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Strange Starter's Trip
Diphenhydramine
Citation:   RubberGumby. "Strange Starter's Trip: An Experience with Diphenhydramine (exp53748)". Erowid.org. Dec 5, 2008. erowid.org/exp/53748

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
375 mg oral Diphenhydramine (capsule)
  T+ 0:45 75 mg oral Diphenhydramine (capsule)
BODY WEIGHT: 165 lb
I've always been really interested in trying hallucinogenics and I decided that since it's my first summer out of college I'd try as many as I can this summer. I'd tried salvia divinorum earlier in the week and I was ready to try something else. I was looking around online for something cheap and easy to get and I ran upon diphenhydramine HCl. I told my friend 'J' about it (excluding the specific effects) and we went to Wal*Mart to grab some, then we went back to his house, because we were having a pool party.

We locked ourselves in his garage so that no one would see us swallowing all of the pills. We counted out 15 pills each (roughly 375 mg), and downed them with Mountain Dew.

We got in the pool and after about 30 minutes, J signaled to me to tell me what was going on. I was excited when he told me what it was that he was experiencing because it was consistent with everything I read. He was tripping hard. I wasn't feeling anything, though. Everyone started getting worried about him so I explained that he'd just taken some allergy medication and was feeling a little groggy. Thirty minutes later, he mumbled something about going to bed and went inside. About 15 minutes after that, everyone got out, but just before I did I got the most severe chill I've ever had, like I just got dipped in ice water.

Still not feeling or seeing anything, I went back to the garage and took 3 more pills (75 mg), then (unwisely) drove back home. [Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it!] The entire time I was driving, someone kept calling my name from the back seat, even though I wasn't taking anyone home.

When I got back, I went directly to my room. I sat on my bed and put on some music. It sounded a lot louder than it normally does, but not necessarily better. I started to feel a little alcohol buzz, this being about 2 and a half hours after taking the pills. I suddenly became aware of needing to use the bathroom badly, so I stood up and immediately collapsed onto all fours. I finally forced myself to stand up and go to the toilet. Although the bathroom is 3 steps from my room, it felt like it took me forever to get there. I couldn't control my body and I bumped and stumbled into the walls. I flipped on the light switch and looked in the mirror. I almost screamed like a little girl, because instead of the mirror, I saw a hole in the wall with an evil-looking, vacant-eyed image of me staring back. I blinked and it was just my reflection again. I didn't want to urinate on the toilet seat so I put down the seat and tried to sit down, but fell about 2 feet onto the seat somehow. I felt like I was pissing daggers. I stared at the ground for a long time and the lights would flicker dark then light in four stages and repeat. I went back to my room.

I got thirsty and realized that swallowing was really hard to the point of my gagging when I swallowed my own saliva. I went to get some water in the kitchen. I took a sip and it nearly wouldn't go down. I took the cup back to my room and saw a tiny cream-colored spider hanging in midair. I stared at it for a while, then convinced myself that it wasn't actually there.

I sat down on the bed again and turned on the TV. An infomercial or newscast was on but I couldn't hear what the woman was saying, so I turned it up. I still couldn't hear her. Suddenly, she looked directly at me. I stared back for a good 5 minutes, completely unnerved, but then she looked away again. At the time I was NOT processing this well at all. I sat on the floor and started typing on my laptop, then I realized that my laptop was actually behind me. I turned to the left to the computer and I heard a conversation between about 3 people, then they asked what my opinion was. I said, 'What?' and looked up to where I thought they were, but no one was there. I got back onto the bed and looked at the walls, which had breathing squares in the center of them. I looked down at my arms and they were blood red. It seemed perfectly normal to me at the time. I saw some flies zip from one corner of my room to the other then disappear, one after another.

The most vivid and disturbing hallucination happened when I shut off the lights to go to sleep. I closed my eyes, then rolled onto my left side. When I opened my eyes again, my brother was sitting in a rolling chair, facing the window. I wanted to know what he was still doing in the room, so I called his name twice. I started to get up, but he disappeared.

I came to at 7 in the morning with an extremely sore throat and I had to crawl to the bathroom on hands and knees, then crawl back. As I was about to go back to sleep, I heard my mom call me loudly, so I stumbled to her room and asked her what she needed, but she said that she never called me. I went to my room and slept until 5 in the evening.

The hangover wasn't bad at all, but I couldn't read or make out shapes for a few hours. The sore throat improved greatly after eating and forcing myself to drink water. I'm still having minor hallucinations almost 24 hours later and I can't stop trembling so far, but it's not particularly bad.

I'll definitely try it again some day, but earlier and with plenty of water to drive off the dry throat.

Exp Year: 2006ExpID: 53748
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Dec 5, 2008Views: 26,055
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Diphenhydramine (109) : First Times (2), General (1), Various (28)

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