Friday, May 1, 2009

Stop the madness, Stop the Benadryl

You got it, I'm riled again.  I've seen countless advertisements on Benadryl (diphenhydramine) now.  One of the oldest and dirtiest antihistamine medications out there.  It's like using Aspirin for all aches and pains.  Yeah, useful, but too much and you cant stop oozing from a little cut.  
Well, if tylenol, ibuprofen, aspirin came out on the market today as prescription drugs, you would see them pulled off the market the next day for litigious fears.  Too much Tylenol, you fry your liver and sometimes its irreversible leading to ...yeah, death.  Too much Ibuprofen, and you fry your kidneys.  Even if you don't take in enough water after a race and take it.  It can send you into acute renal (kidney) failure.  
So, what about Benadryl?  Death is not really an option, but turning you or your kids into an actor in "Dawn of the Dead", is not a probability, it's more of an actuality.  You see, there was a study that came out about 2 years ago comparing driving skills of those on normal Benadryl dosage and those just at the legally drunk blood alcohol levels.  Guess who did worse?  Nope, not those intoxicated with alcohol.  That is why I called it a dirty drug.  Not only is it a class ? antihistamine, but it has central nervous system side effects.  It slows down brain function and it does this longer (about 36 hours) than the antihistamine side of the drug works.  They even put the stuff in Tylenol PM and Advil PM.  You can sleep well, then be a numb brain at work all the next day.  Makes me feel comfortable driving to work every day, doesn't it you?  
Now armed with this information, who of you would like to send your kid to school with a slow brain without the buzz?  Well, I'm sure you don't want your kid with an alcohol buzz either, but, I'm sure your asking now about other options.  And in our God blessed country of a free market society, at least still for a little while, we have many wonderful antihistamine medications developed and now out on the market, even over the counter!  No, we wouldn't have such medications if B. Obama gets his way with socialized medicine.  (see my post on socialized medicine)   Claritin and Zyrtec are the latest and greatest over the counter medications out there.  Ask your friendly doctor on dosage, but where safety is concerned, they are much better options.  Unless of course you like your kids to reenact your favorite horror movies during the allergy seasons. 

4 comments:

KC and DL said...

Are Claritin and Zyrtec options for reactions to food allergies as well?

Anonymous said...

Well said. Benadryl reminds me of Demerol....the intended effect wears off long before the side effects.

We use Claritin for our kids. Truthfully, I'm not sure how effective it is for them. I haven't noticed a distinct difference. But at least my kids aren't walking around like zombies.

I haven't read your posts for a while Richard. It was fun to catch up. Esp liked the one about "when to have kids". Of course I fall into the working category of women...and will probably always work a little to maintain my licence. But nary a day goes by that I don't relish my choice to have children. Even those days when they are all screaming at the top of their lungs in the car....just for fun. :)

Deb's Big Hunk said...

hola KC and LD. I'm a fan of Zyrtec personally. For food allergies actually OTC Zantac is recommended. It's a histamine H2 receptor blocker. It's good for urticaria (scratch skin and it swells up is one type of urticaria trigger) as well.

All antihistamines have their sedative side effect, so take them at night. Benadryl just happens to be very sedating.

Deb's Big Hunk said...

Maureen! You like many of the few readers here are a great mother. Your kids are lucky to have such an incredible mother. A parent who loves her kids.

I was just talking to a medical student who approached me the last day of his rotation with us. He said, you Mormons are doing it right. You are having children where most other christians are having only one or two because they keep putting it off until later in life. That led to the discussion of the down trend in the world's christian population and the increase in the Muslim religion...I digress, you are doing everything right in my mind.