A Quebec coroner is recommending that diphenhydramine—an antihistamine and sedative sometimes used to sleep better—should be better managed in pharmacies after the overdose death of an 18-year-old man south of Montreal in December 2023.
The young man, whose identity is not revealed in the report made public, died of acute diphenhydramine poisoning at his home in St-Mathias-sur-Richelieu.
On the morning of Dec. 11, 2023, the man was found by his mother in his bed, unconscious and laying on his back. Toxicological analysis found the man had a lethal level of diphenhydramine in his blood.
The drug is the sedating ingredient in some over-the-counter antihistamines including the brand Benadryl, among others.
The coroner found the circumstances surrounding the death raise questions about the uncontrolled availability of a potentially lethal over-the-counter substance. He noted there is consensus about the risks of poisoning among scientific bodies, but it’s not stored behind the counter.
“I cannot understand why the sale of diphenhydramine … is not better controlled,” coroner Vincent Denault wrote. “I can’t understand why diphenhydramine is available over the counter,…
Read the full article here