Just because a doctor suggests it's okay to take a common OTC concoction doesn't mean it's safe.
I've almost died twice because of doctor mistakes. I love that old joke:
Q: what's the difference between doctors and God?
A: God doesn't think he's a doctor.
It took me decades to find a GP who knows her stuff and trusts me when I describe a problem. We sometimes disagree on things but when we do, we work together to find a working solution.
People who have WLS are barred from taking a lot of OTCs and most don't even know which ones they should avoid.
Benadryl is a dangerous drug, overused and falsely represented. It should be a last resort for a severe allergic reaction.
As i wrote in an earlier post: There are some medications that have been in very long university studies that have now then shown to cause dementia. I was taking a few of these drugs and then when I read that the study I decided to live without them, which is very hard.
- Amitriptyline (Elavil)
- Atropine
- Benztropine (Cogentin)
- Chlorpheniramine (Actifed, Allergy & Congestion Relief, Chlor-Trimeton, Codeprex, Efidac-24 Chlorpheniramine, etc.)
- Chlorpromazine (Thorazine)
- Clomipramine (Anafranil)
- Clozapine (Clozaril)
- Cyclobenzaprine (Amrix, Fexmid, Flexeril)
- Cyproheptadine (Periactin)
- Desipramine (Norpramin)
- Dexchlorpheniramine
- Dicyclomine (Bentyl)
- Diphenhydramine (Advil PM, Aleve PM, Bayer PM, Benadryl, Excedrin PM, Nytol, Simply Sleep, Sominex, Tylenol PM, Unisom, etc.)
- Doxepin (Adapin, Silenor, Sinequan)
- Fesoterodine (Toviaz)
- Hydroxyzine (Atarax, Vistaril)
- Hyoscyamine (Anaspaz, Levbid, Levsin, Levsinex, NuLev)
- Imipramine (Tofranil)
- Meclizine (Antivert, Bonine)
- Nortriptyline (Pamelor)
- Olanzapine (Zyprexa)
- Orphenadrine (Norflex)
- Oxybutynin (Ditropan, Oxytrol)
- Paroxetine (Brisdelle, Paxil)
- Perphenazine (Trilafon)
- Prochlorperazine (Compazine)
- Promethazine (Phenergan)
- Protriptyline (Vivactil)
- Pseudoephedrine HCl/Triprolidine HCl (Aprodine)
- Scopolamine (Transderm Scop)
- Thioridazine (Mellaril)
- Tolterodine (Detrol)
- Trifluoperazine (Stelazine)
- Trimipramine (Surmo)
Perhaps the most Insidious of these medications that have been pharmaceutically controlled and then ultimately sold OTC, is Benadryl. 99% of sleep aids contains a dose of Benadryl. As shown in the list, you can find Benadryl in these products.
(Advil PM, Aleve PM, Bayer PM, Benadryl, Excedrin PM, Nytol, Simply Sleep, Sominex, Tylenol PM, Unisom, etc.) Most Unisom use Benadryl nowadays because the delivery system is different. But in the blue oval tab that I have been taking for the last 30 years when I needed it, it had doxylamine succinate, which is more effective and doesn't have any links to dementia.
I'm going to have to have surgery something in the next year to correct the problem I take a pill for I. I can really tell on the nights that I take Benadryl for sleep.
I have taken score of the medications on the list. I do not want to get dementia and I can already see it coming. I joke that I have Alzheimer's disease, but I think that is actually somewhat true. Talk to your doctor if you find any medications on the list that you take.
Widely used class of drugs linked to dementia
"Common drugs taken by millions 'increase risk of dementia by 50%', experts warn," The Sun reports.