
Talk:Doxylamine
This page has not been fully approved by the PsychonautWiki administrators. It may contain incorrect information, particularly with respect to dosage, duration, subjective effects, toxicity and other risks. It may also not meet PW style and grammar standards. |
Template:SubstanceBox/Doxylamine Doxylamine is a first generation antihistamine affecting histamine at H1 receptors. In addition, it has powerful anticholinergic effects. It is very closely related to diphenhydramine, an agent with the same properties and OTC status.
History and culture
This History and culture section is a stub. As a result, it may contain incomplete or wrong information. You can help by expanding it. |
Chemistry
This chemistry section is incomplete. You can help by adding to it. |
Doxylamine is a part of the ethanolamine class of antihistamines.
Pharmacology
![]() |
This pharmacology section is incomplete. You can help by adding to it. |
Doxylamine has powerful antihistaminergic effects, more so than any other antihistamine available over the counter[citation needed], except for diphenhydramine.
Metabolites
The primary metabolites of doxylamine are-
- N-desmethyldoxylamine[citation needed]
- N,N-didesmethyldoxylamine[citation needed]
- doxylamine N-oxide[citation needed]
Subjective effects
![]() |
This subjective effects section is a stub. As such, it is still in progress and may contain incomplete or wrong information. You can help by expanding or correcting it. |
Physical effects
- * = shared with diphenhydramine
- Increased heart rate* - Doxylamine inhibits the action of acetylcholine. In the heart, acetylcholine functions as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, decreasing blood pressure and heart rate.
- Increased blood pressure* - Doxylamine inhibits the action of acetylcholine. In the heart, acetylcholine functions as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, decreasing blood pressure and heart rate.
Cognitive effects
- Delirium* - Because of doxylamine's blocking (antagonizing) action on muscarinic acetylcholine receptors,
- Sleepiness* - In terms of its effects on the user's physical energy levels, doxylamine is most commonly considered to be extremely tiring. It is often used and sold as a sleep aid at 25 and 12.5 mg dosages.
Medical Uses
Doxylamine is used with pyridoxine to prevent morning sickness. It's also used as an over-the-counter sleep aid useful for alleviating short-term insomnia. Doxylamine is also a useful cough suppressant.[citation needed]
Toxicity and harm potential
![]() |
This toxicity and harm potential section is a stub. As a result, it may contain incomplete or even dangerously wrong information! You can help by expanding upon or correcting it. |
For healthy adults, doxylamine is usually safe. The IARC has concluded that carcinogenic effects in humans are not a high-risk factor. Anticholinergic effects can pile up with other anticholinergics such as DPH, atropine, hyoscine, and hyoscyamine, tricyclic antidepressants, and some antipsychotics like promethazine and quetiapine. This can cause greatly increased delirium and heart rate/blood pressure. It is strongly recommended that one use harm reduction practices when using this substance.
Lethal dosage
The LD50 is around 50-500mg/kg in humans.[1]
Tolerance and addiction potential
Doxylamine is not addictive, but insomniacs can become dependent on the use of doxylamine to fall asleep.
Dangerous interactions
![]() |
This dangerous interactions section is a stub. As such, it may contain incomplete or invalid information. You can help by expanding upon or correcting it. |
Warning: Many psychoactive substances that are reasonably safe to use on their own can suddenly become dangerous and even life-threatening when combined with certain other substances. The following list provides some known dangerous interactions (although it is not guaranteed to include all of them).
Always conduct independent research (e.g. Google, DuckDuckGo, PubMed) to ensure that a combination of two or more substances is safe to consume. Some of the listed interactions have been sourced from TripSit.
- Stimulants - Because doxylamine increases BPM and BP and stimulants also do this, cardiac arrest, hypertensive crisis, stroke, and heart attack all become much more likely to occur. With very high doses, delirium can be potentiated to an extremely high level.
- Depressants - Depressants can make the sleepiness effect of doxylamine extremely pronounced, leading to a severe cognitive deficit. Therefore, any activity that must be done sober (driving, using firearms, etc.) must absolutely not be done.
- Antimuscarinics - Combining doxylamine with other antimuscarinics such as Datura, diphenhydramine, and nutmeg can severely increase BPM and BP, and as such, cardiac arrest, hypertensive crisis, stroke, and heart attack all become much more likely to occur.
Legal status
![]() |
This legality section is a stub. As such, it may contain incomplete or wrong information. You can help by expanding it. |
- US: Doxylamine is OTC.