Posted by gary g (208.133.217.158) on October 13, 1999 at 00:13:08:
In Reply to: Help! I want to try the 'Benadryl' thing tonite... posted by Wendy on October 12, 1999 at 22:24:03:
I will NOT give any instructions relative to medication.
I do NOT know your situation, I am not your doctor.
What helps me might kill someone else, if the circumstances are different.
Check with your DR before screwing around with new medical approaches.
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when I am having attacks, I usually take 4 benadryls when I go to bed.
I am convinced it often prevents the 90 minute into sleep attack, and/or gives me a "headstart" on dealing with any attack that DOES come along
I also stay up quite late, 2 or 3 AM, before turning in, and am convinced that in some weird way that helps me actually get some sleep without attacks - when I'm getting attacks I sit up even later - 3 - 4 AM, and am thus able to get on the o2 and meds IMMEDIATELY that way for the night attacks, then, with the benadryl I can usually get in 4 - 6 hours sleep before they start up again
I keep a bottle of the liquid kid's benardyl on hand because I believe that in an "emergency" it gets "onboard" much faster than pills
currently I am in a cluster - all the precursor symptoms have been fully present for nearly a month, and I had 3 mild-moderate attacks during the first week of this series - no more attacks since but plenty of "twitchy startups" - when that happens I grad a couple benadryl immediately
I am CONVINCED I have "blocked" full development of clusters into attack mode before, by loading on benadryl at first sign of trouble, and appear to be doing so at this time
I am currently taking 4-6 benadryl caps thru the day, and 2 before bed, with a 3mg melatonin before bed (a new experiment)
I am a 6', 200# person with a demonstrated VERY HIGH tolerance for medications, and no other diagnosed ailments - AND my DR is aware of this regimen
I do NOT mix it with other meds of any kind except occasional ibuprofen, without cking with the doc
side effects:
drowsiness, and I don't fight it, right now I'm sleeping at least 10 hours in 24
weight gain - I notice 5 - 10 pounds gain each time I go on the benadryl, I believe some of it is slowed metabolism (sorta the opposite of diet pills) and some is from reduced physical activity