Hello fellow supporters,
I have found that Benadryl helps with my burning pain. At night, I take a tablet before bed which helps me sleep and also helps keep my burning pain from getting severe during the night. In addition, I use over the counter Benadryl cream on my hands during the day when they start to get hot and burn. Every time I ask my doctors about this they look at me strangely and then move on to something else.
Does anybody else find Benadryl helps them with the burning pain? If so, has any doctor ever given you an explanation as to why this is?

If you decide to try Benadryl and it ends up helping you with your pain, please drop me a quick line. I would love to know if this is something that applies to most RSD patients (perhaps it could be another clue in this RSD puzzle?).

My daughter suffers from RSD (among other things), and we recently discovered that Benadryl helps her pain immensely. No other meds have ever provided relief; and although we too do not know why it helps, we are very thankful that it does. She cannot take oral meds as she has gastroparesis so she receives IV Beneadryl thru her port, with the pain relief being almost immediate.

I correspond with another RSD Mom on this forum, and she recently shared that there is a doctor who uses Benadryl infusions to diagnose abdominal RSD -- if the pain responds, he knows that it is in fact RSD.

For these reasons, I found your post to be very interesting and hope that others can provide additional insight.

It is so funny that you mention benedryl, my daughter just went to see Dr. K in Tampa for a RSD checkup and has been having difficulty with her stomach and he said he would want to do a benedryl infusion to calm her stomach. I thought after I left that that was strange. But, now it is making perfect sense.

Sandy

Yes! I've also gotten a good night's sleep and pain relief from Benedryl (capsule). My first few experiences were when my allergies were acting up & I needed an antihistimine. The bonus was deep sleep, and awakening with reduced pain, so I began to take a dose on other nights when sleep was difficult. I did mention it to my PM doc, but he just shrugged, and said he didn't think I should make a habit of it, so I followed his advice.

From infancy I've had a history of sensitivities: allergies to foods, certain inhaled & topical substances, and ordinary hayfever. How about the rest of you who posted?

Bari

My Dr perscribed a medicine called Vistiral (which is in the Benadryl family but stronger then over the counter medicine) and I take it when I cant sleep at night and for the first year it helped immensly. However, after a year my tolerance levels changed so I only take the medicine on sleepless nights so that it stays effective. (The script was for 3 times daily but cut down to where one script lasts 3-4 months.) Interesting topic because I noticed it helped alot but my Dr also said that the Benadryl primes the brains opiate receptors and that is why she perscribed it to me as it was to help the pain medicine work better.
Sarah

Wow sounds good to me I have taken it before and slept really good and that's a good night when I can sleep..... thanks.............