Tik Tok “benadryl trip” challenge can lead to serious injury or deaths

At least 3 teenagers suffered serious injury and were hospitalized and another one died after they participated in  a new challenge on the popular Tik Tok app. The Benadryl challenge  requires participants to take an amount of Benadryl larger that the recommended dosage in order to be able to hallucinate or trip and to post the experience on Tik Tok.

According to Oklahoma’s News 4 Channel, a 15 year old girl died last week after overdosing on Benadryl. It is not sure how many pills of Benadryl the young girl took but teens participating in this dangerous challenge usually take between 10 and 12 pills of Benadryl. This type of dosage is extremely dangerous.It is specially dangerous for the heart which can go out of rhythm and not pump blood effectively. It can cause seizures.

The Tik Tok Benadryl challenge has been on for several months. In May after 3 teenagers were hospitalized in one week at the Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, the hospital issued a warning to all parents about the danger of the Benadryl challenge.  Teens who are participating in the challenge are not of the suicidal type. They just see other teens getting high on Tik Tok and they want to do the same. Videos on TikTok indicate how many milligrams they should take and encourage them to try to see how they feel. Doctors at the Cook’s Children’s Medical Center were showed several videos by their young patients providing step by step instructions on how to take large amounts of Benadryl mixed with an energy drink.

With Benadryl available in almost every parents’ medicine cabinet and kids bored and stuck at home during covid-19, The Benadryl Challenge gained in popularity during the pandemic

The hospital also warned parents that another challenge that went viral in 2001 is making a come back on Tik Tok: the Cinnamon challenge that involves filming oneself eating a spoonful of ground cinnamon without water in a small amount of time. The challenge can lead, to pneumonia, breathing difficulties and even collapsed lungs… probably not the wisest thing to do during the covid-19 pandemic.