The common side effects include sedation or sleepiness, incoordination, attention disturbance, dry mouth, fatigue, headache, and dizziness. This can lead to harmful side effects and significant drug interactions with other medications, ranging from common to rare in occurrence. Hence, as these OTC remedies can be easily accessible and affordable, they can also be abused or overused. It is sold in the Saudi market under different brand names, including Panadol Night, Flutab, Adol PM, and Histop. Those medications are classified as over-the-counter (OTC), which means they neither require a medical prescription nor continuous assessment. However, this particular property gave diphenhydramine a whole new purpose of use to be sold in the market as a nonprescription over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aid. Diphenhydramine use in allergy has been unfavorable in practice because of its sedative property. Diphenhydramine produces sedation by competitively antagonizing the receptors of histamine H1 in the central nervous system. The histaminic receptors can be present in the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). Moreover, it has antiparkinsonian, antitussive, antiemetic, and hypnotic properties.
OVER THE COUNTER SLEEP AID SKIN
It is usually used for the treatment of allergies, insect bites such as mosquitos, bee stings, and some types of skin rashes. Younger female students constitute the majority of OTC sleep aid medication users.ĭiphenhydramine is a first-generation antihistamine medication that specifically targets H1 receptors. The excessive use of over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aid medications containing diphenhydramine hydrochloride was widely prevalent among the Saudi population. The Chi-square test revealed that the age group of ≤25 years (p = 0.044), female gender (p = 0.040), being a student (p = 0.015), current use of sleeping aid medications (p < 0.001), and the use of other medications (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with increased use of sleep aid medications. Dizziness or imbalance was the most commonly reported side effect. The most common reason for using sleep aid was insomnia (52.1%). Previous and current use of medications that contain diphenhydramine hydrochloride constituted 87.2% and 31.9%, respectively. ResultsĪ total of 414 respondents were recruited (51% males and 49% females). The questionnaire included basic demographic characteristics, previous and current history of medication use that contains diphenhydramine hydrochloride, its side effects, and other related behavior of using, such as frequency of use and dosage. The subjects included were Saudis aged 15 years or older, literate in using social media. An online self-administered questionnaire was distributed among the selected Saudi nationality using social media platforms. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design conducted among the Saudi population.
This study aimed to assess the prevalence, frequency of use, and dosage of over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aid containing diphenhydramine hydrochloride used among Saudis.
However, it possesses antiparkinsonian, antitussive, antiemetic, and most importantly hypnotic properties. Diphenhydramine is a first-generation H1 receptor antihistamine that is usually used for the treatment of allergy, insect bites such as mosquitos, bee stings, and some types of skin rashes.
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