Side effects of Imodium: Thickened stool, dry throat

My Dr. advised me to take Imodium 1 in the morning and one at night. What can I expect in side effects? It has already thickened the stool. And now I'm stressing about that and very dry throat and mouth. Blueiis

Hi, Loperamide/Imodium is available over the counter in the UK so I should think that the side effects are pretty minimal for most people, although all drugs can cause adverse effects in a minority of users.

If you google the side effects you can find them all on the internet, but that might make things worse if you are stressing about it.

If you are finding that the stool is too thick, maybe try half the dose am and pm, or just take one a day possibly after your main meal?

Another thing to look at is that you are actually drinking enough - although that sounds as it might make things worse, I find that generally the more I drink the better - one idea that was given to me was to drink water with a slice of lemon or lime as that helps the body to absorb more of the water rather than just excreting it.

Good luck with it, I'm sure others will have some more experience ....

Rach xx

For thicker stool, I use Ileo Gel. You put it in the pouch as soon as liquid or anything goes onto it. It thickens, so you don't need to take tablets. I don't know the whole story, but Ileo tablets do not eat. They also go in the pouch. Good luck, Mare.

I find that Imodium gives me a stomach ache, so I am prescribed by my doctor Lomotil tablets. He also prescribed me Zoton Fast Tabs (they are some kind of antacid tablet, but he prescribed it because it soaks up the excess stomach fluid, which means that less watery fluid goes in my bag). I don't take them every day. I like to have days tablet-free, lol.

To be honest, and I have an ileo almost 32 years, the consistency of your output really depends on what you are eating. The input affects the output, period. One remedy that I have found that automatically thickens my fecal discharge without fail is a bowl of macaroni with the sauce. For some reason, the sauce is the necessary ingredient because taken alone, it does not have quite the same effect.

Hi Blue here, here's my two cents. I avoid taking any more drugs than I have to, so I stick to foods to thicken my output such as rice, applesauce, pretzels, even marshmallows. Take care, Ron in Mich.

My specialist advised me not to take things like Imodium (might be specific to my circumstances -- but I have read where some others have been told the same thing).

Too bad for Imodium ... hubby says their shares plummeted after I had my ileo - used to live on the stuff!

I get any thickening I might want from food (bananas, rice, potatoes, crackers). Instead of carrying Imodium - I have mini marshmallows. They work very well. Just make sure you don't swallow them whole, let them melt in your mouth and/or chew well.

You can even plop a few in your bag - that works too.

I agree with the posts here that diet is much better for thickening stool than Imodium.

I believe Imodium is better if one is trying to control the number of BMs one is having daily, and I think this idea works better for colostomies.

I also find the worst culprit for too-thick stool is pasta or other dense white flour foods (flour tortillas, for example).

Yum on the mini marshmallows.

My wife puts a product called Absorba Gel into her bag. She said it worked well at thickening it up. No tablets to swallow, just put one little sachet in the bag and you're done.