# Antihistamines, the safest pills for withdrawals and anxiety????



## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

So I have been taking antihistamines since i was ten years old for chronic hay-fever. i know that soy milk over the summer time reduced my hay fever to the point where i did not need any antihistamine except for sleep. Now that Pseudo ephedrine is prescription only in this country, I have been taking other strong sedating antihistamines like *Doxylamine, Promethazine* and *Diphenhydramine*

I am curious as to how effective they are in helping anxiety and social phobia
Also how good are they at curbing withdrawal symptoms??

For the first few days i found pure doxylamine to be useful in sleep and sedation but my appetite increased to the point where i no longer want to take them yet the ironic thing is that the side effects listed with doxylamine contain no increase in appetite, in fact they say you can lose your appetite, so why am i hungry about thirty minutes after i take them?

Promethazine is brilliant in a high 40-50MG dose for sleep, as they have no side effects except a dry mouth but no appetite increase or decrease which is good, they do however, have the worst grogginess in the morning

Diphenhydramine, I have only just started taking it and thrown out the doxylamine. So far so good, and no appetite increase. The bottle they came in said they can cause the usual dizziness, confusion, hallucinations, tiredness and loss of appetite but then i read a blog of a woman who gained thirty pounds taking benadryl which is basically Diphenhydramine in a syrup.



> patients will find most antihistamine side effects tolerable and not long-lasting. The most common antihistamine side effects include drowsiness, dry mouth, dry nose, dizziness, irritability, headache, vision changes, *stomach upset* and loss of appetite. If any of these side effects are significant or long-lasting, the patient should contact their physician.


I am getting chronic stomach cramps like someone is jabbing my guts with a knife after i take the doxylamine, another reason i threw them out
maybe 50MG is too much? even 25MG? they do not help me sleep they just have bad side effects

whats your opinion?

has anyone taken any of the above for anxiety, hay fever or sleep?
And what would u say has the least side effects and or is the most effective?

the list of Antihistamines
The strongest one is supposed to be Loratadine, i am on that through the day and its as good as useless.

* The four most potent, according to wikipedia*

*Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) (very good at sedating)
Doxylamine (most commonly used as an OTC sedative) (yes very potent)
Loratadine (whatever, did nothing at all)
Cetirizine (am yet to try)*

Desloratadine
Fexofenadine
Pheniramine
Clemastine
Ebastine
*Promethazine (IMO one of the strongest)*
Chlorpheniramine
Levocetirizine
Olopatadine (used locally)
Quetiapine (antipsychotic)?????? hell no
Meclizine (most commonly used as an antiemetic)
Dimenhydrinate (most commonly used as an antiemetic)
embramine
dimethindene
dexchlorpheniramine

Considering the fact that promathezine can knock you out in 25-30MG and it takes double that for the four "most potent" to do so, it makes you think


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Loratadine and Cetirizine are second generation antihistimines, this means that they don't readily cross the blood-brain barrier, so whilst they may be effective anti-allergy agents, they are non or minimally sedating. (I assume that's what the list you provided is referring to by the 'strongest' - the most potent in anti-allergy power, not the most potent in sedation).


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

They first-generation anti-histamines (e.g. diphenhydramine) make me sleepy and yet make me more anxious, hyperactive.


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## John_in_SF (Mar 1, 2009)

I have found diphenhydramine to be moderately helpful as an antihistamine, very helpful as a sleep aid (when combined with illness) and fairly irritating during the day. It makes me feel dissociated and, as has been observed, a bit agitated at the same time. Confinement to bed at night seems to counteract the agitation.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

John_in_SF said:


> I have found diphenhydramine to be moderately helpful as an antihistamine, very helpful as a sleep aid (when combined with illness) and fairly irritating during the day. It makes me feel dissociated and, as has been observed, a bit agitated at the same time. Confinement to bed at night seems to counteract the agitation.


Thanks for the tip 
yeah i found taking doxylamine through the day was a nightmare

So second generation antihistimines like loratadine and cetrazine may help take away the allergies but they do not have any good calming effects
Loratadine do nothing, i have had them, they are useless pretty much and i am guessing cetrazine would be the same, they were not potent in getting rid of the hayfever, i was still sneezing and had watery eyes on loratadine


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Arisa1536 said:


> So second generation antihistimines like loratadine and cetrazine may help take away the allergies but they do not have any good calming effects
> Loratadine do nothing, i have had them, they are useless pretty much and i am guessing cetrazine would be the same, they were not potent in getting rid of the hayfever, i was still sneezing and had watery eyes on loratadine


IMO loratadine is pretty useless, cetirizine is much much better for allergies, but yeah not sedating in the slightest.


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## Rbk (Aug 5, 2010)

The most important antihistamine in treating anxiety is hydroxyzine. It has sedating, calming and antianxiety properities. It is not working well on social anxiety, however it is commonly used for social anxiety in my country due to lack of dependence.

