Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) has some positive effects

So about four days ago, I decided to finally try diphenhydramine, which is the drug in Benadryl and over-the-counter sleep aids such as Tylenol PM. I knew that it had made me drowsy a few years ago when I took it for an allergic skin reaction. My motivation was that I was spending a lot of money on bourbon, and probably drinking more than the recommended 2 drinks per day. Alcohol seems to make me sleep better, despite the media reports and commonly held beliefs that it disrupts sleep. But probably the amount I need to drink is much higher than what is accepted to be the amount that is healthy. It's also tough to dose and because I enjoy being buzzed, it makes me happy to be awake...OK, back on topic:

For my diphenhydramine experiment, I first tried without any alcohol at all (although as far as my research has shown, there aren't reported dangers when combining with alcohol). Here are the results:

• Night 1: no alcohol, two pills (50 mg total of generic brand) at about 11 pm. Easily fell asleep at about 1 am, slept till about 7:30. No nightmares or hallucinations. In short, a good nights sleep! Felt like crap, though when waking...very dry mouth and sore throat. Thought I was sick, but turns out was just a side-effect. Did not bother me after being awake an hour or so.
• Night 2: two beers in evening, two pills around 11 pm, asleep by 1 am. Can't remember details, but was positive. Dehydrated feeling in morning.
  
• Night 3: four beers during the day (for bowl games), two pills around 10:30 pm, alseep around midnight, woke at 7. Hypnopompic hallucinations during the night, fairly strong. Happened repeatedly, with me quickly turning on the light to try to "catch" whoever was messing with objects in my room. Epic stress dream about school later in night. Still, though, felt like a decent night sleep, for some reason. Why?
  
• Night 4 (last night): no alcohol, two pills (50 mg total) around 10:00 pm. Fell asleep at midnight, woke at 1 am with strong hypnopompic hallucinations. I rarely have auditory hallucinations during these episodes (and if so, it's a fleeting voice that terrifies me). Last night, though, I woke up, and the LCD clock on an audio receiver was doing something strange, and I could hear a childrens song playing. So, I deduced that someone had come into my room and played this song on the machine...I think the auditory hallucination (which was vivid) lasted for 10 seconds or so, and the visual part (screwed up LED) a little longer. For some reason it alarmed me. Then I fully woke up and was still alarmed, but then amazed at the auditory hallucination. I don't remember ever having an auditory hypnompic hallucination that was musical (it always previously was a fleeting voice). Subsequently, I had one or more "regular" visual hypnopompic episodes, and then slept until 7:30 without nightmares, I think.

OK, so that is the current status of my diphenhydramine experiment. After writing it down, I realize that if anything, the outcome is worse hypnopompia. For example, a new form of auditory hallucination. However, for some reason, I remain excited about this drug, maybe because I have found it easy to fall asleep 4 nights in a row. Because this is an experiment on myself, and interpreted by my own brain, it's pseudoscience at best. But here are some other positives I am feeling:

• Decreased appetite. I typically find it very hard to resist eating when at home. For the past four days, I have found it very easy to resist eating. Especially late at night, I don't have any of the usual cravings (which are usually insatiable too). This would be a very welcome effect, if it persists, because even though I'm reasonably fit, I'm definitely a fatty at heart and would get very fat if I didn't have a conscious desire to not get fat and various strategies for limiting eating.
• Decreased appetite for alcohol. I have in mind to try the pills combined with a small amount of alcohol, but for some reason, don't "feel like it." I actually really enjoy a beer or bourbon, typically, but the past four nights, haven't felt like it at all. That is strange. Instead, I'm just like, "I'll take the two pills and see what happens."
• I generally just feel better. This could simply be due to more sleep than normal (despite the hallucinations), or because of the pills, or because of a desire for the pills to be magical. It's a funny contrast to the clonazepam, though, which ostensibly had the same effect on hypnopompia, but which I did not view positively at all.

OK, that's the up to date news. I plan on continuing the diphenhydramine for the next few days, and possibly trying in combination with a few ounces of bourbon at night (with hopes that it diphenhydramine will eliminate insomnia and bourbon will reduce chance of hypnopompia). Another thing I should mention is that I've been more motivated for running the past few days, finding it easy and enjoyable to run 6 miles after night 1, 0 miles after night 2, and 4.5 miles after night 3. Remains to be seen what I'll do today, but I am stoked about going running if I have time (man I've blown the whole morning on this blog, but hopefully will have a positive effect on someone).