Diphenhydramine Withdrawals

[Griffin (OP)]

Has anyone gotten physical w/d symptoms from lack of benedryl if you have taken it every day for a long time? I think that is what I am going through. I take anywhere from 4-10 25mg 1-3x a day for help with sleep and I recently stopped because I feel like shit when I don't have them I feel to shitty to name all of the symptoms but mainly i get within 24 hours of not taking them feverish, nausea, puking, head ache, no energy, motion sickness plus many more. Anyone ever heard of this I think it is from the benedryl and have tested it to see if its coming from anything else and its not so far every time i stop taking the benedryl I go through these symptoms plus a lot more.

[Morfy]

Hey Griffin,


I don't know much about such withdrawals specifically, but it seems to meet that expectation:


1- Long term, daily use of substance A
2- Not taking substance A causes symptoms OPPOSITE of substance A's usual effects
3- Taking substance A relieves the symptoms


The motion sickness you mention is key to #2 above.  Most anti-motionsickness pills are an antihistamine-as is diphenhydramine.


Of course, its not an absolute that WD will be the opposite of a drug's effects.  Diphen. makes most PPL sleepy, do the WDs make you more awake?  Probably not.


I'd consider trying to taper your diphenhydramine dose over the course of 3-4 weeks, reducing your dose by 1/3 every 3-4 days, or so.  You'll have to see what works for you and what's tolerably, when it comes to dose dropping.


Good luck man,

[theSWPK]

When my friend stopped taking diph, he experienced the same things. I just spoke to him and asked him about it to make sure. He had been taking them for 3 or 4 months everday. He would inject 2 to 3 at a time for the odd diphenhydramime rush and light somnolence that follows. This was to augment his suboxone, in order to have an easier transition back to sobriety. He did this 3 times a day, just for the rush, never for the sleep. Took him about 2 weeks to get over the diph wd.

I've wondered before if users of h cut with lots of diph go through diph wd if they move to an area with h that isn't cut with diphenhydramine products.

Do people cut rocked up BTH with diphenhydramine? I can understand some of the powdery BTH, but I'm curious about the obsidian looking stuff .

[Jethro]

No idea about WD.
 However I believe you may have identified the cause of your recent bizarre behavior.
(Hallucinations and talking to yourself)

[Jega]

4x10 25mg tabs a day hua? Yeah that's not nothing.

Sorry I can't be of much help. I'll occasionally use it but it's the only deliriant (combined with dxm) to get me into a solid state of delirium. Ever since that day I never really go for it anymore.

Oh the spiders.

[Jethro]

"4-10 25mg 1-3x a day " To be more clear,
 I think the dosage may be the cause of your recent problem not the WD.
Jeebus, 250 mg 3x a day ?

[Zoops]

yeah that's a lot of diphen. If you smoke, I bet your lung mucus is like so thick it's like tar at this point. Good luck ever coughing up a nice lunger again.

I've been using that stuff for at least 25 years, always a little bit here and there to help me sleep. I tried injecting it a couple times mixed with pentazocine. That was semi-o.k., better than the Talwin by itself.

[Taytoechip]

Absofuckinglutly.
I hated diphen more than anything. Mostly due to the times in my early days of abuse where i would try to take it during WD for sleep. Obviously the worst idea ever, that RLS can make you contemplate laying on the train tracks.

But once i got off the shit I started taking it every night. 1 the first week, 2 the 2nd , 3 the 3rd. ect ect.
as with everything, tolerance is a fickle bitch. i got up to maybe 8-9 per night. Then a relapse here and there and i finally got on bupe. which was a life saver...except for the diphen part.
Like theSWPK's friend, Something about the diphen each night sorta helped with cravings and shit. But as tolerance always does, she started fucking me again. fucking slut.
for right at 10 months i took AT LEAST 18 25mg tablets once at night. (The dollar store by my house had 100ct bottles of the 25mg sleeping pills for 1 dollar a bottle. What a bargain!

Like an idiot, i never once even considered ANYTHING about diphen wd. Until i had this moment of "WTF AM I DOING" and i just stopped taking it. Around 36 hours or so after my last dose i was in the bathroom with the watermouth dry heaves ( every person here knows what i'm talking about) shit was on par with minor opiate WD. Still not thinking anything about the diphen i assumed i had food poisoning or something. Having a busy day the next morning i knew i needed to sleep. so i took a dose of  diphen. And wouldnt you know it, an hour or so later i started feeling a bit better. 2 hours and i was 100%.
God dammniiittttttt!

oh the tangled webs we weave.
been sort of tapering down on them. Still taking everyday, but i'm down to maybe 7 or 8 a night. Which has been completely painless. well, other than the difficulty falling asleep sometimes.

[MoeMentim]

Wow, that's a lot you guys are talking about.  I've taken diphen long term, for allergies & sleep.  But not more than 400mg/day.  Probably 200mg/day average, orally.  Can't say I ever noticed any withdrawls if I stopped cold, I'd just get the allergies back.  I have IV'ed the stuff by itself, but only a couple times.  if I'm gonna jab at my veins every day it ain't gonna be for diphen.  I did play around with throwing some in weak dope shots for a while, but really never found much benefit in that either. 

[Zoops]

Holy shit, 8 is a low dose? 200mg? Wow. 150 is the most I've ever taken. If 150mg of it won't make me go to sleep, then diphen is not going to work, period, is my thinking. I took 100mg twice in one night one time when I was going through something that didn't permit the sweet release of slumber, woke up with the back of my throat so dry, it hurt. When I ate something at breakfast, it felt funny on the back of my throat.

[candy]

Yes, you can!

