Cook Children’s Health Care System is warning parents about a social media challenge after seeing an increase in overdoses involving diphenhydramine commonly known as Benadryl. In just six months, more than 100 patients have visited the Cook Children’s emergency department for Benadryl overdoses, resulting in one fatality.
“We are seeing either children are taking the medication in an inappropriate amount intentionally or accidentally ingesting it,” said Stephanie Felton, D.O., associate medical director for the emergency department at the medical center in Fort Worth.
The trend mirrors a similar spike seen at Cook Children’s in 2020. During that year, patients reported getting the idea from TikTok videos claiming users could hallucinate by taking a dozen or more allergy pills. While that trend eventually faded through education and public awareness, a recent resurgence has prompted medical experts to issue a new alert for parents and caregivers.
“These are heartbreaking cases because these are usually normal, healthy, fully-functioning children that can have dire effects because of this choice,” said Dr. Felton…