Interesting; I recall seeing a few other posts on this forum about antihistamines seeming to have a positive effect on pouch function. Diarrhea/IBS type symptoms can in fact be secondary to allergy/allergic reaction, so perhaps it's not that far-fetched that an antihistamine might have positive results in some people. It would be interesting to get more objective data on this, since it's a whole aspect of pouch function that probably hasn't been well investigated thus far; for instance, perhaps moderate antihistamine use might be a treatment alternative to antibiotics in some cases. Just some thoughts! It's interesting, anyway. Glad it has worked for you.

Benadryl has been used as a non-habituating sleep aid for at least several decades. All of the OTC sleep aids contain Benadryl (diphenhydramine) as the active ingredient for sedation (Sominex, Tylenol PM, etc). The only problem is that with regular use, you develop a tolerance to the sedative effect. Plus, antihistamines are very drying to the mucous membranes, so if you are prone to dry eyes or dry mouth, definitely not a good choice. Some people get over sedated with it and have a hard time shaking the groggy feeling the next day. I don't know what is worse, groggy from over sedation or groggy from not enough sleep...

That said, during my early post op days, I did take Benadryl frequently to get more than 3 hours of sleep at a time.

Jan

True. ZZZQuil is basically just Benadryl as well, though I believe they charge more for it - something to keep in mind.

This is so interesting. I never realized the active in Unisom was an antihistamine (the active in the tablets is actually doxylamine so i didn't recognize the name). I took that to help me sleep for 5-6 months of my pregnancy. Now I know why I didn't get the pregnancy "itchy" skin :-)

I started taking benedryl to sleep when I was released from the hospital because I couldn't sleep and now know, I was also going through withdrawals from the iv pain meds. It helped so much. This is very interesting.