The physiological withdrawal symptoms are mostly due to a 'rebound' effect from the body which has gotten used to the continuously high levels of anti-histamines. So, there can be symptoms such as generalized itching, watering of the eyes, nasal stuffiness and most importantly, sleeplessness.

I imagine you can get other withdrawal symptoms, such as the nausea, headache, and vomiting. Those symptoms can also be due to the amount you are taking daily.
When Benadryl ( dyphenhydramine)  is taken in high doses/overdose, symptoms include: extreme sleepiness, confusion, weakness, ringing in the ears, blurred vision, large pupils, dry mouth, flushing, fever, shaking, insomnia, hallucinations, and possibly seizures.

If you are taking 10 Benadry at one time, you may experience the symptoms of overdose above. Taking the appropriate dose spaced out every 4 to 6 hours is much different than taking them all at once. I really am not sure how many you are taking 1 to 3x's daily, but taking more than needed is going to lead to the problems you are experiencing.

I am curious if are able to get much sleep. I have taken 4 or 5 Benadryl at once and it made me feel strange and like I had taken speed. It was not a good experience at all.

Did you start taking the suggested dose, 25 to 50 mg, every 4 to 6 hours for sleep and increased the dose over time? I am just curious why you started to take so many at once. The maximum dose is 300 mg a day, split into doses of 25 to 50 mg every 4 to 6 hours.
Taking that much all at once can cause strange behavior and could lead to seizures.

If you have to take that much Benadryl to get sleep, you might just want to stop taking them and try something else.
Maybe you should consider weaning yourself off. Start decreasing the amount you take every few days and see how it goes.
I really don't have any instructions on how to wean off of dyphenhydramine.

Good luck with this and as I said, I would really consider getting off them.

[Guts]

You gotta remember guys, tolerance builds with diphen just like anything else. Pretty fast actually. I've shot diphen a few times by itself... has a spacey rush to it and makes your mouth dry up instantly. Not really worth it by itself unless you're super duper bored and really want to shoot something. With methadone though, there definitely seems to be a synergy when shot together with diphen. A very good rush to be had.

[Griffin (OP)]

Yeah i am thinking its from the diphenhydramie, because Ill take 6 25mg's with my done to help me sleep then take some more at night to sleep and then during the day if i start feeling like shit. I usually take some when I start feeling sick and I blame that on the diphenhydramine. I take benzos for about 5-6 days a month then the rest of the time I use benedryl to help sleep, and to help me sleep after I dose.

 It sucks I don't feel much but it does help me sleep some. I CAN NOT fall asleep without a dip or 2 in my mouth. I have to have one dip on the top lip and one dip on the bottom lip, and I have a dip in 22 hours of the day but now I can't fall asleep with one in. The benedryl helps when I stop taking the benzos and when I need a little sleep after dosing my MMT or at night it can help some time but dip helps me sleep the most.

I just noticed when I don't take the diphenhydramine I feel terrible, like stomach aches, head aches, fever, chills, nausea, the whole 9 and nothing helps it. I am assuming this is because of benedryl alone when I get my 4-7 of benzos a day I stop taking the benedryl 100% and slowly build back  up to that usage by the end of the month I'd like to find a replacement that doesn't cause w.d symptoms Any suggestions?

[Taytoechip]

Yeah i am thinking its from the diphenhydramie, because Ill take 6 25mg's with my done to help me sleep then take some more at night to sleep and then during the day if i start feeling like shit. I usually take some when I start feeling sick and I blame that on the diphenhydramine. I take benzos for about 5-6 days a month then the rest of the time I use benedryl to help sleep, and to help me sleep after I dose.

 It sucks I don't feel much but it does help me sleep some. I CAN NOT fall asleep without a dip or 2 in my mouth. I have to have one dip on the top lip and one dip on the bottom lip, and I have a dip in 22 hours of the day but now I can't fall asleep with one in. The benedryl helps when I stop taking the benzos and when I need a little sleep after dosing my MMT or at night it can help some time but dip helps me sleep the most.

I just noticed when I don't take the diphenhydramine I feel terrible, like stomach aches, head aches, fever, chills, nausea, the whole 9 and nothing helps it. I am assuming this is because of benedryl alone when I get my 4-7 of benzos a day I stop taking the benedryl 100% and slowly build back  up to that usage by the end of the month I'd like to find a replacement that doesn't cause w.d symptoms Any suggestions?

you would be surprised at the amount of things you can wd from.

sorry to go off subject, but you actually fall asleep with tobacco in your mouth? I dont know anything about it but it sounds super god damn dangerous to me. and 22 hours? Just my opinion, but personally i would defiantly consider a taper on this as well. I cant even begin to imagine the amount of damage this is causing.

[Griffin (OP)]

I tried to do the stupid nicorette lozenges to cut back all that made me do was use a dip on the top and a lozenge on the bottom and now i always have 2 dips one on the top and one on the bottom. Kinda like what the kids called a half moon but instead of all split in half between top and bottom, and I cant fall asleep with out a dip in anymore I physically can't do it no matter how hard i've tried I am hoping that will change when I get a girlfriend because I usually psend the first weeks sleeping next to a girl wide awake maybe thatll stop that gross habit.

I decided to take some roxy 30s with my done today I took some at night it was a nice little glow i took my 90 mg of done at 615 Am and my 90 mg of oxy at 630 pm then decided to take 105 more mgs of oxy at 1030 so well see how that goes hopefully it's a nice glow again and
i wake up with an even better glow from the oxy's. They were $23ea. and I had extra school money so i'd figured id give it a try while staying away from the benedryl. They were better than I thought they're going to be its between 27 months since I've had any opiate other than done.