# diphenhydramine hydrochloride = high ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2001, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045 "2001-08-25T03:43:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/21 "2001-08-25T20:47:02Z")
One of the funny things about people using DXM to get high is that they sometimes find one with psuedoephedrine and not know what it does. When you drink a bottle of cough syrup with both ingredients, you are happy and lucy one day and dead from liver malfunction the next. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/22 "2001-08-26T04:27:55Z")
And a Big Straight Dope “Thank you!” to **gtzaskar00** for so kindly providing step-by-step instructions for exactly how much Robitussin or dramamine is needed to get you high. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/23 "2001-08-26T04:42:19Z")
Don’t forget this, kiddies… Too much Psudoephidrine HCL can cause extreme enlargement of the prostrate. Simply put, Ya can’t pee. At All. As I am a guy with more allergies than I care to think about right now, I KNOW. Do you want to have to go to the emergency room after several days of no urination, only to be painfuly catherized? I didn’t think so. That and I used to know a guy in the Air Force that tried to kill himself with his wife’s prescription Tylenol. The “cure” involved him drinking a shot of something that looked and smelled like fresh baby shit. Every half hour for two days. Gah. Don’t mess with OTC kids! ---
**Author:** ![incitatus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@incitatus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/incitatus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/24 "2001-08-26T04:57:22Z")
Before you go chugging that bottle of cough syrup you should know that there’s at least a possibility that DXM causes [brain lesions](http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dxm/dxm_health1.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/25 "2001-08-26T07:50:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by postcards \* > > \*\*bad for the kidneys. > > Very, very bad. \*\* > > _much_ much worse on the liver. > > Qadgop, MD \*\* especally after an evening of binge drinking… ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/26 "2001-08-26T18:13:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 5-HT \* > \*\*I’m sorry I don’t have a cite for this, but i seem to remember that Benadryl has anticholinergic effects and in high doses is hallucinogenic. This is not happy, fun LSD style hallucinations however. The first hand accounts of abuse I have heard generally sound very similar to fever hallucinations. Makes sense since many other anticholinergic substances are hallucinogenic(ie datura, jimson weed etc). So basically, yes, it can get you high, assuming you have a VERY wideranging definition of “high”. \*\* I just asked my dad about this (he’s a PharmD), and he said that Benadryl is slightly to moderately anticholinergic, but that if you take enough Benadryl to hallucinate, you’ll likely be dead first. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/27 "2001-08-26T19:38:40Z")
This struck me as funny… > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan_ > It’s a crappy cough suppressant anyway. Damn you mom (or “Dr.Mom” as she’s know at the Robitussin web site) for forcing that wretched stuff down my gullet when I was a kid! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![fecal\_nugget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b38774/32.png) [@fecal\_nugget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fecal_nugget)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/28 "2001-08-26T19:39:00Z")
please,please,please, read [this](http://www.lycaeum.org/drugs.old/synthetics/dram/dram_faq.html) and [this](http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/dxm/dxm_info2.shtml) before you take anything you don’t know about. I have tried both DXM, and benadryl and can attest that all of the information on those websites is in line with my experences, so don’t be misinformed. ---
**Author:** ![fecal\_nugget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b38774/32.png) [@fecal\_nugget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fecal_nugget)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045/29 "2001-08-26T19:42:58Z")
found one more: [here](http://www.third-plateau.org/dxmfaq40.txt) this is the most informative of the three. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diphenhydramine-hydrochloride-high/78045.md?page=1)