Dangerous TikTok ‘Benadryl Challenge’ to Blame for Oklahoma Teen’s Death

A dangerous social media challenge on TikTok has resulted in the tragic death of an Oklahoma teenager by overdose.

The happy-go-lucky 15-year-old, who was not known to experiment with drugs, fell victim to “the Benadryl Challenge” on TikTok last week, KFOR reported.

The challenge is to ‘to trip out,’ or trigger a hallucination by taking an overdose, meaning a dozen or more pills, of the allergy medication, according to KFOR.

“The dose that can cause a hallucination is very close to the dose that can cause something potentially life-threatening,” said Scott Schaeffer, director of the Oklahoma Center for Poison and Drug Information.

The challenge was to blame for the hospitalization of three Texas teens back in May, Health.com reported.

According to the National Institutes of Health, Benadryl is a sedating antihistamine, which means it works to block certain chemicals in your body that are released during an allergy.

But when too much of the drug is taken, it can cause the following side effects: fever, confusion, agitation, blurry vision, urinary retention, low blood pressure, coma, seizure, and cardiac arrhythmia.

“Large doses of Benadryl can cause seizures and, particularly, problems with the heart,” Schaeffer said. “The heart tends to go out of rhythm and not pump blood effectively.”