Addicts Who Can't Get Opioids Are Overdosing on a Diarrhea Drug
“We’ve had patients tell us they take 400 to 500 tablets day … They put it in a blender and make a smoothie and drink it over one or two hours.”
by Sarah Zhang
Apr 07, 2017
3 minutes
Opioid painkillers have an inconvenient, lesser-known side effect: terrible constipation.
Perhaps then it’s no surprise that people addicted to opioids have considered the inverse. If a drug that gets you high causes constipation, could a drug that causes constipation get you high?
Yes, and that drug is another opioid called loperamide, better known by its brand name Imodium as an over-the-counter treatment for diarrhea. At extremely high doses—dozens or even hundreds of pills a day—it can produce a high
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