How long does benadryl stay in your system

Benadryl is one of the commonly recommended drugs for cough. Benadryl (diphenhydramine) tend to have anticholinergic effects. It causes dry mouth, reduced gut motility, drowsiness, bronchial secretions thickening, dry eyes, blurred vision and urinary retention.

Some patients also experienced abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation issues. Its effects however impact elderly patients more. Hence, they should avoid it.

How long does benadryl stay in your system?

Healthy patients are said to experience half-life of around 2 to 8 hours. It clears within 24 to 48 hours completely. In elderly patients, drug clearance is impacted by liver and kidney function reduction.

In liver, this substance is metabolized extensively. Hence, patients suffering from liver impairment will require dosage reduction.

What is Benadryl?

It is considered to be a first-generation antihistamine. When compared to second-generation antihistamines, it results in anticholicnergic side effects.

The other first-generation antihistamines are chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton), dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), promethazine (Phenergan) and clemastine (Tavist). Such medications tend to cross blood-brain barrier. They also cause CNS effects like dizziness and drowsiness.

On the other hand, the second-generation antihistamines are fexofenadine (Allegra), Zyrtec (Cetirizine) and loratadine (Claritin).

Antihistamines are mostly used to treat allergy symptoms like watery eyes, runny nose, itching eyes, throat or nose and sneezing. Benadryl is used to treat symptoms like occasional insomnia, allergic reactions, common cold, etc.

But how long does benadryl stay in your system? According to medical experts, in most individuals, it gets cleared from the system within 24-48 hours.

But elderly people are likely to take more time. Benadryl causes side effects like lack of appetite and drowsiness, it is necessary to take into consideration other causes.

The other medications causing drowsiness are opioids, benzodiazepines, sleep medications, etc. Besides medications, infections are also experienced like urinary tract infections occurring in elderly people.

They might result in non-specific symptoms like confusion and drowsiness.

John C. Crawford

I am John C. Crawford. I am the founder of EnjoyWiki.com. I am a professional freelancer, blogger and content writer. I have several blogs and EnjoyWiki.com is one of them. I always love to share my experience on my blogs.