I have a friend who’s been depressed for a while now, and has resorted to taking sleeping pills every night. Actually, the why he does it doesn’t really matter. Just that he does. He told me he takes about four or five every night.
The drug is 50mg of Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride. I know this can’t be good for him, but I haven’t been able to find any sort of proof that doing this will cause his body a great deal of trouble. I’d like to get him to stop, but I can’t keep telling him “this can’t be good for you” because I can’t find any evidence that it actually is bad. He’s been taking them for a long time now, maybe a couple of years, so it’s distressing me, even if he doesn’t care.
Can anyone else tell me something more about constantly taking an overdose of this drug, or anything else you might know about it?
Diphenhydramine HCL is better known as “Bendadryl”. It’s primarially an anti-histamine and is an old and excellent standby for allergic reactions. Drowsiness is a well-known side-effect and so profund that diphenhydramine doubles as an OTC sleep aid.
Although the normal dose is 25 mg, 50 and 100 mg doses are also used. (I have taken 100 mg doses for my allergies when having a particularly bad time) If I read your OP correctly, he’s consuming about 200-250 mg a night. Well, no, that’s probably not good. He’s undoubtably unconcious at that dose, and it could be he’s built up enough tolerance to that dose that he’s in no immediate danger (provided he doesn’t combine it with alcohol or other drugs). And I doubt he’s bothered by hayfever.
Biggest dangers - suppression of breathing (which can also aggravate depression). Dry mouth. Continued drowsiness into next day. Depressed reflexes. Sensitivity to sunlight.
He should hie himself to a doctor for better treatment for what ails him - but if it is depression then it’s the very devil to get them to go.
If I recall - the danger zone is about twice what he’s taking, but I am not a doctor so don’t take that as gospel. At higher doses hallucinations and stuff can occur.
I’ve managed to get him to cut down quite a bit. In the past he’s taken as much as 16-20 pills at one time, but I guess his body built up such an immunity towards them, that they only put him to sleep for a few hours. I’m not sure if the immunity is a good or a bad thing.
What I was really looking for, though, was if taking all of these pills now, in his younger years, would have a major effect on him later in life, as they don’t appear to be doing any damage to him at the moment.