Diphenhydramine combined with bourbon probably not effective

OK, my next pseudoscientific experiment didn't have great results. I tried bourbon in combination with diphenhydramine, and hypnopompia was significant. A problem, though, with these experiments is that I probably develop tolerance to the diphenhydramine, and one day is affected by the previous ones. In any case, my impression is that alcohol + diphenhydramine isn't a magical potion. These experiments continued directly after the last blog entry:

• Night1. 10:45 pm, two diphenhydramine tablets and began 4 ounces (measured) of bourbon. At about 11:15, couldn't resist another two ounces. Asleep about 12:30 am. No hypnopompic episodes, but had depressing dreams. Felt a bit worse than recently in the morning, but went away fairly quickly. Ran 4.6 miles during the day and felt strong at the end. Less appetite suppression than previously.
• Night 2. Two pints of beer at happy hour. diphenhydramine at 9:30 pm, about 6 ounces of bourbon from 10:45 to midnight. Asleep about 12:30 till 7 am. Hangover and felt tired throughout day. No hypnopompic episodes, regular dreams. Appetite suppression was missing after the diphenhydramine. Felt like the hangover probably from bourbon and beer.
• Night 3. Two glasses red wine 8:30 to 10:30 pm. About 4 ounces bourbon 11:30 pm. Asleep about 1 am, very strong and recurring hypnompia. At one point woke up realizing that hundreds of plastic wind up toys had been piled on me and around the room. I realized this was "all of the wind up toys," and that made sense to me. Tired and sleepy during the day (as in I could have fallen asleep for a nap).
• Night 4. Diphenhydramine about 10:00 pm, asleep about 1:00 am. Also a lot of greasy and high calorie food in the early evening (definitely over-ate). Also, doing very intellectually stimulating work while drinking bourbon (learning and writing about a detailed scientific subject). Very strong and recurring hypnopompia, even worse than previous night. I think episodes recurred from maybe 2 am to 5 am, which is much longer than normal. One of them, I woke up to a voice (probably my wife's, but a hallucination, of course) saying, "...but do you see a yellow light?" The smoke alarm which has an LED that is commonly part of my hallucinations seemed to have two lights, and the room appeared to be lit by a yellow light. This had an element of "aha" to me, as if things finally made sense. This is a common theme of my hypnopompic hallucinations...it's as if I know that I have had them in the past, but this time it's finally real, and I'm finally going to prove that all this time somebody really has been messing with me. But as I wake up and the illusions fade, I always, of course, know that it's a hallucination. Another one I had this night was I woke up just as "someone" was finishing painting the entire room a slightly darker shade. Somehow I could tell this was true. I quickly turned on the lamp to try to catch something, but didn't see anyone / thing and then woke up. I don't exactly remember the other episodes, but they involved real objects being slightly different, and I think each time it "proved" to me that something actually was going on. I found this all very annoying, and I don't think I slept much (for real) in the middle of the night. After that, I had vivid and memorable dreams, and in my dreams there was a lot of dialogue and me explaining past events to other characters, some real and some not real. Overall, I felt very tired and not rested in the morning (up about 8 am).

OK, so looking at this set of trials, it seems that a reasonable amount of bourbon isn't a magic bullet for getting rid of hypnopompia. It's possible that a lot (6 ounces plus) is effective, but that is probably too much to be healthy (although I do enjoy it). This is bad science unavoidably. There are so many other factors, such as time of bourbon dose, and diet, exercise, etc. the prior day(s). I also feel like the diphenhydramine isn't working any more either. Perhaps I will try some no-alcohol again and also try not eating in the evening (if possible).