Along with seasonal allergies, I'm allergic to pet dander, and knowing that I was going to be at a house with both dogs and cats, I took 50mg of Benadryl following my daily dose of generic Claritin-D (240mg Pseudoephedrine/10mg Loratadine). I also brought along an additional 50mg Diphenhydramine in the form of generic OTC sleep medication, just in case I was there for longer than expected.
Antihistamines don't usually make me too drowsy, but do put me in a somewhat surreal state. Over the course of a few hours, I consumed no more than six beers, and in place of the usual dreamy feeling I felt more alert than usual when drinking which I attributed to the antihistamines. I felt no sinus or eye irritation, but had the usual increasingly worsening respiratory irritation.
When I was leaving the party I got into a lengthy conversation with a friend of mine outside the house. While I felt soberly coherent in thought and speech processes, I realized that the external world was noticably taking on the antihistamine surreal state in full effect.
When I got home I inhaled a dose of Albuterol for respiration, and took 400mg Ibuprofen with water in anticipation of any hangover effects. Despite my exhaustion I was unable to sleep, as everytime I closed my eyes I was surprised to find that I was having vivid CEV's. I'm a regular lucid dreamer, and I'm experienced with recognizing and manipulating the hypnagogic state, but these visuals had some other source. Upon closing my eyes, I was experiencing full-blown scenes of increasingly disturbing realities that would shift with threatening form constants.
Despite my efforts I could not gain control and benefit from these visuals, and I began to feel an intense anxiety, similar to the onset of a bad trip. I immediately sat up and turned on the television in an attempt to ground myself to something external and constant. The sense of impending doom eventually passed as I occupied my mind as much as possible. I was completely bewildered at the events I had just experienced, and eventually passed out to the droning of an infomercial.
Usually following a night of drinking, I will have extremely negative dreams beyond my control, if any. Despite that fact and the preceeding negative experience, I had a full night of many different lucid dreams, none of which were negative. Throughout the night I woke up many times (which attributes to disrupting and prolonging REM periods) and found that I was more dehydrated than normally after drinking, especially for the relatively modest amount I drank. In the morning, despite my frequent trips to the sink throughout the night, I awoke completely dehydrated: headache, dry mouth, and extremely chapped lips.
I attribute all the preceeding events to the combination of antihistamines mixed with alcohol. This was the first time I experienced this combination, and certaintly my last.
