Benedryl and BiPolar
 

Has anyone had an adverse reaction to Benedryl. A couple of days ago I took benedryl because of really bad itching and suddenly I started feeling all panicky. I thought I was about to loose my mind. So much so that I had to take my anti-anxiety meds quick.
Has this happened to anyone else?

Most people take Benedryl to relax. It is the "active ingredient" for Sominex and all the other OTC sleeping aids. Many people take it (and doctors prescribe it) for reducing anxiety - as a mild tranquilizer.

Have you taken Benedryl in the past? How many milligrams did you take? I would suggest your calling your pharmacist to ask about this - or better, ask our OWN resource, MrsD. If she doesn't know it off the top of her head, she knows where to go to find out.

I don't know if it could be related in any sense, but when I was bitten by a rattlesnake, I immediately took 100mg of benedryl (it is a regular daily used med for me) ... and the first thing they did at the ER was hook me up to an IV and give me benedryl. And it caused me to develop a bright red streak up my arm, the length of the vein, and they d/c'd it immediately. Not the usual response, I gathered. I had no other symptoms of any kind. Don't have a clue what was happening in my body to cause that to happen.

Having the complete opposite reaction to a medication from what the USUAL reaction is that same medication is called having a Paradoxical Reaction.

A mood stabilizer (like Depakote) that normally reduces agitation and impulsiveness in MOST people will have the opposite effect (paradoxical) in SOME people, causing them to become rageful and prone to violence. However, on a different kind of mood stabilizer (another kind of anti-seizure med), that same person will have the expected "normal" response, showing that it was drug specific, not generalized to the class of medication.

It has been said that "paradoxical reaction" is why ADD/ADHD children and adults are able to settle down, focus and filter out extraneous distracting environmental input when given Ritalin. This is a paradoxical reaction to what it does to "normal children and adults" -- jazzing them up and making thoughts come quicker, giving more energy to get up and move around.

Teri

Hi,
I can only take Benedryl once. On the second night in a row it doesn't work. I don't know what happens on the third night -- never tried.
Sorry that you went through that.
Mari

Reaction
 

One time I had really bad hives, the finger length raised welts started at my scalp, face, to chest and warmest areas of my body. They gave me Benydryl, 50 mg but a shot and I had anxiety, rapid heart racing feeling.

It did subside.
Another time for a worse migraine, cervogenic headpain flare from muscle spasms they gave me compasine shot and I thought I would crawl out of skin, I had to rip off everything touching me wanted to leave right then before they harmed me. Doc's came in and in unison said compasine reaction. I had ativan and was Ok.

I never want the compasine again!
The other thing that races me and anxious is my albuteral when I ahve a flare.

I think the thing must be what it does to restrict or dialate the blood vessels and how the body reacts.Maybe heart rate, blood pressure, too much dopamine release I am not sure but it is scary and not pleasant.

I can take bendryl Ok, a few, but not a big dose.
My youngest gets hyperactive on it complete opposite from what normal reaction is to kids. She bounces off walls.

Di

The Benedryl Kid
 

Too much Benedryl can make you want to jump out of your skin. Can't sit still...

My mother used to give it to me and my brother like it was candy. This was back in the early 70's and it came as a liquid which the pediatrician prescribed freely. She gave it to us as a sleeping aid. A nice early exposure to a dependency on drugs.

Too much Benedryl (diphenhydramine) has made me feel like jumping out of my skin. But that was after a pretty big dose given IV in the ER as a rememdy for the side effects (dystonic reaction) of yet a different drug (which I wasn't supposed to be taking).

Smaller dosages (50mg) work really well as an antihistamine and sleep aid on a short term basis. When my 'real' meds aren't quite working sometimes I'll add a little Benedryl and it often does the trick to settle me down.

Benadryl is a box of chock-lates...
 

Benadryl is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

I don't anyway: sometimes somnolence, sometimes huge paradoxical reaction - very very activating. the worst was as one person described - like a panic attack.

I will not take it if avoidable, and never for sleep. But from the times that i used it as an antihistamine, 25 mg were usually "safe", might or not make me groggy. With 50mg (most i have taken) more likely i become Jumpin' Jack Flash... and it ain't no gas!

But I'm really not sure... it seems like once i took 50 and it was a knockout. back to square 1. me+benadryl = ???????

fwiw i have had occasional paradoxical reactions with other antihistamines, including the one i usually use - Chlortrimeton. But nothing in the extremes of Benadryl. When I first saw ppl here given it for sleep here I was like... :eek: :D

I read that paradoxical reactions to antihistamines are quite common in children. Perhaps because kids are already in "high gear" and thus more predisposed?

~ waves ~

Thanks everyone. To answer your question, I took only 1 25 mg OTC pill of Benedryl. I had switched meds recently and unfortunately a side effect in the beginning is the itching. Now that the itching is gone, I am not taking it anymore.
I had been taking benedryl for quite a while in the past and this was the first time I needed it. I normally take Claritin for allergies.
Again, thanks everyone for your input. It helps me understand this confusing jungle.

I saw this post and thought I'd stop to say I cannot take Benedryl without feeling panicky or anxious. My son, as a child, could not tolerate it either...he'd become really wired and have night terrors. I think it is one of those that says "may cause drowsiness or hyperactivity"... it effects people differently. It also makes me sick to my stomach, and it did this too my husband recently as well.

Cara

I took benadryl for 2 years as a sleep aid...worked great!
then it stopped.
very sad day....
as has been stated above, some folks have the exact opposite effect from htis med.
Most people take some form of benadryl for the sedative effect as opposed to the antihistamine effect.
I wish it still worked for me...I took lunesta for a year then that stopped...and currently...hoping that the ambien cr 12mg works until they come up with another new sleeping pill.
I have heard that some people take this while trying to taper off of tranquilizers.
I wish you well.
bizi

benedryl knocks me out if I take more than 25 mg. I have to take it for hives sometimes.

I am glad you don't have to take it anymore.

befuddled2