# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Lucid Aids >  >  Benadryl/Dreaming?

## celestialelixir

Hey, I woke up sick this morning and decided I was going to take a benadryl to help me sleep tonight.. Anyway I was browsing DV and wondering how the drug would affect my attempts at LDing. Anyone have any knowledge related to this?

There was one thread I found when searching that had a guy who recommended taking a recreational dose of Diphenhydramine (DPH) in order to attain lucidity, or I guess a pseudo-lucidity, since the doses listed are enough to hallucinate lightly... :/
I wouldn't recommend doing that, btw. In my experience, recreational doses of DPH will keep you up all night.; literally unable to fall asleep.

I'm just asking about a normal 25-50mg dose here, which I figured warranted a new thread.


in short: 25 mg Diphenhydramine taken orally roughly 1-2 hours before sleep. How do you guys think this will affect my attempts to lucid dream/my dreams in general? (MILD before bed, WILD in the middle of the night)

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## Silv3rlining

No idea though I would have thought it may make things harder considering it has a sedative like effect and is actually sometimes prescribed for patients suffering from insomnia!

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## dutchraptor

All I can say is that while it might affect your ability to MILD you should have no trouble WILDing on it.

Edit: well it seems after a few minutes of research that alot of people have extremely vivid dreams on diphen. This doesnt't always meen that it will aid lucidity but i think it will do no harm trying it out.

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## Xanous

How did it go? I don't think this would be something I would use but I am curious to know.

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## snoop

It may make your dreams more vivid and strange, but it will probably make it harder to get lucid and will for sure make it more difficult to remember your dreams after you wake up.

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## Narwhal

I got hives on my face yesterday due to anxiety, so I was recommended two pills of benadryl, so I did last night. I'm happy to see that they took my hives away pretty fast, but I don't think they would be a good idea for any lucid dreaming. The pills made me immensely drowsy and I fell asleep against my will waking up 12 hours later still drowsy feeling, pissed that I missed my show, didn't brush my teeth or put my retainers on or anything, the pills shut my lights on to lights off with no in between, although I had a shit ton of weird vivid dreams I know I wouldn't of been able to DILD, it's like the lethargy goes with you into the dreams. It just seems to make you not give a damn. And you have to give a damn to WILD. It was good for allergies and good deep sleep, but I can't see myself having any lucid dreams on it personally  :smiley:

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## Shalashaska

> Hey, I woke up sick this morning and decided I was going to take a benadryl to help me sleep tonight.. Anyway I was browsing DV and wondering how the drug would affect my attempts at LDing. Anyone have any knowledge related to this?
> 
> There was one thread I found when searching that had a guy who recommended taking a recreational dose of Diphenhydramine (DPH) in order to attain lucidity, or I guess a pseudo-lucidity, since the doses listed are enough to hallucinate lightly... :/
> I wouldn't recommend doing that, btw. In my experience, recreational doses of DPH will keep you up all night.; literally unable to fall asleep.
> 
> I'm just asking about a normal 25-50mg dose here, which I figured warranted a new thread.
> 
> 
> in short: 25 mg Diphenhydramine taken orally roughly 1-2 hours before sleep. How do you guys think this will affect my attempts to lucid dream/my dreams in general? (MILD before bed, WILD in the middle of the night)



I wouldn't call myself a 'genius' on the subject, but I do know quite a bit about Diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Unisom, Sominex, NyQuil, etc.) Basically any antihistamine that causes drowsiness contains the active ingredient DPH. The bad thing about it is that, well...  it possess anticholinergic properties. Which can very likely PREVENT SP, but that's all at the expense of sometimes not even having dreams at all. The reason for this is because it decreases your REM sleep. I mean, heck yes you will sleep because it's a sedative but a lot of people who use it for insomnia and such wake up feeling decently refreshed but still iffy from a minor hangover, if you will.  

My opinion? Do not take Benadryl if you're trying to have an LD. It won't work. Whoever told you that taking a recreational dose of it to obtain lucidity, was not entirely correct. You have a very good chance of having very unique daydreams by shutting your eyes and feeling like you're in your local mall hanging out with friends then two minutes later find that you haven't even left your bedroom. Benadryl in high doses are a Deliriant, a class of hallucinogenic. The worst one possible. Here's the oh-so-great effects.





> POSITIVE
> 
>     increased awareness and appreciation of music
>     dream-like experiences
>     muscle relaxation
> 
> NEUTRAL
> 
>     visual distortions
> ...



The point of this post. It is DANGEROUS. I've had six accidental and intentional overdoses. Joined the 700 Club, and went as far as taking between 1,200 and 1,500 milligrams of the little 'pink devils' or 'nightmare pills'. I'm not trying to be a know it all here, I am looking out for your safety. Never go over 150mg at one time. It will murder your heart and harden you arteries.

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## Narwhal

update: I've been taking benadryl again because I got a rash on my neck from something, but anyways I feel this medication has no benefit for dreaming at all for me at least. Yeah you do get strange dreams, but I've noticed I have a very very hard time trying to recall the dreams upon waking up. The benadryl wipes out dream recall, so what's the point? And fat chance or having any lucid dreams, even if somehow you did you wouldn't remember it. It lasts two nights that I have no dream recall. Hopefully I get less allergic reactions, I'm not to fond of benadryl.

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## MethodAces

> update: I've been taking benadryl again because I got a rash on my neck from something, but anyways I feel this medication has no benefit for dreaming at all for me at least. Yeah you do get strange dreams, but I've noticed I have a very very hard time trying to recall the dreams upon waking up. The benadryl wipes out dream recall, so what's the point? And fat chance or having any lucid dreams, even if somehow you did you wouldn't remember it. It lasts two nights that I have no dream recall. Hopefully I get less allergic reactions, I'm not to fond of benadryl.



I realize this is an old post but after this last weeks experience I am compelled to comment.

As I've said I the past I've had thousands of LD's.

I caught the horrible cold that's been hitting apparrently every community in the Americas. I decided to take Diphenhydramine in a normal dosage of 50mg for decongestant when headed to bed.

I've experinced some of the most intense and memorable LD's of my life this week. The really bad part is they have all bordered on nightmares. I find that I have next to zero control over my dreams when on this drug. I remember them all in impeccable detail but not in great ways. The worst of them was being attacked in my bed while trying to sleep. Instead of realizing the dream for what it was, which I usually do quite easily, I was quite terrified and had a hard time shaking the experience after waking. 

I'm going to continue my use of the drug until my cold has cleared. I'll report back more after I'm healthy but at this point I've found my memory quite well intact. I think some of the stress of the season and starting a new job next week is playing into it quite a bit as well.

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