The most common misuse of OTC sleep aids I’ve seen and experienced is the overdosing of the active ingredient in Benadryl, diphenhydramine HCl. Not only is it in Benadryl and its generic alternatives, but it’s also in many “PM” pills such as Tylenol PM. The danger is that many folks don’t pay attention to the fact that many OTC meds use the same active ingredients, yet they think they’re taking different pills and unaware that they could be overdosing on a particular ingredient, such as this one.

Overdosing on diphenhydramine HCl can induce “manic sleep”, which I’ve experienced. Similar to sleep walking and many times presents as simply sleep walking, my worst experiences have been rapid short movements such as jerking or rolling over, over and over again. Needless to say it doesn’t produce good sleep and my dreams borderlined on waking hallucinations. That was the only time I’ve ever seen little green men was during one of those episodes. I’ve taken other drugs and hallucinogens recreationally and never seen anything like that lol