Benadryl and AF

I have been checking blogs about benadryl and AF, I havn't taken any benadryl for a few weeks but I thought perhaps I could take one or two a week to help open my nasal passages also it helps me to sleep. Well last night when I awoke (after a few hours of sleep) I took a benadryl and went back to sleep.

. When i woke up I was in AF, maybe a conicidence but I started doing some digging. I found a number of places where people have said they believed it was causing their AF.

Benadryl and Heart palpitations - from FDA reports

Summary

Heart palpitations is found among people who take Benadryl, especially for people who are female, 50-59 old , have been taking the drug for < 1 month, also take medication Tylenol, and have Crohn's disease. This review analyzes which people have Heart palpitations with Benadryl. It is created by eHealthMe based on reports of 40,660 people who have side effects when taking Benadryl from FDA, and is updated regularly.

I am not taking any more Benadryl and see what happens to my episodes of AF, but these people that are posting about benadryl are having some bad symptoms.

Liz

Liz

Hi Liz,

If you are adrenergic, it might be a trigger. If you scroll down to Benadryl on this page: <[www.modernmedicine.com] it says it is acts with a "Cholinergic receptor blockade." You may recall a fellow who used to post here about Propantheline Bromide (PB ) as a treatment for his vagal afib <[beatloneafib.blogspot.com] . Turns out that PB is also an anti-cholinergic. So if it worked to prevent vagal afib, it might have the opposite effect for adrenergic afib.

I considered taking PB about 5 years ago, when my control was much worse than today. I even went so far as to get script filled for PB from a cooperative cardio. I never took it. After learning that I had an increased genetic risk for Alzheimers Disease and that chronic anti-cholinergics were contraindicated in this case, I decided to err on the side of caution, and started looking for ways to get more choline in my diet instead.

Just musing here.

George



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2017 10:01PM by GeorgeN.

George:

I am vagal, I have always gotten my episodes in the late evening or in the early a.M. unless I am changing because lately I have gotten some episodes after waking up, so I am wondering if taking the benadryl might be causing it.

I read the article that you posted, I vaguely remember the guy using the PB but in an update he no longer uses it. I don't want to use it, too much is bad too little doesn't work. He says he now uses vit. d3 and it is keeping his AF under control, maybe I am getting more AF because I haven't been taking vit. D.

thanks George
Liz

Hi Elizabeth, for sleep issues I take a natural product called Alteril, active ingredients are Melatonin and L-Tyyptophan. I get it from Walmart, one cap works well for me....I previously had Afib issues with Benedryl.
Tom C

Tom

Thanks I will check it out and try it---I am quitting benadryl I think it might be causing some episodes of AF.

Liz

ALL antihistamines I have tried will cause me Heart palpations. I have had 2 AFIB Ablations the last being June 16,2016 BY Dr. Natale.
I was having pretty bad heart palpitations from flomax and phenagren both anthistamines. After stopping these
Medications, I have had ZERO heart palpitations.

I knew even before I had AFib, that any antihistamine sent my heart into palpitations. I think it was Clarityn I took and didn't know that the weird flutters were signals for the AFib many years later. Sometimes I get skin problems and it is with regret I cannot take antihistamines as I know they mean trouble for my heart, even if good news for skin. My AFib and flutter have been treated after many failed procedures, by AV node ablation and dual chamber pacemaker two years ago and I have been well ever since, although I will have to take daily dabigatran. Still would not risk antihistamines though.....