Benadryl and Tylenol

My benzo taper is going mostly well. Exercise and cbd oil  are helping. My biggest challenge is sleep. I can sleep if I take a Tylenol and a Benadryl.

Do either of these otc meds cause damage to my GABA receptors?

Hi CeCe

If Benadryl has alcohol,? that would be the only way it would affect your Gabba receptors.  According to a google search I did, it has about 14% alcohol.  Alcohol works on Gabba similar to Benzos.  You might want to avoid taking that or try to find a non-alcohol version?  Tylenol won't affect them.  Although all medications, even OTC, have potential side effects and can mess up other parts of your body.  Not sleeping is no fun at all, but you'll get past this and recover after you are off of the Benzos.  It just takes lots of time.  Good luck!

Thank you for the reply ThEwAy2. I know Tylenol is very hard on the liver and Benadryl has side effects too. I take a benadryl pill so I don't think it has alcohol. I don't plan on taking these pills long term.

I plan on being pill free someday because I believe pills are NOT the answer too.

Interesting, if I get enough exercise outdoors, I don't need to take the benadryl.

I know this all takes patience. The waiting is the hardest part! I just want to be done but I got months to go.

CeCe,

I have been taking generic Benadryl from time to time throughout my withdrawal and at present. I just take 25 mg. because any more tends to dry me out too much. I sometimes take it with melatonin. Neither drug or supplement is very strong and if your night is destined to be a bad one, they will probably do nothing to help you. On the other hand, if the sleep gods are going to favor you anyway, these pills might just put you under deep enough to help pay off some of your sleep debt so I think that they can be worthwhile (just not too often).

Thanks for the response alohafromhawaii. I didn't take a benadryl last night and I got nightmares and adrenaline surges. Yuck. I can't believe one benadryl makes such a difference for me. I'm not going to take it every night though so I don't become too dependent on it.

I tried taking two one night and it made me feel soooo hung over the next day- all the way into the afternoon.

Sleep problems are the worst!!! I know things will improve in time. I just need to be patient.