[function_seven]

They way OTC medications are packaged and marketed drives me bonkers. I take a sleeping pill every once in a while. I was at the store once comparing two boxes of pills. One was marked "Sleep Aid", and was $8 or so. The allergy medication nearby was the same count, same dosage, and only $5.

They were both diphenhydramine HCL, 25mg. Both tablets. The only differences were the labels, the pill colors (blue for ZZZZ, pink for allergy), and the price.

And the other benefit to stocking single-drug medications is more flexibility. I imagine some hapless guy whose has pain in the morning, but sees only "Advil PM" in the medicine cabinet.

If I need Advil PM, I'll take a regular ibuprofen and a regular diphenhydramine.

[treeman79]

Was in Er for an optical migraine, they gave me a dose Of diphenhydramine.

It took everything I had to not start literally climbing up the walls. My anxiety and energy level skyrocketed.

One of kids is the same way on Benadryl.

Apparently 5% have such a reaction.

I got tired of explaining the reaction to doctors and nurses, (got called a liar several times). Although I had one nurse almost in tears as she had same reaction, but no one would believe her.

So on forms I put I’m allergic to allergy medication.

[nitrogen]

Could the dissolution rates of the tablets be different?

[diydsp]

Ugh yup. Extra hard trying to explain this to a demented family member who just wanted to sleep... diphenhydramine worsens alzeimer's. :(

[johnisgood]

Keep in mind that taking higher doses of DPH has the opposite effects, i.e. you will definitely NOT sleep from it. See "anticholinergic toxicity". When I was younger I thought taking more of it is going to help me sleep better, but I ended up with auditory hallucinations, tachycardia, and the like. I was hospitalized for it, albeit left untreated, or rather, treated as a junkie and they threw me into a detox room, but that is a different issue.

[johnisgood]

I could not edit my comment, so here it is: I forgot to include a relevant symptom I had, which is delirium. I was in a delirious state for many hours, and it left me in a disassociated state for some time afterwards.

Just to add, most nootropics are cholinergics in some way or another. Take a look at choline supplements, or racetams (from Wikipedia: "Racetams are understood to work by activating glutamate receptors that are colocalized with cholinergic receptors, thus increasing the frequency of activation of the latter."). They are supposed to help people with Alzheimer's disease, improve their memory and whatnot. There are many studies around to support this. There is also Huperzine A that has been investigated as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease and there was a meta-analysis that found it efficacious in improving cognitive function (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huperzine_A for more).

But yeah, anticholinergics are known to be bad for people with Alzheimer's disease, and some cholinergics are known to be effective in improving cognition of those who have it. Of course there are other medications that are supposed to be avoided, here is more about it for the curious (it mentions DPH, too): https://www.mind.uci.edu/medications-and-patients-with-alzhe...