Has regular ingestion of Benadryl caused you irritability and depression?

Yeah, they can definitely have effects on you the next day if you are sensitive to drugs. I never take one during the day unless I have hives or a bad insect bite or something. And just ½ of one will knock me out. I use generic claritin for allergies during the day.
Try switching back to the 25 mg ones. If they’re not gel capsules, you can just cut the 50 mg ones in half.

A 50 mg dose has a paradoxical effect on me – I get itchty, twitchy, and can’t sleep.

I’ve been taking 3 of the 25 mg. oblong tablets for years with no I’ll effects. I take if for both my sinuses/allergies and at night to help with sleep (sort of).

Are you taking the brand name or a generic version of the capsules ? Different stores have their own branded generic versions.

Did you read the label to make certain that they are not a combo of some type. Some manufacturers (even brand name ones) come out with additional alternate combos for cough/cold or some other nonsense. If anything OTHER THAN Diphenhydramine is listed, that’s the tipoff.

The other pertinent difference is that the capsules vs. tablets have different filler/binder ingredients since the caps are powder inside the gelatin and the tablets are solid. These ingredients are supposed to be inert, but that’s not always the case and varies greatly from one manufacturer to the next and the only way to figure it out is trial and error.

Have you ever taken two of the tablets (50 mg.)? If you have and had no adverse effects, then you know it’s not dosage related. If you haven’t previously done that, that would be the first thing to try.

If you can take two of the tablets with no ill effects, then its definitely the filler ingredients (provided that both types of pills are from the same manufacturer, otherwise all bets are off).

I have no idea about the relationship with liver enzymes. Afaik, that’s not listed as a side effect of Benadryl, per se, as it would have been discovered long before now since its been around for half of forever. Benadryl is as old as dirt, practically :)

Yes. I take an OTC knock off of Benedryl for the same reason. I ran out one day, and my husband brought home more, but it wasn’t the knock off brand that I used. (a knock off of a knock off? :) The next two mornings I was shaky and dizzy and couldn’t really think straight. The first morning I assumed I’d had too much coffee (a whole cup as opposed to the usual ½ cup.) The second day I finally realized it wasn’t coffee….it was that brand of antihistamine my husband brought home. I frew ‘em away.
I’d say definitely cut back to the 25 mg.

Some sleep formulations combine Benadryl with Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and this does have a VERY high association with liver toxicity. Take a careful look at the label on your 25 mg. tablets container (since presumably this is what you’ve been taking for quite a while; liver toxicity builds -up gradually over time) and make certain that its not listed there.

If it 7s, you need to stop taking it immediately and find a pill with ONLY diphenhydramine.

Checked. What I use only lists diphenhydramine.

Yup, that’s exactly what you need and I’ll bet you don’t have liver problems from it :)

But I mainly added my last bit of info for the OP since she spoke about liver enzyme problems and I’ll bet the culprit is the Tylenol component (unless there are separate health issues)

I always prefer single ingredient meds because one knows precisely what you’re getting without any variables and most of those combo things are more for marketing reasons than for health.

I also take 3.

Great answers. Let me go get the 50mg bottle and see what it says….just a sec….it says, “Diphenhydramine HCI 50mg.” I don’t think I should have bought these because I also take one mg of Melatonin half an hour afterwards and I feel like jumping off the roof when I wake up. I think I need to find my 25mg bottle. They didn’t even wait a month after getting my liver enzymes back to re-test; they waited a week. Maybe they were looking for Hepatitis? All they said was , “don’t drink or take Tylenol.” I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

I’m in the same spot as @syz. Now, Melatonin caused me to spiral into a serious depression.

I did not sleep very well last night. I decided not to take any Benedryl as an experiment.

And….?

And what? It caused me to keep waking up all night like seven times. So it’s addictive IMO.

I meant, are you feeling differently this morning?

Actually, no. I will, however, feel tired earlier I’m pretty sure.

I feel tired now.