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Driving Insane
Diphenhydramine
Citation:   Drilled. "Driving Insane: An Experience with Diphenhydramine (exp79136)". Erowid.org. Apr 3, 2012. erowid.org/exp/79136

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
500 mg oral Diphenhydramine (pill / tablet)
  T+ 0:20 150 mg oral Diphenhydramine (pill / tablet)
BODY WEIGHT: 125 lb
One night a few months ago I had decided to try Benadryl again; I had done it a few times before without very satisfying results (minor auditory hallucinations and loss of memory). When I tried it before I had taken around 15-20 25mg pills. I decided that I wanted to have a very vivid experience and ended up taking 20 then 6 more about fifteen to twenty minutes later to make sure it was memorable.

**note, the times are probably EXTREMELY off as I was having a very hard time concentrating on what was happening around me.**

(~6:45)
At aprox. 10 minutes after ingestion my stomach began to ache as it had before when I took Benadryl a few weeks earlier. It is an unpleasant nauseating feeling that causes full body discomfort and a feeling of overheating.

(from about 7:00-7:30)
I begin to have the familiar auditory hallucinations while attempting to talk to my friends online, this proves to be very difficult to do as the hallucinations COMPLETELY cause you to lose focus and sense of where you are. Typing had become a very difficult task and I decided to say my goodbyes to friends (which probably ended up being along the lines of 'fi hasdx tha hjen' due to minor visual hallucinations that made the keys appear to be almost alien letters).

(7:30-8:45)
I had been seeing very strange things such as shadow people on my bunk bed crawling around (looking like men with hoods or a 'hunter' from the game Left 4 Dead) on my blankets.

Starting at 7:45 or so my sister entered my room and chatted with me, sitting on my dresser and watching over me (I thought this was normal, as she is somewhat of a parent to me) she only asks questions rarely and when I answer my voice seems very loud, and the auditory hallucinations have me believe that I am in a different place that I actually was at the time. She had sat there for what seemed like thirty or so minutes when I see my dad enter the room, head straight into the bathroom and stay there for about two or three minutes, he then emerged and had a lighter in his hand asking what this was doing there. I said sorry and did not respond further. *(mind you this was all hallucinated and VERY real seeming)*

(8:00?)
I get up to pee after having been sitting on the computer staring at a blank screen forgetting how to exit out of a game I had tried to play for about 10 minutes. This is where it all goes down the shitter.

(8:25?)
As I exit the bathroom,(having a difficult time walking) I look at my bed and see in between the folds of the sheets spiders emerge, accompanied by larger spiders. I am VERY scared because it all seemed so incredibly real that I was actually wondering why this had to happen to me when I took the Benadryl. I attempt to exit my room only to have my door handle COVERED with baby spiders. Naturally, I sqeauled like a
schoolgirl and called out to my sister (where she actually was), explaining that there were spiders in my room and I didn't know what to do. Sadly, she foolishly believed me and followed me as I ran outside of my room almost in tears from fear. She called my father who quickly came, he was not believing what I seeing (obviously). I thought I had been bitten and I actually SAW redness on my foot from the alleged 'bite'.

(not sure at all, maybe 9:30)
My father said I needed to go to the hospital and on the way there I thought I was going to the mall with a few of my friends. I kept fading in and out of reality, still seeing spiders on the back of the headrest in front of me.

(9:??)
I arrived at the hospital thinking I was in some strange airport in L.A. I began to fade back to what was actually happening. Waiting for the doctor to see me I was barraged with a series of questions that were used to determine what I had taken and why, and if I had attempted suicide with the diphenhydramine. Following ANY conversation took extreme effort as I forgot anything that was said to me, or that I had said quickly after it had been spoken.

(not sure at all)
I had been sitting in the room, STILL seeing things that resembled spiders crawling all along (they were more like nearly invisible threads of what seemed like hair crawling along my blanket and clothing). I was given a urine test as well as a blood test (I still remember the blood test, a rather large needle entering my vein with a pop and having to release my fist into a more relaxed position to allow the blood to fill the multiple glass vials).

(still not sure, probably late)
At this point I had nearly completely sobered up, realized the situation I am in and how I had caused this all to happen by reacting badly to something that was obviously not real, but seemed so realistic and vivid, including actual bite feelings from the spiders.

The doctor and nurse entered the room with a styrofoam cup filled with a viscous black fluid and a nice little bendy straw, and I was handed a plastic basin. I was forced to drink the entire cup, which is still probably the worst thing I have ever had to endure in my life. By the time all the charcoal drink had, at some point, entered my body I had thrown up into the basin about three times (my memory is still rather unclear).

All in all this wasn't a very enjoyable trip, probably due to the sheer amount of diphenhydramine I ingested, but I see it as something that people should experience at least once in their lives. Hopefully not with the same amount that I had, though.

Exp Year: 2008ExpID: 79136
Gender: Not Specified 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Apr 3, 2012Views: 16,116
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Diphenhydramine (109) : Bad Trips (6), Health Problems (27), Difficult Experiences (5), Small Group (2-9) (17)

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