A St. Marys Middle School student was hospitalized after reportedly taking too much Benadryl, according to the St. Marys Police Department. Police are now urging parents to talk with their kids about the so-called Benadryl Challenge, a social media trend that encourages young people to swallow large amounts of the over-the-counter allergy medicine in hopes of hallucinating.
The hospitalization was first reported by WSB-TV, which said police described the trend as extremely dangerous and potentially deadly. Officials told the station the challenge pushes children to take large amounts of allergy medicine to see things that aren’t there, and warned that overdosing on Benadryl can trigger serious heart problems, seizures, trouble breathing and death.
Benadryl, known generically as diphenhydramine, is an antihistamine typically used to treat seasonal allergies, according to poison.org. In overdose, the same organization notes, the drug can cause excessive sleepiness, confusion, hallucinations, a fast heartbeat, seizures and coma. The so-called challenge, poison.org explains, is an unsafe practice promoted through social media that pushes people to take excessive amounts of the medication specifically to induce hallucinations.
A Trend With a Troubling Track Record
The St. Marys case is not an isolated one. Poison.org points to a 2023 case report describing a 14-year-old girl who was taken to an emergency room after a diphenhydramine overdose tied to participation in a TikTok challenge. Separately, a report from publications.aap.org noted that in May 2020, three teenagers in Fort Worth, Texas, were hospitalized for diphenhydramine toxicity after watching a Benadryl Challenge video on TikTok.
A more recent case out of New Jersey, reported by News 12 Connecticut, described a teenager who intentionally consumed a large dose of Benadryl to experience hallucinations as part of the trend, which is also referred to online as the Benadryl Challenge or Benny tripping. That teen's symptoms were initially described as not acting like themselves before rapidly escalating to confusion, severe disorientation and slurred speech, according to the outlet.
National Numbers Show a Sharp Rise
The St. Marys incident lands amid a broader spike in teen diphenhydramine poisonings nationwide. According to USA Today, diphenhydramine-related poisoning cases among teens jumped from 10,068 in 2024 to 13,284 in 2025, a 31.9% increase. America’s Poison Centers also reported 6,179 diphenhydramine-only poisoning cases among teens in just the first six months of 2026, the same report noted.
More than 13% of teen diphenhydramine-only poisoning cases in 2026 have been linked to intentional abuse, up from 7.3% in 2020, per the same USA Today account. The Food and Drug Administration has separately warned that taking higher-than-recommended doses of diphenhydramine can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma or even death, a caution echoed in the warning St. Marys police issued to parents.
No details have been released about the hospitalized student's age, current condition or treatment. Police have not provided further specifics on the incident beyond urging families to discuss the risks of the trend with their children.
