Sorry for the late response, as I've been distracted by chaotic utility payments :thumbdown: and lovely shiny ESA comet probes preparing for soft touchdowns and End Of Mission :razz:

I appreciate your answer very much. Alas, it seems only a few more signatures have come in. Them's the breaks, I guess.

As for the addicts, I have very mixed feelings. I've read up on the subject of opioid addiction and it can be literal Hell on Earth. So in that aspect, I [u]can[/u] sympathize. I [u]can[/u] put myself in their shoes...to an extent.

Trying to ease [i]withdrawal symptoms[/i] is one thing. Trying to ease withdrawals [i]because one's doctor was a fuckwit[/i] is another.

There are people in far far worse difficulties than I am, as far as nasty digestion troubles go, and the addicts are not only damaging themselves, they are endangering the essential human dignity of what I sort of consider "my" fellow sufferers.

As kind of an aside, I cannot say that I am addiction proof, but after getting my wisdom teeth pulled about twenty years ago, I nearly got hooked on non-Tylenol codeine. I enjoyed the hell out of it, realized I [u]had[/u] gotten hooked and regretfully flushed the eight or ten remaining pills straight down the toilet.

To this day I swear I could eat that shit the way I eat tinned peppermints, if only the thumb-dicks would leave the damned Tylenol out of it. [b]Absolutely. The. Best. Anxiety cure [i]ever[/i], both physical and psychological.[/b] Gods damn it felt good. :grin: And I would flush it down the shitter [b]AGAIN[/b] if I got myself re-addicted.

It was a fascinating lesson. :wink:

I'm a completely hopeless dingbat in quite a few areas of life, but having a chemical lead me around by the nose for longer than a weekend is one thing I just won't do.

[quote="Kittypie070"]...I exercised restraint because I am a new account there and noobs are not supposed to spam a site they've just joined...[/quote]
You don't have to think about that stuff in here, we have no such rules! Hell, you can even come here and say how we suck and link another forum which you think is much better! In here, feel free to always speak freely! :relaxed:

About the issue at hand, I wonder if the restrictions have something to do with this: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/476615084/getting-high-from-this-drug-for-diarrhea-can-be-fatal ...when the fuck have society ever cared about drug addicts anyway, I have a feeling this is jut a ploy to jack up the price on this thing. :sick: Probably not much to do about it, well, I don't even live in US of A so not sure how I could help but of course, there is no problem to post this in here to maybe get more signatures or views. :smile:

[quote]Some people addicted to oxycodone and other opioids are now turning to widely available diarrhea medications to manage their withdrawal symptoms or get high.

...

"Because of its low cost, ease of accessibility and legal status, it's a drug that is very, very ripe for abuse," says lead author William Eggleston, a doctor of pharmacy and fellow in clinical toxicology at the Upstate New York Poison Center, which is affiliated with SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Loperamide — also sold under the brand name Imodium — can be purchased without a prescription as a liquid or pills; it activates some of the same receptors as other opioids, but at the dose that's recommended to treat diarrhea it doesn't produce feelings of euphoria.[/quote]
[attachment=0]imodium_custom-b1e48eb8694c54a927b4ce6fed9adec5650651b1-s600-c85.jpg[/attachment]

I posted the following petition at Change.org for a friend of mine whose name is on it.

It was posted an entire month ago and as far as Change.org goes, there is very little to show for the effort even though it would actually be helpful to other human beings who have to put up with a rather literally life-damaging health problem.

It is the [b]only[/b] petition dealing with the issue of regulation/restriction of Loperamide/Imodium in the entire Change.org website, or [u]probably in the entire Internet.[/u] It has all of 12 signatures in the entire month and that is fucking pathetic.

My friend is beside herself. She just hasn't got any swear words left.

I also set up an account at a very large IBS/IBS-D forum and posted links at least twice. [b]I exercised restraint because I am a new account there and noobs are not supposed to spam a site they've just joined.[/b]

It most emphatically is NOT "irrelevant", nor should it recieve the utter apathy it's gotten so far. It is EXACTLY and PRECISELY relevant, NOW is the best time to nip a stupid idea right at the beginning, and because of [u]two[/u] cases of abuse in New York, thousands of people including my friend will be deliberately trapped in a humiliating and PERMANENT state of drastically lowered quality of life.

[b][i]PLEASE[/i] help us out here. [/b]

It's a stupid situation, and I probably did every single thing wrong that it was possible to do with trying to get this noticed.

[b]You guys are the absolute last card I got in the deck.[/b]

[color=#BF0000][size=150][b]This is a long-term health issue that quite literally causes people to feel like SHIT ANIMALS.[/b][/size][/color]

[url]https://www.change.org/p/marsha-b-henderson-fda-assistant-commissioner-for-women-s-health-halt-the-proposed-restriction-of-imodium-loperamide[/url]

[u]This is the statement my friend made in the petition:[/u]

[i]In 2015 I was diagnosed with gallstones after three painful attacks and [u]a year of intermittent loss of correct bowel function[/u] that made me extremely shy and reclusive.

I had galbladder removal surgery which went very well.

I subsequently informed myself concerning the permanent aftereffects. Learning how to deal with them was hard, since what works beautifully for one patient may be disastrous for another, [u]and the loss of self respect I experienced was NOT necessary[/u].

I do not regret the surgery. I do regret the months of shame I suffered before it, and the occasional lapses of control I still suffered after it.

Before I go out in public, a simple small dose of Loperamide/Imodium the night before helps me to feel confident, normal, and above all, HUMAN.[/i]