Benedryl for anxiety?

Can a little benedryl (1/2) help with anxiety in any way? Has anyone tried this?

Yes, and it does help a bit sometimes.

Some people use Vistaril (Hydroxizine) but it is prescription only.

 

I have found that Doxylamine is better than Benadryl and Vistaril for me personally - it helps me get a decent sleep and lessens morning anxiety.  The others just gave me akathisia.

 

I only use the Doxylamine once a month or so though when I have been very sleep deprived for a week or more due to severe morning anxiety.

 

Hope this helps - don't use anything regularly though as tolerance builds quickly to antihistamine.

 

gts

I am currently using Benedryl along with a prescription med called Buspar to combat morning anxiety.

Seems to help lessen the physical symptoms but the deep breathing and positive self talk helps the most, 

Try hydroxyzine. 25mg as needed. Much better than Benadryl for me.  It's the first generation of Zyrtec- crosses blood brain barrier- has anxiolytic and an obsessive properties. Has been a huge help . Need an rx. Actually studied vs Valium and shown to be as effective for gad.

Vistaril is hydroxyzine. Hydroxy is the chemical name and it is sold as Vistaril or Atarax. It did help my anxiety but it was too sedating for me. But it might help with sleep.

 

Benedryl just was too activating for me. Didn't help with sleep . . . but everyone's different.

 

Okatz

My psydoc has instructed me to take 75mg of Benedryl before sleep. It does help a bit. However, if you use Benedryl for a long time (3-4months) you could develop some tolerance, Right now I take 0.45mg Ativan (liquid titration) at 7:30 am and 0.45mg at 3:00pm. The Benedryl at 10:00pm definitely helps allay some of my fears about inter-dose ativan withdrawal between 3:00pm and 7:30am the next morning. I am trying to wean myself off of Ativan over the next months. I have been averaging about 1mg ativan per day since May 2013. If is the toughest fight of my life.

Been there...done that.  I know how difficult it is.  You can do it!

Benadryl works great for me at night before bed, but if I take it during the day, it causes anxiety for me. I'm not sure why.

 

Snoball

Sorry folks, I've posted this in other threads but no one answers, and while I see that you are very experienced and you have made ​​many comments I hope some help me from your experience.

 

Sorry my bad English. 

 

Any of you experienced episodes of fatigue with melatonin pills? Tiredness + fear stop breathing is not a pleasant combination. I thought that melatonin really helped me because I could overcome the fear to stop breathing. But after two days I started to feel fatigue episodes. Is it psychological or perhaps a side effect of melatonin?

 

My pills are melatonin 3 milligrams, I followed the advises of Mercola.com. What do you think?

 

At the same time I had reduced my dose of clonazepam to 0.50 but had to go up to 0.75. This was a shock to me, I feel like a step back. Maybe I'm more anxious for that reason?

Hi. Well, melatonin is supposed to make you tired. Its the hormone released by the pineal gland when darkness comes. That's literally why people generally get sleepy when the days are shorter in the winter...more melatonin...less serotonin. It affects our circadian rhythm. So naturally, you would feel fatigue from melatonin. 

 

Snoball

Thank you 

Thank you 

I beg of everyone here not to start using benadryl or anything like it (gravol, dramamine etc, anything with diphenhydrame/dimenhydrinate) for non-allergy purposes too much.

 

Before my medication changed, and when I was even more of a kid than I am now, my doctor originally told me to try a gravol to get to sleep. It worked...WAY too well. Tolerance builds. 1 pill becomes 2. You know the rest. I began taking a straight out stupid amount to sleep.

 

Long term use of these things has I BELIEVE been outright proven to be completely horrible for your brain, and I can feel that myself. I've definitely done something. I think it's the reason when I "zone out" I zone out a BIT harder than the average person does. Almost feels like dissociation.

 

Please please pleaaaaaaaase learn from my mistake. These things are like benzos...they work TOO well and before you know it you're trying to argue with yourself whether you wanna sleep that night and damage yourself a bit more or not sleep and damage yourself anyways.

Be careful with the Benedryl...it acts in the opposite for some people ...causing nervousness and jitters....some people find a little relief in the old hot milk remedy ( add a little honey and almond and it is good)...I have found some relief ( not enough for reved anxiety) in about 4-6 oz of tart cherry juice at bedtime....use organic.  100% juice...no added sugar...

I take benadryl 3 times a day. Two 25mg tabs each time.yes it helps with anxiety as well as sleep

I had to take benadryl, it was great while I was taking it. The next day was very bad. Set me back big time!

Yes I take it three times a day. The active ingrediant in benadryl was discovered in 1946. Prior to the discovery of benzodiaepines this drug was used for anxiety. If I knew how to spell the active ingrediant i would write. It. Google it and u will see lots on helping anxiety.

benzoscruel, how much benedryl 3 times a day? Thank you!

benzoscruel, how much benedryl 3 times a day? Thank you!

 

Oh she said it right here

 

I take benadryl 3 times a day. Two 25mg tabs each time.yes it helps with anxiety as well as sleep

 

I beg of everyone here not to start using benadryl or anything like it (gravol, dramamine etc, anything with diphenhydrame/dimenhydrinate) for non-allergy purposes too much.

 

Before my medication changed, and when I was even more of a kid than I am now, my doctor originally told me to try a gravol to get to sleep. It worked...WAY too well. Tolerance builds. 1 pill becomes 2. You know the rest. I began taking a straight out stupid amount to sleep.

 

Long term use of these things has I BELIEVE been outright proven to be completely horrible for your brain, and I can feel that myself. I've definitely done something. I think it's the reason when I "zone out" I zone out a BIT harder than the average person does. Almost feels like dissociation.

 

Please please pleaaaaaaaase learn from my mistake. These things are like benzos...they work TOO well and before you know it you're trying to argue with yourself whether you wanna sleep that night and damage yourself a bit more or not sleep and damage yourself anyways.

 

Yes this same thing happened to me.

 

Taking Gravol for sleep 15 years ago (on the advice of my doctor) is what started me on a 15 year path of being polydrugged and misdiagnosed with many psych disorders. It is a known fact that Gravol and Benadryl affect our cognitive abilities. These two drugs are considered to be dirty drugs......they have other physiological effects than just being an anti histamine. I have lost 15 years of my life b/c of this drug. 

have not read all the responses

 

but I mixed celexa and bendryl BIG NO NO - ended up in the ER 30 minutes later.... can't even begin to describe the feeling.

Sorry, overlooked it! Daisy

Hi:

 

I have found that just the smallest amount of Benadryl revvs up my anxiety. The again, I'm paradoxical to many medications. Me, I wouldn't touch it for all of the gold in Fort Knox.

Vistaril helps? I have 60 of them and all I could think of was benadryl--stuffy nose--all that hooey=--so they are laying in my drawer--do they help the anxiety--what about the creepy crawlies???