Stomach issues and opiate withdrawals? Pharma.Steve??

[mmglobal]

I was recently speaking to a client of mine who is about 8 months post-op from a successful revision surgery. He's now more than a month past the zero opiate mark, following a relatively slow taper.

The anxiety, mood issues, jitteriness, etc... from the withdrawals are over. However, he is still experiencing bowel problems. There are constant loose stools. It seems intuitive that the opposite of constipation problems we have from opiate therapy would be loose stools as a consequence of opiate withdrawals.

It seems to me that after a slow taper and so long after complete withdrawals, that the bowels should have stabilized already. I did not have these issues following my opiate use that terminated after my lumbar surgery in 2002.

For those of you familiar with the withdrawal dance, I have these questions:

1. How long should one expect to have bowel problems related to the withdrawals?

2. Is it possible that after long-term opiate use, after withdrawals can your bowels stabilize into a "new normal" that is not really normal?

I hope he can get his GP to either address this issue or refer him to a specialist if this does not get better soon.

Anyone out there with similar experiences?

Thanks in advance for the help. All the best,

Mark

[Pharmacist.steve]

I would first try a probiotic and/or acidophilus to see if it will help make things stable. One can also try increase diet of buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt... which gets you to the same place. Otherwise, could be some rebound hyper-peristalsis that will eventually level off.

[mmglobal]

Is there a typical recovery period for the bowels?

Would it be common (especially after a slow taper) to have issues more than a month past the zero opiate date?