Citation: Femmefatale. "Spiders on the Wall: An Experience with Diphenhydramine (exp47337)". Erowid.org. Aug 14, 2006. erowid.org/exp/47337
I've been using Diphenhydramine as a sleep aid since 2003. On any given night (most nights in sequence) I take between 10 and 20 of the 25mg pills to knock me out. Diphenhydramine are the only pills I can afford and take regularly that still work for me after two years (I've been on most script sleep-aids (Ambien, Lunesta, etc.) and all stop working for me after a week or two). I have chronic insomnia and so I started 'Extradosing' on Diphenhydramine after I accidentally took too many Benadryl one day and slept wonderfully.
I never experienced hallucinations on the pills until after having taken them for over a month. I wasn't even sure what was happening the first time. I had taken 20 pills one night (well, actually, at 4am-my bedtime) and woke up at 7am to be very confused when my ceiling and walls appeared to be moving. I looked closer and saw what appeared to be thousands of clear baby spiders crawling everywhere. I don't know if this particular hallucination is specific to the drug, or if this is a coincidence.
I woke up my boyfriend and of course he saw nothing. Still being really freaked out and feeling heavy from the pills, I decided to walk around the building. I saw spiders everywhere...clear, baby ones and bigger, spindly ones crawling over each other and fighting. I finally ended up sitting outside my apartment building on the curb and using my cell phone to call the janitorial staff about a spider infestation. They didn't come for nearly 6 hours and I stayed outside until they did because everytime I would go inside, I would see the spiders. I continued to see spiders on random nights for the continuation of that year but learned to ignore them once my boyfriend and friends convinced me that they really weren't there. I didn't make the connection with the pills until nearly a month later (I've never used drugs before to 'trip').
I still use the pills and still see the spiders...sometimes on nights and during days when I haven't even taken the pills. I really believe I am addicted to them, because if I don't take Diphenhydramine now (even if I try another script sleep-aid), I don't sleep. I buy a bottle of 100, 25mg pills every week, and every week, I finish it off and need to buy another. I've noticed that nobody else has posted experiences with long-term effects...and so I wanted to.
I've had a mixed experience with this drug.
COPYRIGHTS: All reports are copyright Erowid.
TERMS OF USE: By accessing this page, you agree not to download or analyze the report data without contacting Erowid Center and receiving written permission prior to your downloading the data.
Experience Reports are the writings and opinions of the individual authors who submit them.
Some of the activities described are dangerous and/or illegal and none are recommended by Erowid Center.