For me it is working well on generalised anxiety and insomnia.


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

I'd avoid taking too much Diphenhydramine if I were you. A while back I went through a period where I was taking them every day to stay sedated and I have had very weird symptoms ever since (even though I haven't taken a single one for over a year). I can't prove that's what caused it but the timing was right.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Rbk said:


> The most important antihistamine in treating anxiety is hydroxyzine. It has sedating, calming and antianxiety properities. It is not working well on social anxiety, however it is commonly used for social anxiety in my country due to lack of dependence.
> 
> For me it is working well on generalised anxiety and insomnia.


Hey thanks for that 
i read that the common side effects tend to be that of antipsychotics so weight gain and lethargy are common is that true?


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## Rbk (Aug 5, 2010)

I didn't noticed weight gain, but I'm taking hydroxyzine when needed, not daily. I think it can loose it's power when used every day. 

Lethargy? I'm not sure what do You mean. It will probably make You sleepy and calm.


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## Duke of Prunes (Jul 20, 2009)

I have never taken them specifically for anxiety, but I used to take them every day in the summer before I "grew out of" hayfever. The only one that had any effect on anything was diphenhydramine (I bought some Nytol then realised it was also an antihistamine). It cleared my hayfever up ok, and had the side-effect of making me fall asleep in school. I remember feeling a little less anxious along with the sedation, but my anxiety wasn't that bad in those days and some days I was relatively normal, so perhaps it wasn't the diphenhydramine at all.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Duke of Prunes said:


> I have never taken them specifically for anxiety, but I used to take them every day in the summer before I "grew out of" hayfever. The only one that had any effect on anything was diphenhydramine (I bought some Nytol then realised it was also an antihistamine). It cleared my hayfever up ok, and had the side-effect of making me fall asleep in school. I remember feeling a little less anxious along with the sedation, but my anxiety wasn't that bad in those days and some days I was relatively normal, so perhaps it wasn't the diphenhydramine at all.


Cool thanks 
At least it gets rid of the hayfever symptoms

yeah well with the hydroxyzine it is meant to increase the appetite since its rather strong and may counteract with the clonazepam and effexor


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## Rbk (Aug 5, 2010)

> A 2004 study suggested captodiame may be helpful in preventing benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome in people discontinuing benzodiazepine treatment


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captodiame


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Arisa1536 said:


> Now that Pseudo ephedrine is prescription only in this country, I have been taking other strong sedating antihistamines like *Doxylamine, Promethazine* and *Diphenhydramine*


Psudoephedrine isn't an antihistamine. It's a nasal decongestant, shrinking blood vessels to reduce congestion. It would not be expected to be sedating; it would be expected to be stimulating (though not enough for me to notice any such effect).


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

jim_morrison said:


> IMO loratadine is pretty useless, cetirizine is much much better for allergies, but yeah not sedating in the slightest.


Loratadine (brand name = Claritin in the US) is sold in packs labeled "Non-Sedating***" where the asterisk refers you to a notation "when taken at recommended dose." Decades ago when Claritin was going through FDA approval as a prescription drug back then at least one member of the FDA's panel basically called the recommended dose a load of BS set so low simply to get the non-drowsy designation. It wasn't very effective at that dinky dose. It worked better at higher doses, but at those levels it was sedating just like old antihistamines.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Picklenose said:


> I'd avoid taking too much Diphenhydramine if I were you. A while back I went through a period where I was taking them every day to stay sedated and I have had very weird symptoms ever since (even though I haven't taken a single one for over a year). I can't prove that's what caused it but the timing was right.


Thanks for that  
i have been taking it every day since i am no longer on a high enough dose of klonopin nor am i taking anything in the Z drug family. So i have been taking the Diphenhydramine in high doses the past week and a half and its been sedating enough to help me sleep but i get headaches from it.
I read it can be dangerous when mixed with doxylamine and antidepressants
it can also make the clonazepam more potent, not that it does since i am on a low dose but still

i remember having claritin as a kid in 1995, back then a lot of ingredients that are now banned were fine and kids could take them, like pseudo ephedrine


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## metamorphosis (Dec 18, 2008)

Doxepine is an old tricyclic that was one of the original antihistamines.I believe it was approved in Germany around 1968. It has strong anxiolytic properties. It comes in capsules and liquid . A very low dose to begin with 5-10 mg. for sleep. Although people go up to 50 but I think that's unusual.

If taking the liquid,half of 1 ml. is equivalent to 5 mg.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Doxepin sounds dangerous, much like an antipsychotic :/


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## allie j (Nov 11, 2010)

Rbk said:


> The most important antihistamine in treating anxiety is hydroxyzine. It has sedating, calming and antianxiety properities. It is not working well on social anxiety, however it is commonly used for social anxiety in my country due to lack of dependence.
> 
> For me it is working well on generalised anxiety and insomnia.


This is what I have no for acute anxiety. Honestly, it doesn't do much for me, but it's better than nothing.


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