Benadryl ALERT

Hi there,

I just want to share my personal experience on the use of an antihistamine like Benadryl.

 

As I was having insomnia in a stressful situation and I also needed to keep functional, I took it in a daily basis, to be able to have some sleep...

I never thought it could be harmful as it is an OTC drug that you can freely buy in any drugstore!

 

Well, let me tell you that I started to feel a pain in my back, around the kidneys area.

So I went to visit my Clinical doctor to see what it could be...and he is now investigating a possible renal failure, produced by the use of Benadryl!!!!

He said that drug is not innocuous and that it has to be used very carefully!!!

 

As I know that many of you are users, I wanted to give my voice of alert...

Please take care!!!

Thanks Rodolfo. Benadryl can definitely cause kidney problems due to urinary retention. Just curious, what dosage were you taking and for how long?

 

Acute kidney failure is reversible - I'm sure your doctor told you - but try to avoid putting too much stress on them (ie avoid all unnecessary drugs etc.) Hope you improve quickly Rodolfo.

 

 

Oh wow! My kidney numbers were a little off while I was on Benadryl, but I never thought it could be the cause.

Yikes-that's alarming, but thanks so much for warning and yes, you're right, lots of we members do take it to help facilitate sleep -

of which, lately, for me that's becoming something I only seem to get every other day.  It's truly maddening.

Thanks again...good post.

I'm so glad you got that checked out.  That is scary.  I have taken plenty of benadryl in my time and I feel really lucky now. 

I appreciate you sharing will keep this in mind! Haven’t taken it yet but I may need to.

Hey. Hope you get better soon. Diphenhydramine, DPH the drug in Benadryl is habit forming if taken every day. Some people get psychologically dependent on it for sleep. It was the first drug I started self medicating with as a teenager. I never really abused it but I used to like to take 50-75mg of DPH before bed a lot of days, and have got caught up taking it for months at a time. I even took it for a few months on Klonopin when my tolerance wd gave me insomnia. It made me euphoric when I was younger. One time, as a teen, I took about 4-6, 50mg tablets and I started hallucinating little tiny spiders on this white carpet I used to have in my old bedroom. Every time I put my hand over a spider to trap it, I'd lift my hand realizing that there was no spider. This isn't a psychedelic type of hallucination, but brought on by delirium. There are young people that abuse it, sometimes taking entire bottles at a time. It's actually a pretty dangerous drug. I'm surprised you can just buy it OTC. Maybe because the side effects are pretty awful if you take too many.

I still occasionally take DPH but usually 25mg at a time and never more than once a week. I can go weeks without it though. I still find it seductive.

Benadryl increased my hair loss. During my taper it also caused a serious anaphylactic shock reaction one night. (As we live in an isolated spot in the country and we couldn't make it to a hospital in time, my husband had to neutralise the reaction by giving me mega-doses of ascorbic acid.)

 

I had a similar reaction to Phenergan (promethazine). It seems anti-histamines can turn quite badly on some of us - especially in withdrawal.

 

Interesting thread, thank you.

Hi everyone. This is an international forum, so please note:  Benadryl is NOT the same worldwide.. In the US and Canada, it is merely a brand name for Diphenhydramine.  Elsewhere in the world, it is different altogether.  The OP lives in South America.  This is from Wikipedia:

 

 

 

Benadryl

Benadryl is a brand name for a number of different antihistamine medications used to stop allergies. In the United States and Canada, it is the first-generation antihistamine diphenhydramine.

