antihistamines do not cause drowsiness

by Jason
(Fort Worth, TX)

Every few years I get allergies bad enough to forget my last horrible experience with antihistamines and favor 'trying it again.' I think I've finally learned my lesson. All antihistamines cause me to become wired and bird-brained. I can't think straight and I can't sleep.

If I take an antihistamine hours beforehand, I won't sleep a wink that night. The real world application of this is that I need to take Dayquil at night and Nyquil during the day. I know it sounds strange. The same thing happens with pain medications. "May cause drowsiness" means that I could be up all night without any sleep.

Alcohol tends not to have a depressant effect on me either. If I get a drink in me, I have to identify what's happening and convince myself when it is time to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Otherwise I might stay up until 2 a.m. watching horrible television with a beer in hand.

I seriously wonder how many hard-core alcoholics suffer from this same 'paradoxical reaction' with alcohol. I'd imagine it is very conducive to the behavior. I hope someone performs a study on that soon. It might be one of the great keys to identifying alcoholic tendencies!