TikTok’s Benadryl Challenge sends teens to emergency rooms, FDA warns

A common allergy medicine became a poisoning risk when teens and young adults began chasing hallucinations on TikTok. The Benadryl Challenge led some users to take dangerous amounts of diphenhydramine, turning an over-the-counter drug into an emergency room problem that pediatricians say parents, schools and teens need to take seriously.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned on Sept. 24, 2020, that taking higher-than-recommended doses of diphenhydramine, sold widely as Benadryl, can cause serious heart problems, seizures, coma or death. The agency said it had received reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the challenge in videos posted on TikTok.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said the challenge usually involved 300 milligrams or more of diphenhydramine, a level that can come close to or exceed the drug’s toxic dose. In one May 2020 cluster in Fort Worth, Texas, three teenagers were hospitalized for diphenhydramine toxicity after viewing the challenge. One child reportedly took 14 tablets and developed extreme tachycardia and altered mental status. In August 2020, a 15-year-old girl in Oklahoma died after a diphenhydramine overdose.

Pediatricians and poison experts say the danger is not limited to misuse for a dare. Diphenhydramine overdose can cause excessive sleepiness, confusion, hallucinations, a fast heartbeat, seizures and coma. That makes a medicine kept in many household cabinets a serious hazard when taken in large amounts or used to self-harm.

Poison Control advises families to store medicines safely and keep them out of reach. If someone may have been poisoned, the U.S. poison center hotline is 1-800-222-1222. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported in 2025 that intentional pediatric diphenhydramine ingestions reported to U.S. poison centers had increased significantly over time, especially after April 2020 and among adolescents with suicidal intent, showing the problem continued after the original viral trend spread beyond TikTok.