i didnt think i took that much; joined the 700 club (story)
i forgot i had this account. obviously didnt stop using benadryl after my last post.
if you see this and youre just getting into doing this shit, lemme tell you what everyone else is trying to tell you already: STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM BENADRYL!
i hope im not doxxing myself right now but i need to share this with every other idiot who thinks they want to do benadryl. You can fuck yourself up with way less than you think.
i was admitted to the ER as a benadryl OD on wednesday after attempting to take 700mg. i had taken 500mg the previous day. when the paramedics got there i couldnt remember if i had taken 20 pills, 25 pills, or more. considering i was perfectly fine doing 500mg the day before i thought it was time to join the 700 club. only minutes after taking whatever amount i took and i knew something was horribly wrong; i cant describe the feeling, but i couldnt stop pacing the room and just felt incoming doom. i weigh like 108 lbs so that may have something to do with my adverse reaction.
i remember looking at my phone and i was watching it get blurrier and blurrier until i couldnt actually read the letters. i was panicked because i couldnt decide if i should call 911, but knew i was running out of time to make that decision.
despite being so fucked up i couldnt remember what i was forgetting as i was forgetting it, i remember these series of events more vividly than any other memory i have
ended up calling 911 on myself. when the paramedics showed up one of the dudes was like "you know thats more benadryl than anyone should ever take, right?" and all i could think was nah, i've seen people on reddit take way more. one of them listened to my heart and took my blood pressure and then they all started looking kinda serious. i asked if i was gonna die, not really meaning it, but then they were like "we gotta get you to the hospital" and i remember just sighing and going "yeah, i figured" cause it hadnt really set in that i mightve really been in danger. looking back, i realize now they were legit not sure if i was gonna die or not.
when i got into the ambulance they were scared for me because my resting heart rate was 170. i asked if that was bad cause i had no idea and she told me it was supposed to be between 90-100. i think that was when it kinda really started to set in that i mightve fucked up. i asked if i was gonna die, feeling way more serious this time, and she couldnt tell me no. she told me she needed to get an IV in me; i was scared (i hate needles) and asked if she had to and she goes, "this is a medical emergency. we need to get your heart rate down now." its hard to describe, but throughout the experience i was so scared it almost felt peaceful. ive never had to go to the hospital for anything physical before. i remember after they got the IV in me the female paramedic standing up and saying, "what you are about to hear is my ambulance's sirens, and you're going to see both the ambulance's lights flashing and the police lights behind us. that is because this is a medical emergency and we need to get you to the hospital right now."
the trip to the hospital felt like it took forever, but i think it was less than 10 minutes. i told her i was scared i was going to pass out before we got to the hospital, and she promised she'd make sure my body did what it had to in order to survive. i, high as shit, was filled with a feeling of intense gratitude and informed the paramedic i loved her. she laughed and it made me feel a bit better. i have a very intense understanding that for everyone in the ambulance and the ER that night it was just another wednesday to them, but to me they were all saving my life.
when i got to the ER they rushed me into a room. a doctor and 6-7 different nurses were all working to stabilize me. i didnt realize it at the time because i was so out of it, but im pretty sure almost every nurse in the ER was working to stabilize me in the first hour or two i was in the ER. i ended up with an IV in each arm and spent around 7 hours in the ER before they were comfortable discharging me. before i was stabilized, i accidentally overhead them debating on giving me a blood transfusion. i am adding this so that all of you know how serious it could end for any of us and cannot even begin to explain how happy i am that i DIDNT need a fucking blood transfusion.
during my time in the ER, i was diagnosed with "acute hypokalemia". in other words, my potassium had dropped to 2.9 meq/L (regular levels between 3.5-5.1 meq/L) and i was given potassium.
interestingly, i was researching diphenhydramine overdose after being released from the ER and found an article stating, "diphenhydramine can affect the delayed rectifier potassium ion channels of the heart as it can act as a blocker of potassium channels". the article also states, "[t]his leads to the prolongation of the QT interval and a flattening of the T-wave."( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557578/ ).
to my understanding, what essentially happened to me was i took enough benadryl that it blocked potassium from getting to my heart, causing "SINUS TACHYCARDIA" as well as "POSSIBLE LATERAL MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION [30 ms Q WAVE IN I/aVL/V5/V6], OF INDETERMINATE AGE", later documented as "NONSPECIFIC T-WAVE ABNORMALITY" and "ABNORMAL RHYTHM ECG". would anyone with more knowledge be able to confirm if my understanding of what happened to me is correct?
feel free to ask anything.
insult me if you must but know i already feel awful enough <3