Loperamide - indications for use

Have you ever thought about why drugs with the same composition often have different costs? The popular Imodium is much more expensive than Loperamide, and after all these drugs are completely identical, they have one active substance. Indications for Loperamide use will be the same, and its price will pleasantly surprise you. What is the catch?

Features of Loperamide Hydrolochromide

In the composition of Imodium and Loperamide, only one component is Loperamide hydrochloride, the indications for use are as follows:

Such indications of Loperamide are due to the fact that the substance has a depressing effect on the smooth muscles of the intestine and due to this the stool retention occurs. Loperamide refers to opioid preparations and is a derivative of piperidine. It blocks the action of receptors of the intestines that are sensitive to opiates and thus causes the sphincter to contract, and the motor functions to freeze. Initially, the drug was used to treat gastroenteritis and various kinds of inflammation of the intestine, nowadays it is used primarily to combat diarrhea.

Loperamide was discovered by Belgian scientists in 1969 and since then has been actively promoted in the market under the name Imodium. In parallel, in many countries, analogues of a drug with identical composition were released. At domestic Loperamida-Akri absolutely the same indications to application. But still some of these drugs are different, namely - the degree of purification of the active substance, the level of control in the production and the availability of new studies on the product. This is logical, because the more production, the more money it can allocate to such questions.

For example, in the 1990s, Johnson and Johnson, who was currently promoting Imodium, withdrew the drug from the market due to several deaths in Pakistan. Then from the use of Imodium, 19 children suffered. Careful studies of loperamide on this did not end and this remedy was rehabilitated. The fact is that in children and, in particular, infants, piperidine and its derivatives lead to spasm of the muscles of the intestine up to paralysis. As a rule, such an effect is observed in children under 2 years old, in the older age such violations do not occur. And, nevertheless, the use of drugs, including loperamide, in many countries is allowed only to children over 6 years old, and in Australia, children over 12 years of age.

Dosage and administration of Loperamide

For the treatment of acute diarrhea, adults are given the first dose of Loperamide in the amount of 4 mg, which corresponds to 2 capsules of the drug. In the future, take 2 mg of medication after each stool, if it continues to be mild, liquid. In the event that the stool is normal, or the patient has constipation , the use of Loperamide tablets should be discontinued.

For the treatment of chronic diarrhea, adults are prescribed 2 mg of the drug 1-2 times a day until the condition stabilizes.

Children over 6 years of age are selected individually and are based on the weight of the child's body. Therapy is strictly under the supervision of a doctor.

The maximum daily dose of Loperamide for adults is 16 mg, for children 6-8 mg.

In the treatment of the so-called "traveler's diarrhea", allergic and nervous diarrhea, the drug is administered according to a scheme identical to the treatment of acute diarrhea.

With care, Loperamide is administered for violations of the liver and kidneys. The drug is contraindicated: