A 13-year-old boy in Ohio has died after taking part in the viral TikTok Benadryl challenge.
The father of Jacob Stevens told ABC6 that his son had undertaken the challenge while at home with his friends and had had a seizure. After he was taken to hospital, doctors informed his family that he wouldn’t be waking up.
Stevens isn’t the first person to die from the challenge. In 2020, a 15-year-old girl in Oklahoma passed away, too, for instance.
So what exactly is this viral Benadryl challenge that has taken TikTok by storm? Here is everything we know.
What is the TikTok Benadryl challenge?
Benadryl, an over-the-counter allergy medication, has become the focus of a social media challenge that has gone viral.
The challenge first emerged on social media in 2020. This prompted America’s Food and Drug Administration to issue an official warning about the dangers of taking high doses of Benadryl. The organisation had cautioned that exceeding the doses could lead to “serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death”. The FDA said teenagers had been taken to hospital after participating in the challenge.
The challenge involves participants taking 12 to 14 allergy pills, which is double the recommended daily dose. It is also 10 times the recommended dose for a six-hour period. The aim of it is to make the diphenhydramine (an antihistamine and sedative mainly used to treat allergies, insomnia, and symptoms of the common cold) in the medication cause hallucinations. The participants then film the side effects they experience before sharing them online.
The NHS warns that taking too much diphenhydramine can be dangerous. Its website advises: “In serious cases, you can become unconscious and may need emergency treatment in hospital.”
The FDA had previously asked TikTok “to be vigilant to remove additional videos that may be posted”.
TikTok has since banned searches for the keyword “Benadryl”. However, social media users seem to have found a way around it by using alternative keywords instead.
