Took Loperamide For Diarrhea. Getting Pale Stool. Side Effect?

Posted on Mon, 21 Jan 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 Answered on

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I had diarehea (sorry about the spelling) and I took Loperamide. 3 capsules, 2 at first, and then 1 each. This was yesterday, Saturday, January 19th. Tonight, I had a mushy, pale stool. Is it because of the medication? I heard that it was common, and that everything should be okay in a couple of days. No dirareahea now, and no other symptoms.

Answered by Dr. E Venkata Ramana (2 hours later)

Hi,
Thank you for writing to us.
I am happy to hear that you no diarrhea any more and no other symptoms.
The mushy, pale stool you passed is because of the infection that caused the diarrhea and may not be due to the drug.
In diarrhea, intestinal motility increases and the increased motility leads to rapid passage of stool from the gut giving less opportunity for the stools to mix with bile secretion (which is the cause of the normal yellow color of stool) and causing pale stool.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Thank you.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Aparna Kohli