Loperamide - "has the potential to treat the core 'social symptoms' of ASD"

BassFace said:

Increasing respect for autistic people and their experiences would go a lot further towards improving social integration, rather than wasting time and money over-medicating a non-medical issue.

That's too threatening to the social order.

I get stressed because it makes me feel bloated and can't think because I'm so distracted.

Who's the one that's tone deaf now?!

Acupuncture seems to have recognosed this axis from.the beginnong. The metal element connects gut snd lungs, with lungs signifying issues with obsessions and fications. I have been treated for metal imbalance anyway

*** Only your GP is qualified to offer medical advice; this post is just a discussion about possible Serotonin and Norepinephrine modulators/reuptake inhibitors ***

Just because imodium is used to treat Diarrhoea does not mean that this has anything to do with "Brain-Gut-Axis". Loperamide (The actual name for Imodium) also acts upon mu-opioid receptors.

"The mu receptors are a class of receptors that neuromodulate different physiological functions, but above all, nociception and stress, temperature, respiration, endocrine activity, gastrointestinal activity, memory, mood, and motivation".

Potentially having the same effect as SNRIs concerning Serotonin and Norepinephrine.

"Nociception refers to the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) processing of noxious stimuli, such as tissue injury and temperature extremes, which activate nociceptors and their pathways".


So I can see where they were going with this as a potential drug.

That said, Tramadol Hydrochloride, which also acts upon the mu-opioid receptors, could be said to be more effective.

These are not cures (We do not need to be cured of being Neurodiverse). However, Tramadol 'can' offer some relief' from ASD-related dysregulation right up to the level of stopping associated  Psychogenic tremors in their stride.


What concerns me about all this is the headlong dive back into the narrative of cures. We have to be so careful as not to end up with medicine as a new type of mask that forces us to be Neurotypical in appearance for the benefit of Neurotypicals.

This is about alleviating the effects of certain behaviours (severe Dysregulation) for 'our' benefit, not that of making us appear more 'normal' by neurotypical standards.

cocaine can probably counteract the social symptoms too and make anyone more hyper and chatty and open to others and less anxious...

Bravo

Indeed, signs not symptoms...

My old GP actually wrote in a letter that I "suffer with autism".  Hmmmm.... I think I rather enjoy my autism, actually.  Any suffering involved comes from dealing with the NT environment....and of course GPs who clearly have no clue!

Who knows? 

My tongue was in my cheek there. Nobody gets to socialise with anybody, if they can't leave their bathroom, :-).  They do say we are far more prone that the average bod to gut problems, but you don't have to be autistic to have IBS or diverticulitis, of course.

I wonder how much chronic illnesses especially in AS population are related to a constant anxiety in life. 

Good to know.  I have suffered with phantom gut issues that mimic colon cancer.  Very worrisome, until I got the all-clear.  Symptoms still persist - which are literally, a pain in the ass!

I've heard that gut problems and autism often go together. My father has the same overfast digestion and same autistic traits as me. Neither are something acquired during life, they're both lifelong, almost certainly neurological, conditions.

Well said!

I saw that article... I'm interested in drug news because I work dispensing drugs in a pharmacy. Loperamide is the most common drug given to cancer patients who are experiencing 'loose stools' as a result of chemotherapy. 

Since it works by thickening up your poo, it clearly makes you constipated if you take it constantly when you don't have diarrhoea.

The only way I can see that it would 'improve social behaviour' would be to force autistic people to withdraw and spend all their time on the loo with constipation. It will quite likely also give them nausea as well so then you have to give them Domperidone to counteract that.

Increasing respect for autistic people and their experiences would go a lot further towards improving social integration, rather than wasting time and money over-medicating a non-medical issue.

Yeah, I take it to regulate the IBS I developed.  Does naff all for my ASD

Fascinating!  That information is worth passing around.  Thanks for sharing.

I knew it decreases my anxiety, I found out from opiate withdrawal, but I did forget until I saw this.  Today I had an interview so I took one and did feel less anxiety.  Obviously you wouldn't want to take it too much or you'll end up with what I call "Elvis Presley syndrome" where you feel like you're gonna have a heart attack when you go to the toilet...  Side effect is they make me feel horny for some reason?

I think so. In common with a lot of NT people, my IBS started following a sever stomach bug. These things can leave you with a super sensitized bowel. We're probably just more prone to it because our sensory systems can be hyper anyway. There after, yep! Stress aggravates it no end and we have a lot of that.

But I really don't think the daily state of my bathroom needs makes me any more or less autistic that day, whether I've taken immodium or not. How silly.

Yes, I don't like the 'symptom' term....."feature" would be better if they need a word.

Billy, I read that the IBS prevalence in ASD humans is linked to the "connective tissue" oddities that we are known to have.  Hyper-mobility is the more common (and decidedly more cool) consequence of this oddity.  I'll look it up again so I can write with more info.