According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), reports of overdoses and deaths involving the use of readily available and widely used anti-diarrhea medicines are on the rise.

Federal health officials say that, when taken in large doses, the over-the-counter and prescription drugs, such as Imodium, can cause potentially deadly heart problems.

The primary ingredient in the anti-diarrhea drugs is loperamide, which is intended to control diarrhea, but can also cause euphoric highs, similar to the effects of morphine.

Between 2011 and 2014, national poison centers saw a 71 percent increase in calls involving anti-diarrhea drug overdoses. Over the last 39 years, the FDA has received 31 reports of people being hospitalized with heart problems related to the drugs, as well as 10 deaths.

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