[kjcanada1979]

I currently take Lamictal for my Epilepsy. I just started it about 5 weeks ago. One week into taking it I was having sleepless nights. I had been up for two nights in a row and was so tired. My dad suggested I take an OTC sleep aid and try to get some sleep. So I bought some Sominex. Which is pure Diphenhydramine. I took two pills and ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, I couldnt move my body, the only thing that would move a little bit was my right hand. I was able to text and tell my dad to call 911, I couldnt speak either. I looked at myself and saw that I was having convulsions. The ambulance arrived and took me to the hospital. It was a horrible experience!! I was scared to death. In the ambulance I nearly quit breathing. I could feel my heart slowing down and couldnt breath. Ive taken sominex before...so i didnt think it was a big deal. I am also on Keppra, Zonegran, Cymbalta and Synthroid.

[empresspyro]

Luckily not as scary and as serious as what happened to you. But I took Benadryl last night. I currently take 100mg of Lamictal daily and 25mg of Paxil. I had really bad allergies last night and took 2 Benadryl (50mg). I could not get out of bed. And I could barely move. When I did get up I tried driving to work but failed miserably and decided to turn back before I had an accident.
I called my doctor and he explained that the two drugs might have had an interaction and Lamictal may have caused the levels of Benadryl to rise in my blood. I'm still pretty lethargic and it's been over 12 hours since I took the Benadryl.

Both drugs seem to be histamine antagonists. This means that they bind to the histamine receptors in your brain and cause a sedating effect. Because Lamictal binds to the histamine receptors, it does not let Benadryl bind and so the levels of Benadryl in your blood become higher than they should, resulting in a severe sedative effect. When I googled lamictal + benadryl I stumbled upon your post and a post on another site of a person that uses the combo recreationally!
My recommendation to you is to stay away from Benadryl!