the whole thing about people abusing it and FDA clamping down works against normal people who are genuinely using it.

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#82

Several classes of opioids have been shown to cause neuronal degeneration via ATF4 activation. So, key points: 1. Loperamide is not unique. I don't know why these researchers have singled it out. Is it because they heard there's an opioid that doesn't get you high? It only avoids getting you high because it doesn't get into the brain. IF you deliver it to the brain to treat a brain tumor, it will get you high. 2. Pat…

And this is just a view limited to opioids. In general, there is no shortage of compounds with an ability to kill cancer cells since the 1950s. The grand (and still largely unsolved) challenge is not killing them, it‘s sparing the rest of the body while doing so.

https://xkcd.com/1217/

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> BNF and Department of Health (England) don't describe addiction to loperamide, but do describe its use as an adjunctive treatment for people trying to come off opioids, which suggests it's not that problematic As someone who suffers from IBS and takes loperamide regularly, while its not necessarily an addiction, I see forums of people (especially on /r/ibs) saying that it causes a dependency. I saw posts where peop…

> One thing I noticed is that - it gives me incredible mental boost a day after taking it. It just makes me feel normal and that to me is a 'boost'. I've read that loperamide doesn't just quell bowel problems with opioid withdrawal, but that it lessens cognitive symptoms, as well. Sounds like there might be some active metabolites, or that peripheral opioid receptor activation can affect cognition.

Yea atleast from personal experience with n=1, I think it does affect cognition and honestly I am glad it works that way and I discovered it lol. On other days when IBS is in full effect, I dread doing any work and have zero focus.

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#84
post #66
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some randos on the internet believe that you could consume a bottle of loperamide and overcome that inability to get into the brain. In theory that’s true (since the brain barrier is actively pumping it back out and there’s gotta be a limit to that rejection), but I don’t think it’s worked out in practice other than causing massive constipation. It's a medication that gets stolen by drug users which is a bit frustr…

I started an opiate taper at 40mg loperamide a day and while I didn't feel euphoria it definitely had a strange, almost dissociative high. On other forums people report therapeutic effects up in the 100mg range, but ymmv

Starting at 40mg - thats sounds really high. I wonder whats the effect on the gut. Doesnt the food get backed up a lot which leads really really bad constipation or is that not as pronounced.

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Several classes of opioids have been shown to cause neuronal degeneration Question for you - is this "brain damage" that I often hear results from taking a particular drug the result of intentful downregulation of certain neuronal receptors (e.g., meth -> too much dopamine in synapse -> downregulate dopamine receptors), or is the drug actually killing brain cells/neurotoxic?

That's an excellent question, and an area of active research. It differs a lot by drug, though, because of their affect on different signaling systems, different neurons, and due to indirect damage to the brain from effects elsewhere in the body: 1. E.g., cocaine as a strong vasoconstrictor can directly cause cerebral ischemia, causing hypoxic damage to the brain. Acute hypoxic damage is relatively uncommon, but atro…

>Alcohol, on the other hand, is a glutamate blocker, which increases sensitivity to glutamate signals.

Is there more information or sources you can share on that? I'm interested because 1) I'm close to someone who suffers from both alcoholism and an eating disorder, and 2) I worry about excess amounts of glutamate on the brain.

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#86
post #3

A point of interest, not mentioned in the article, is that loperamide is actually an opioid. All opioids cause some degree of constipation, hence why loperamide helps with diarrhea. Loperamide is unusual, in that it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier, hence why taking it doesn't get you high.

Which is why Loperamide is an over-the-counter drug (no prescription needed) at least in the US.

Yes and FDA started restricted the amount anyone can buy because some people started abusing it to the extreme. Now to get a 16mg dose, you would probably need a prescription

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an excellent question, and an area of active research. It differs a lot by drug, though, because of their affect on different signaling systems, different neurons, and due to indirect damage to the brain from effects elsewhere in the body: 1. E.g., cocaine as a strong vasoconstrictor can directly cause cerebral ischemia, causing hypoxic damage to the brain. Acute hypoxic damage is relatively uncommon, but atro…

>Alcohol, on the other hand, is a glutamate blocker, which increases sensitivity to glutamate signals. Is there more information or sources you can share on that? I'm interested because 1) I'm close to someone who suffers from both alcoholism and an eating disorder, and 2) I worry about excess amounts of glutamate on the brain.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C33&q=alc...

There's a lot to go through.

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#88
post #77
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It only avoids getting you high because it doesn't get into the brain. People do get high on immodium [0]. With huge doses, but still. 0: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2018/01/31/fda-cr...

A few years ago, I wanted to buy a small bottle of imodium before a trip overseas. There were people on amazon selling lots of 800 pills. I always worried about the diarrhea problem that would justify such a purchase, but I guess this explains it.

I take Loperamide for IBS issues, and 800 would last me a couple years. I would buy that amount in bulk if the unit price was significantly lower.

Re: Anti-diarrhoea drug drives cancer cells to cell death

#90
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started an opiate taper at 40mg loperamide a day and while I didn't feel euphoria it definitely had a strange, almost dissociative high. On other forums people report therapeutic effects up in the 100mg range, but ymmv

Starting at 40mg - thats sounds really high. I wonder whats the effect on the gut. Doesnt the food get backed up a lot which leads really really bad constipation or is that not as pronounced.

It was a long time ago; I think I mixed in miralax. I don't remember any gut issues.

40, 38, 36, ... -> freedom

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