Originally Posted by
snoop
You can become tolerant to diphenhydramine pretty quickly. It can get to where you are taking upwards of 150mg at night just to sleep. Is it psychologically addictive? Only in weird cases... like people who take it for it's delirium inducing effect, which is absolutely bizarre because it makes you feel terribly physically uncomfortable, have terrible dry mouth, the inability to focus your eyes, you feel a sense of impending doom, and you see terrifying hallucinations that you can't distinguish from reality, and people describe it as having one of the worst hangovers of any drug, and it (the hangover) lasts for two days--some people actually get psychologically addicted to it, but it's extremely uncommon for people to even like such a terrible, not to mention neurotoxic, set of effects... let alone get addicted to it. In terms of using DPH as a sleep aid, I wouldn't say it's addicting, but it is most definitely habit forming. Typically, people who take sleep aids ignore the advice given by doctors that is often mentioned on the back of the label. If you have to take a sleep aid for any longer than every day for two weeks, you need to talk to your doctor about your issues with sleep.
So, it's not at all uncommon for people to start taking these sleep aids every night, and when it's not a supplemental aid like melatonin or 5-htp (which are naturally produced in the body), and an actual drug, what the commercials say and what the companies print on the bottle isn't factual at all. They always make a point to say non-habit forming sleep aid, but they're legally in the clear to print this specifically because the bottles always say on the back to never take the sleep aid every night for more than 2 weeks, otherwise speak with your doctor. If you follow their instructions, it indeed isn't habit forming--but like I said, most people ignore that advice. Many start using drugs to go to sleep every night, and when you start to actual build a tolerance to the drug, you've clearly already formed a habit. Many people who take something like diphenhydramine/benadryl/zzzquil or doxylamine/nyquil/unisom sleep tabs (which are both sedating antihistamines) wind up finding that they have a near impossible time getting to sleep after using them for so long. It's not too surprising either, because they already find it very difficult to sleep when they take up using these drugs as sleep aids, so it's just that much harder after they wind up creating a psychological and possibly even physical dependence to the drug.
As long as you dedicate some effort to combat your trouble with going to sleep, and you merely use diphenhydramine to help on nights that nothing is working, that you must get sleep, or to otherwise supplement the other methods you're using to learn how to get to sleep without any outside aid, then you won't form any kind of habit. If you get lazy and rely on diphenhydramine solely as your ticket to dreamland, then you will form a habit that further disrupts your sleep cycle and ability to fall asleep naturally without a doubt. Look up "sleep hygiene" on google, it has a lot of tips that, if you follow them religiously and not just the few that are convenient to you, you will see a lot of success. Having a set schedule, maintaining a structured life style, having a nightly ritual, getting 30 minutes of regular exercise, and going to bed and waking up at the same time every day all have a huge impact on your ability to sleep. I didn't believe they did, that I was some how an exception, but the truth was that I was simply too lazy to put in the effort and stay disciplined, and I was expecting results instantly even though they take some time (2 weeks and upwards of a month for it to really become effective, but it's worth it).
