this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025
143 points (89.9% liked)
Awful Taste But Great Execution
4100 readers
1 users here now
For when their taste is awful but execution is great
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Some people use benadryl like a recreational drug. From descriptions I've read it just sounds horrible, your vision gets artifacts that look like spiders over every surface, some people see a man with a hat, which is what this cosplay is supposed to be, and I'm probably forgetting other stuff. There have been a number of deaths associated with people doing this to themselves.
I once took Benadryl for allergies, not knowing of its side effects. I took it on my way to a full eight hours of sitting in an overly warm room (it was on the second floor of an office building with a broken AC and an ancient projector was running in the middle of the room ... In August, IIRC) listening to someone lecture 20ish bored people about how to do our then-new job. The best I can say of the day is that I managed to stay technically awake.
I'm pretty sure that was also the last time I took Benadryl. I would not describe the experience as enjoyable. I've taken similar medications since then and have appreciated their efficacy and aid in getting to sleep, but I can't imagine taking them recreationally. No judgement to anyone who does, it's just not something I can interpret as fun.
edit: Though I never saw the Hat Man (unless he was incognito as the lecturer). Maybe that's the fun part.
I did know someone who was unemployed and in a bad situation in life, so they took Benadryl in order to sleep through most of every day. I wouldn't call that fun, but I understand that inclination.
I was on unemployment for 6 months after being laid off. At some point after getting arrested and being stuck in my apartment with no money during a bad winter for weeks at a time I began using nightqil and referred to it as "the time machine".
I would just wake up , slug some and sleep. I didn't need to spend money on food and next thing I knew it would be the day my unemployment check was in the mail.
I can definitely understand how someone could get to that place. Hopefully you are doing better now, but I'm sorry you had to go through that.
It was 13 years ago . I was just living the high life. I'd do whatever for kicks 😂
I kind of lost interest in clouding my mind at some point 6 or 7 years ago and trip once or twice a year but just not a fan of drugs anymore. Very nice of you to be concerned though! 🤙
You don't go delirious from low doses (that's what hatman is). I still keep some for emergency reasons (I take much newer allergy meds), and if you take as prescribed you'll only feel mildly crap. Visuals start at much higher doses, but you will feel some interesting (but dysphoric) stuff at ~100 mg which is double the recommended dosage I think.
The only "valuable" part for me was seeing how good the brain is at making me experience stuff that never happened.
IMO it's interesting to experience once, and never again. There are far superior allergy meds, and likely sleeping meds too, as for deliriants I doubt any of them don't feel like shit.
Fair enough. I just took whatever it recommended on the box, so that probably counts as a low dose.
I will say, though I'd never taken the pill orally before and never have since, the Benadryl spray has been excellent for de-itching bug bites throughout my life. I'm not sure one could make that recreational, though.
Very dose-dependent, although it's dysphoric as shit at any dose. You will experience closed eye visuals at medium doses and open eye ones at high. Basically it makes your brain see you've done something or seen something that never happened. Checking your phone, walking out of a room, speaking to someone, all of it extremely convincing, but in reality you never got up. That's on top of clouded and uncomfortable headspace, vasoconstriction, weird depth perception and machine-like control of limbs. edit: some people report music enhancement but that's rare
Obv if you aren't overdosing you won't get all of it. I've seen people combine very low doses of it with alcohol, but even to me, alcohol's biggest hater, dph is a step below. The only interesting part is realizing how convincing your brain is, whether it's producing dreams, delusions, or hallucination.
An insane dosage will kill you through liver failure and/or seizures iirc, and you'll be in trip hell the whole time you're dying. Look into how it's anticholinergic effects work, then look up popular nerve agents.
People chasing dumb "medals" like getting into 700 club (stands for 700mg of the stuff) is what got most of them hurt in my opinion.