Benzo w/d protection from diphenhydramine

[Politicalchalk]

Hey y'all, Swim just expierenced a lorazepam related seizure (that is, a lack of lorazepam on long-term therapy). A surprisingly spiritual experience. Anyways, saw this article and thought it was interesting...diphen hasn't been shown to be protective per se, but it's a start. Be Safe!

Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 1997 Jan;41(1):42-6.

[top]Evaluation of inhibitory effect of diphenhydramine on benzodiazepine dependence in rats.

Nath C, Patnaik GK, Saxena RC, Gupta MB.
Department of Pharmacology, K. G. Medical College, Lucknow.
Effect of diphenhydramine was investigated on withdrawal signs in lorazepam dependent rats. Physical dependence was produced by giving lorazepam admixed with the food in the following dose schedule: 10 x 4, 20 x 4, 40 x 4, 80 x 4 and 120 x 7 (mg/kg, daily x days). The parameters observed during the periods of administration of lorazepam and after its withdrawal were spontaneous locomotor activity (SLA), body temperature, reaction time to pain, foot shock aggression (FSA) and audiogenic seizures. Diphenhydramine was administered orally in the dose schedules of once daily (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) and twice daily (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg) in separate groups during the withdrawal period. The withdrawal signs observed in control group (without diphenhydramine) were hyperkinesia, hyperthermia, hyperaggression and audiogenic seizures. Hyperkinesia and hyperthermia were blocked in all the groups of diphenhydramine-treated rats. FSA was inhibited only by diphenhydramine (10 and 20 mg/kg) given twice daily. Audiogenic seizures were completely blocked by once daily (20 and 40 mg/kg) as well as twice daily (20 mg/kg) doses of diphenhydramine. It may be concluded that diphenhydramine exerts a protective effects on benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	excellent post, thankyou
	interesting study, good find

[Ilsa]

interesting article! can you get a full pdf for the file archive? if it's not there already , of course.

from the abstract, it looks to be a straightforward and fairly convincing study.

are there just not that many studies on diphenydramine as a treatment for benzo wd, or are all the studies showing conflicting results?

[rocksmokinmachine]

This is a thread I started which contains tabulated withdrawal schedules for most commonly used benzodiazepines (including lorazepam).

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/sho...892#post360892

This is an interesting read thankyou. Would you like to add it to thread?

[Boca Bitch]

That's fascinating... I wonder where the interaction comes into play though.

Benzos are GABAa and mildly dopaminergic..... while diphenhydramine is a H1 antagonist. I wonder if sigma is involved. Perhaps a downregulation effect with continued GABAergic agonists, so there's a re-bound resulting in seizure upon abrupt withdrawal?

[nibble]

Originally Posted by Boca Bitch

That's fascinating... I wonder where the interaction comes into play though.

Benzos are GABAa and mildly dopaminergic..... while diphenhydramine is a H1 antagonist. I wonder if sigma is involved. Perhaps a downregulation effect with continued GABAergic agonists, so there's a re-bound resulting in seizure upon abrupt withdrawal?

Diphenhydramine is also an anticholinergic, I'd guess that's the pathway this works through rather than its H1 antagonistic properties.