FDA Severely Criticises TikTok 'Benadryl challenge,' Issues Warning Over Lethal Trend

The Benadryl Challenge –-- the latest in line to top the list of inane TikTok challenges -- has drawn the ire of the FDA, shortly after the case of an Oklahoma teen failing to be revived after reportedly overdosing on the allergy medicine surfaced online in August.

On Sept. 24, the agency issued a safety warning urging people, especially young active users of the viral app, to steer away from consumption of the allergy medicine beyond the recommended dose as the repercussions could be grave such as serious heart problems, seizures, coma and even death in certain cases.

FDA also revealed that TikTok was “strongly urged” to take down any video about the distressing challenge. Parents were asked to keep the medicine away from the sight of young kids who’d be tempted to give the challenge a try, and even health professionals to alert their patients' caregivers about it.

Prior to the FDA’s warning, Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, Texas, released a statement suggesting the treatment of three teens in the hospital for a Benadryl overdose. The health facility brought the instances to light to warn parents and millennials alike to stay away from caving into the distressing challenge.

“Each of these patients said they got the idea from videos on TikTok that claimed users could get high and hallucinate if they took a dozen or more of the allergy pills,” the statement reads.

As per a recent report, the hospital maintained that one of the teens had ‘a resting heart rate of 199 BPM, along with hallucinations, after taking 14 tablets of Benadryl.’ Fortunately, each patient met with a complete recovery fully and was eventually discharged.

TikTok is ridden with the hashtag #Benadryl, with users taking it upon themselves to spread the dangers of abusing the drug, and the need to curtail any further participation of the Challenge, which gained momentum in February.

A spokesperson for TikTok expressed how the app perceives its users’ safety as the first priority. “The safety and well-being of our users is TikTok's top priority,” a spokesperson for the app told a media outlet in a statement in early September.

“As we make clear in our Community Guidelines, we do not allow content that encourages, promotes, or glorifies dangerous challenges that might lead to injury. Though we have not seen this content trend on our platform, we actively remove content that violates our guidelines and block related hashtags to further discourage participation. We encourage everyone to exercise caution in their behavior whether online or off.”