Trenchcoated Men and Ten Cent Contacts
Diphenhydramine
Citation:   Burner420. "Trenchcoated Men and Ten Cent Contacts: An Experience with Diphenhydramine (exp51600)". Erowid.org. Jun 9, 2008. erowid.org/exp/51600

 
DOSE:
700 mg oral Diphenhydramine (pill / tablet)
BODY WEIGHT: 200 lb
Slightly after Christmas 2005 I found myself sitting in my family room late at night with nothing to do and a desire to go on a trip. However, I was unable to locate any normal substances and began to search for alternatives. I discovered diphenhydramine and purchased two boxes from a nearby Albertsons. I determined that I would only injest one box and save the other for another time if the experience was pleasurable

I took the pills at roughly 11:30pm and sat back, watching television and waiting to observe the effects of the drug. After noticing no effects for an hour, I consumed the other box as well. I must note that I have had extensive experience with hallucinugens personally and with their effects on others, and this is, in my experience, one of the major causes of 'bad trips'. After another 30 minutes, I didn't notice much with the exception of a feeling similar to that at the end of a DXM trip, sort of a buzzing in the body.

Soon after, the phone rang. Considering the time of day (around 1:00 am), it seemed odd and it certainly was, when I picked up the phone, no one was on the other line. I determined it to be a hallucination and went downstairs to get a glass of icewater. As I rounded the bottom of the staircase, I saw a person, roughly my age (20) and my height and build standing in front of me smiling. After looking closely, I noticed that he was not wearing any clothing, but was wearing a crown of leaves and a leaves covering other selected body parts. When I asked who he was and what the hell he was doing in my house at 1:00am, he began to talk but no sound came out. I was taken aback and determined that he must be a hallucination, because when I went to swing at this intruder, he vanished!

After this disturbing incident I turned and saw in my living room my little sister (19) and her friend laying on the couch, apparently quite ill. I asked if she was okay and offered to get her some water (I was trying to conceal my inebriated state). It occurred to me that she might be a hallucination too, so I developed a test which helped me through the night, I reached out to touch her forehead, under the auspices that I was checking her temperature, and she recoiled, so I forced my hand through her and she disappeared.

Now thoroughly freaked out, I went outside for a cigarette, but quickly reconsidered that idea when I noticed that there were about a dozen men in trenchcoats walking around on my lawn. I turned inside but quickly realized that such a large open space (the inside of my house) offered little or no guard against my incredibly active imagination. So I dashed through the figures on my lawn and locked myself inside my car. However, my passenger seat was still enough room to allow me to 'see' another trenchcoat-clad figure in my car. So I went for a drive (very unadvisable) around the block when I belatedly realized this was a damn bad idea. [Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it!] I turned my car around but stopped quickly when I noticed a family crossing the street through a crosswalk. This was unusual considering it was around 2:30am. The group composed of a father (in a cowboy hat) a mother, two kids, and a grandmother holding a baby. I stopped well short of the group, but the grandmother evidently saw me and approached my car. She glared at me and then proceeded to throw the baby at my car! Thankfully both were hallucinations and I drove around the grandmother (who was reluctant to move) and made my way safely home.

I went up to my room determined to go to bed and end this disturbing scenario, but discovered that my room was rampant with small ant-sized spiders that were orange and black in color. Normally I would have been pretty freaked out, but for some reason all I could think was that these were really cool spiders, it never occurred to me that hundreds of spiders crawling all over my room (and me) might be frightening. While I was examining the spiders, I felt my right contact pop out of my eye. I proceeded to get down on all fours and look for it (the spiders had disappeared) for some time, I estimate to be around 45 minutes. However, I would lose track of what I was looking for (I thought it was a dime), sit up, ask myself why I was looking for a dime, recall that I had a bunch of change on my desk, remember that I was looking for my contact, then going back to look for my dime (in order to pay for more contacts in the morning because apparently contacts only cost a dime) and then repeating the cycle.

After some time, I realized I was making no sense and went to bed. However sleep was difficult and I rolled over and discovered my father standing over my bedside. I tried to stay composed and collected to prevent him from knowing what I was on, but I finally realized that he was away on vacation for the week and worked up the courage to brush my hand through him, revealing him to be a hallucination.

I woke up with a slight sense of nausea and a bad case of stiff jaw, not surprising considering what I saw. My trip was completely solo and I had absolutely no contact with anyone during the experience (that I am aware of), in retrospect I should not have done this alone. This is one powerful substance and is to be respected. I have tried acid, become bored with shrooms, no longer robotrip, do salvia once in a while, smoke herb when it's offered to me, and use ecstacy on occasion. However, I have never ever experienced such vivid hallucinations before. They interacted with me, responded to my actions, reacted to my mere presence in a room.

Exp Year: 2005ExpID: 51600
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jun 9, 2008Views: 56,325
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Diphenhydramine (109) : General (1), First Times (2), Alone (16)

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