 

Benadryl

Benadryl Itch Stopping Gel (4600729217).jpg

Type

antihistamine, allergy Medication

Inception

1946

Manufacturer

Johnson & Johnson

Available

Available

Website

www.benadryl.com

Some products marketed in Australia and New Zealand as a cough medicine with the Benadryl name contain diphenhydramine.[1] In the United Kingdom, the active component of Benadryl is often the antihistamine acrivastine[2] or cetirizine.[3]

 

Benadryl is available for oral or topical use. It is marketed without a prescription by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil Consumer Healthcare. Before 2007, Benadryl was marketed by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (originally Warner–Lambert).[4][5]

 

Diphenhydramine can also cause sleepiness. The product is not recommended for use in children under the age of six[6] where it has caused fatalities.[7][8] In 2014, the FDA posted a warning about swallowing Benadryl gel products that were meant to be used topically. The warning stated that the relatively high levels of diphenhydramine in the gel could cause confusion and loss of consciousness.[9]

Hi everyone. This is an international forum, so please note:  Benadryl is NOT the same worldwide.. In the US and Canada, it is merely a brand name for Diphenhydramine.  Elsewhere in the world, it is different altogether.  The OP lives in South America.  This is from Wikipedia:

 

 

 

Benadryl

Benadryl is a brand name for a number of different antihistamine medications used to stop allergies. In the United States and Canada, it is the first-generation antihistamine diphenhydramine.

 

Benadryl

Benadryl Itch Stopping Gel (4600729217).jpg

Type

antihistamine, allergy Medication

Inception

1946

Manufacturer

Johnson & Johnson

Available

Available

Website

www.benadryl.com

Some products marketed in Australia and New Zealand as a cough medicine with the Benadryl name contain diphenhydramine.[1] In the United Kingdom, the active component of Benadryl is often the antihistamine acrivastine[2] or cetirizine.[3]

 

Benadryl is available for oral or topical use. It is marketed without a prescription by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil Consumer Healthcare. Before 2007, Benadryl was marketed by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (originally Warner–Lambert).[4][5]

 

Diphenhydramine can also cause sleepiness. The product is not recommended for use in children under the age of six[6] where it has caused fatalities.[7][8] In 2014, the FDA posted a warning about swallowing Benadryl gel products that were meant to be used topically. The warning stated that the relatively high levels of diphenhydramine in the gel could cause confusion and loss of consciousness.[9]

 

Good point Megan, but diphenhydramine has been known to cause kidney failure. Although now I am not quite as sure that is what he was taking, it's quite plausible.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3814442/

 

Diphenhydramine and Acute Kidney Injury

 

Acute kidney injury (AKI) can be caused by a commonly used over-the-counter and prescription medication, diphenhydramine (Benadryl, McNeil). We do not usually think of this drug as a major source of renal impairment, but it can cause problems in some predisposed patients, including elderly populations.

 

Previously called acute renal failure, AKI is usually described as a rapid yet reversible decline in renal function. It is associated with elevated serum creatinine (SCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels. Medications account for 8% to 60% of AKI cases,1 but not all drugs cause AKI by the same mechanism. For example, calcineurin inhibitors and vasopressors cause renal disease by vasoconstriction, whereas angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) alter intraglomerular hemodynamics.2

 

..............

Thanks Rodolfo. Benadryl can definitely cause kidney problems due to urinary retention. Just curious, what dosage were you taking and for how long?

 

Acute kidney failure is reversible - I'm sure your doctor told you - but try to avoid putting too much stress on them (ie avoid all unnecessary drugs etc.) Hope you improve quickly Rodolfo.

 

Hello Data Guy!

Thanks for your message...I was taking 50mgs of Benadryl. I never thought that an OTC product could cause you any harm...I was wrong!!

Hi everyone. This is an international forum, so please note:  Benadryl is NOT the same worldwide.. In the US and Canada, it is merely a brand name for Diphenhydramine.  Elsewhere in the world, it is different altogether.  The OP lives in South America.  This is from Wikipedia:

 

 

 

Benadryl

Benadryl is a brand name for a number of different antihistamine medications used to stop allergies. In the United States and Canada, it is the first-generation antihistamine diphenhydramine.

