beware of benadryl!!!

[littlesara]

hi all,

have been doing alot of research, and have come to the conclusion that the nightly benadryl (dyphenhydramine, sp) has greatly reduced my chance of conceiving!

For the following reasons: benadryl is an anti-histamine (to help dry up for allergies, it also induces sleep) of the reason i was taking it, 2 a night for the last 5-6 months! benadryl is a HUGE weight gainer, and i couldn't figure out for the life of me, why i had gained over 20 lbs in 6 months!! i was sooo busy with life and needed to sleep, that i wasn't putting two and two together. around the same time i started taking it, i "lost" my AF, for several months (just some one day spotting sometimes), and no O, huge weight gain, hot flashes, i thought i was peri meno!!

"The impact of weight on ovulation has to do with the production of estrogen. Research suggests that for women who are overweight, the extra fat tissue can lead to an excess production of estrogen. This excess estrogen can then cause a hormonal imbalance that affects ovulation."

bam! who would have thought????? i'm normally between 115 to 120 (for the last 10 years). taking benadryl, my weight, and appetite have increased, and now, 6 months later, i'm 140!! and that is WITH daily exercise (walking 2-3 miles a day and cardio too!!). sooo .............the benadryl, dried me up, suppressed my O and made me gain weight! no bueno!

so i have started taking AC/vitex 2 weeks ago, EPO, and stopped taking Benadryl as of 3 days ago, and (drum roll pls: ) just now have been experiencing, no hot flashes, a reduction in appetite, more energy, still can sleep (don't need anything), and .............EWCM! for the first time i months!!!

so ladies, no doctor could help me, even though i listed all the drugs i was taking, they told me, "oh u are getting older, just diet and exercise, u are menopausal, etc etc." i finally had to diagnosis myself......

stay away from bendryl, it does no good whatsoever!

hopefully i will have a BFP to post soon! wish me luck!

 

[Kellysmom]

Actually, I've read that Benadryl can help with implantation. Some research seems to suggest that implantation failure can be due the body's natural tendency to reject what is foreign to it. Benadryl acts by knocking those defenses down, the same way it works by making allergies go away. If taken during the implantation window, 4-12 dpo, it has shown some promise for women with unexplained implantation failure.

Good info though!!

 

[hello_kitty_t]

I read a post to beware of allergy meds as they can dry up your CM. (Not completely or anything drastic, but you may notice less CM while taking the meds.)

 

[littlesara]

well i believe taking benadryl may not have directly caused problems, but it sure didn't help, it caused me to gain weight, have no CM, AF, or O, and basically caused a hormonal imbalance, all of which led to to know BFP....................i'm currently at a BMI of over 30! when i usually am at a BMI of around 24! so big difference!

 

[fwuffy50]

i work as a pharmacy dispenser. now every drug can cause problems with fertility but if when trying to get pregnant with read a a4 sheet on what we eat drink and take as meds does to us we would all end up paranoid. these drugs dry you up because they supress your glands

 

[littlesara]

thanks for all of the replies. that's the only thing i can think of that has caused me problems, because i have never been 20 pounds overweight. (except of course when i am in the hospital ready to deliver a baby), so i know what my usual weight is and i couldn't figure out why i was gaining weight! duh? so i cut it out and i have already lost 5 pounds already! yay!

 

[C.armywife]

Your post made wonder about my weight gain of 20lbs. Every time I go off bcp I gain weight. I have such horrible cramps without bcp that I take anti-inflammitories for pain. I don't take it during ov or tww, but I do take it regularly for af. It is also listed as an otc drug that can cause weight gain. I had no idea!

 

[CuddleBunny]

THANK YOU for this!

I, too, just recently stopped taking Benadryl. I was also taking it as a sleep aide. It dried me up beyond belief, even when I cut back to only taking one pill a night. The past 7 months my periods got very light and lasting at MOST 2 days. My doctor said the same thing to me "you're getting old". I, like you, had to self diagnose. You pretty much took the words out of my mouth!! On top of the dryness and it messing up my cycles, it made me extremely irritable, which lasted into the next morning and I feel sorry for DH for dealing with my morning blues thanks to benadryl.

This is scary stuff and I feel so relieved to finally have control of the situation. I truly think that this stuff is the reason I've been having so much trouble conceiving.

I am excited for the both of us to be rid of this pill. Thank you again for posting and I hope some can find some light in your post! Good luck on your TTC journey..I hope kicking benedryl to the curb is the answer and we are blessed soon

 

[littlesara]

yep yep! i'm already down 5 lbs in the last week, since cutting out the wicked Benadryl. it truly has opened my eyes. and the funny thing is: i still get a decent nights sleep w/o them! my body i guess was tricked. anyways, yeah i hope we both can get back to normal! that's weird about ur AF's only being 2 days, that is EXACTLY what mine were like and the doctor's told me, well it's probably menopause. i'm not standing for this! sometimes doc's don't know anything! good luck to u too!

 

[CuddleBunny]

I was bummed when AF showed up yesterday but the silver lining is that so far it is heavier and it seems it's going to last longer...I don't think that's a coincidence Congrats on your 5 lb loss! I agree...I am still sleeping fine without it! Instead I stay up for a little bit with the lights off reading or browsing the net and that gets me sleepy.

I took my doctor seriously when he said I was "getting old" even though I am only 26...but I am on my way to proving him wrong

Oh yeah, and the dry as the desert side effect is deff gone as well

 

[Jsmom5]

I use to take benadryl. For the last year I've been taking Zyrtec. What about Zyrtec? I'm always stinking hungry when I'm on Zyrtec and its so hard losing weight. I have the absolute worst allergies (I live on an almond ranch & they are blooming now). So that means my eyes are swollen by morning. I hate it. I use to use the netti pot but I have a deviated septum, so I can't use it again until I get it fixed, ugh!

 

[littlesara]

update: still the same weight, haven't gained any yet! that's good news. that means the benadryl was most certainly causing me problems. i would usually lose a few then gain it back, could never lose the 5 lbs and stay that way! so i'm happy. however, still no AF (been taking AC/vitex for almost a month now), but more CM so that's good. don't know when i will O or if I already did. but we just keep DTD every few days (when time and kids allow, ha ha). i feel confident that these pills (AC/vitex/EPO) are helping me: haven't had any hot flashes in a month! yay! maybe my hormones are finally balancing now. starting to feel like my ol' self again. I missed me!

I don't know about the Zyrtec, i would stay away from any allergy medicine right now. that's just me though. i do, on a bad note, have runny nose all day long. it's a con i'm willing to deal with though, to continue on this path of "reclaiming" my fertility and feeling normal again.

 

[Jsmom5]

Good for you. Happy to hear that! I think your right. I think I'm gonna take a break from zyrtc and just add local honey to my diet as I have been. In very limited amounts of course. Lol

Good luck! & I'm glad I read this post!