 

Benadryl

Benadryl Itch Stopping Gel (4600729217).jpg

Type

antihistamine, allergy Medication

Inception

1946

Manufacturer

Johnson & Johnson

Available

Available

Website

www.benadryl.com

Some products marketed in Australia and New Zealand as a cough medicine with the Benadryl name contain diphenhydramine.[1] In the United Kingdom, the active component of Benadryl is often the antihistamine acrivastine[2] or cetirizine.[3]

 

Benadryl is available for oral or topical use. It is marketed without a prescription by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil Consumer Healthcare. Before 2007, Benadryl was marketed by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (originally Warner–Lambert).[4][5]

 

Diphenhydramine can also cause sleepiness. The product is not recommended for use in children under the age of six[6] where it has caused fatalities.[7][8] In 2014, the FDA posted a warning about swallowing Benadryl gel products that were meant to be used topically. The warning stated that the relatively high levels of diphenhydramine in the gel could cause confusion and loss of consciousness.[9]

 

 

Hello Megan!

It is correct, I live in So. America (actually in Argentina) but I bought the Benadryl in the US so the drug I am speaking about is Diphenhydramine...

 

And, like benzodiazepines, antihistamines are known in the medical literature as "vestibular suppressants", meaning they can cause balance problems. Anticholinergics are also "vestibular suppressants" and, like the others, are only meant for short-term use.

Thanks Rodolfo. Benadryl can definitely cause kidney problems due to urinary retention. Just curious, what dosage were you taking and for how long?

 

Acute kidney failure is reversible - I'm sure your doctor told you - but try to avoid putting too much stress on them (ie avoid all unnecessary drugs etc.) Hope you improve quickly Rodolfo.

 

Hello Data Guy,

Thanks for your message and your kind words. Hopefully the pain in my kidneys is not as acute as it was last week.

In some days from now, I have a new appointment with my doctor to check how this is evolving.

 

This was certainly the result of the use of Benadryl...

Good to hear, Rodolfo. Just be smart and cautious, treat yourself well and you will get better. Cheers

Wow! I guess I’ll quit using it. I do use Tryptophan, gabapentin, and Prazosin at night. And benedryl, until tonight, thanks to you! Don’t want any kidney damage. I have kidney issues in my family, I’m 63 yo, and I have urinary retention, so I have enough factors that I definitely need to stop it now. Thanks!

Hi there!

Just to give you an update of my kidney problem after I took for a short period of time the US Benadryl...

When I went to consultation, my doctor thought I could have a serious impairment so he order me to make some clinical studies.

The result is that I got was an infection due to urine retention caused by this drug! He warned not to take it anymore, even if it's an OTC one, as I'm very sensitive to it.

I know this drug can help you during tapering to have at least some sleep, but please use it carefully because it's not innocuous.

I am relieved as he thought it could be something bad like a kidney impairment.

Everything's fine, all I have to take is antibiotics for 10 days...

Take care!

Rodolfo,

 

Thank you for the update! It's good to have this information. Also, I'm really glad you don't have serious kidney impairment.

 

Just be cautious about the antibiotic that was prescribed, as some types can cause people bad setbacks in withdrawal... (If possible, be sure to take a good probiotic while you're on the antibiotics.)

 

Best wishes for your healing, Rodolfo. Take good care.

Rodolfo,

 

Thank you for the update! It's good to have this information. Also, I'm really glad you don't have serious kidney impairment.

 

Just be cautious about the antibiotic that was prescribed, as some types can cause people bad setbacks in withdrawal... (If possible, be sure to take a good probiotic while you're on the antibiotics.)

 

Best wishes for your healing, Rodolfo. Take good care.

 

Hello Ruby,

Thanks for your words...and actually they come in an exact and precise moment: when I looked in internet what was the drug the doctor prescribed me, I found out that, under the commercial name, it is a Fluoroquinolone!!

OMG!!!

 

I will see him again on Friday morning to make a change to a new drug...

Thanks again!

Rodolfo, thank goodness you checked!!! The fluoroquinolone type is very dangerous, especially in withdrawal.

 

Whatever your doctor prescribes in its place, make sure you research it carefully. You might find this article interesting: https://drlwilson.com/Articles/antibiotics.htm

 

It is the best article I have found on antibiotics - I've been looking into this for a few years now.

 

It is written by a medical doctor, and it includes the research by 2 other medical doctors into antibiotics currently prescribed. It's well researched - and can be life saving.

 

Good luck!