which is stronger: doxylamine succinate or diphenhydramine?

I would ignore this post completely^^^ about the only thing accurate is that each could be more effective depending on the users reaction. I would consult a doctor but coming from a genetic stand point. meaning you share common genetics with your mother and grandfather they could be very useful in determining how each drug would affect specifically you. Secondly most people would agree that diphenhydramine is the weaker of the two and not only weaker but users are more prone to build up a tolerance to it. So it's usually recommended first because it has a lighter "touch" so to speak. meaning if you only suffer from mild insomnia i.e. less then 10 times a month you Dr. will suggest to use this because you wont be taking the product enough to build a real tolerance. frequent user have often said that they take 2 and sometimes 3 doses to achieve the desired affect. From what you have said your insomnia seems to be more moderate possibly severe and because of this your Dr. will probably will recommend doxylamine. Doxylamine has its down falls as well because it is generally stronger users are more prone to experience grogginess or a sleep aid "hangover" which is often described as a heady foggy feeling or being sleepy and less alert. This normally clears within an hour or two. Doxylamine is also recommended for people who have trouble not just falling asleep but staying asleep because it is stronger and takes longer to leave the users blood stream. So I think the biggest thing you need to look at is the severity of your insomnia. for me having moderate insomnia I would much rather sleep the night and feel groggy in the morning then take several doses of diphenhydramine and risk still having a sleepless night. remember tho this advice is based on statistical norms in the end your reaction to either could differ greatly from what is stated above. you may find diphenhydramine gives you the "hangover" or that is is more effective for you specifically.

Please learn how to spell correctly before posting.

I too take trazadone (150mg) with 25mg. of doxylamin and it works like a charm! I take these about 1 hour before sleep.

Coffee can make me tired as well... Maybe not inough to help me have a good night's sleep but, It never kept me awake or alert. Interesting ....

my experience:

benadryl:

bad: dehydrates really badly, seem to need to take more and more over time to work effectively, eventually i get very watery, irritated eyes all the time (dry eye.... it's hard to explain how dry eye would cause your eyes to be so watery. maybe you release all the water that you can)

good: works very well on allergy symptoms (very powerful), clears fairly well by next morning. seems like stores in canada have 20 different varieties (not that it matters)

doxylamine: 

bad: not too much. maybe alot of the benadryl negatives but much much reduced. never seen it sold in canada even though 2 pharmacists told me it's legal. if you get pills in a bottle seems like it turns to powder really easily. need coating on pills which i've never seen. blister packs are much much better.

good: works well on sleep. clears really really well by the morning. not sure it works on allergies that well but haven't take it for that too much.

seroquel (ceroquel?):

good: you will fall asleep if you take a reasonable amount. nice slow progression to sleep. can read a book for 30 minutes to 90 minutes after taking and then fall asleep immediately. pretty cheap for a prescription drug.

bad: PUT ON WEIGHT LIKE CRAZY. i can probably drop 12 lb's in a week just be stop taking this. very bad hangover next day (very groggy)

it's sort of like choose your poison... i like doxylamine alot but maybe haven't taken it for a long enough period to compare it that well to benadryl. 

You never mentioned the c**p load of symptoms seroquel has and that it has a black label warning which is by far the WORST poison you can put inside of you. Not to mention it's meant for schizophrenia. They had me on it for (8 years for hardcore insomnia.. I have recently had to get off bc I was pregnant and let me tell you the symptoms of withdrawal are far worse than coming off of herion, and other hardcore drugs. It's not worth it. I started seeing things that weren't even there when I never had schizophrenia it made me have symptoms of schizophrenia just by tampering off 300 mg to 250 to 200 to 150 and so on. I'm down to 50 mg and it's still the hardest drug I've ever had to detox from. DO NOT GET ON THIS MEDICATION!

Actually, Seroquel is an antipsychotic medication used to treat bipolar, schizophrenia, etc. It can definitely be helpful in inducing sleep, but is certainly not indicated or appropriate for most people to use simply as a sleep aid.

This is the worse site I've ever visited. You're all going to end up killing someone. The internet does not replace visiting your physician.

I also had a paradoxical reaction to diphenhydramine, but do well with doxylamine.

Seroquel is an antipsychotic used to treat, among other things, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is not recommended for use in treating insomnia.

I have been on Unisom for many years. Just 1/2 a pill and it kind of works but you need to alternate with something or it stops being effective. I recently bought dyphenhydramine, but i don't think that it s as effective. When i wake u a 5 and need 2-3 more hours, i take Sonata and it works like a charm - you fall asleep without oticing, lasts just2-3 hours ad then you are fresh and ready to go. But i was tld ot t take it every day as you are liekly to get dependant, so i use it every 2-3 days

i have also had similar affects with coffee and i guess caffeine in general. i have tried lots of drugs from a-z, i would try anything for a while. caffeine even if large dosages only make me jittery, as long as i can remember i never had stimulant affects. I took the tova test for add and adhd a few years back, and legitimately tried on the test and the test results put me in the severe ADHD category. i wonder if adhd could be possible reason for reverse reaction to caffeine. with lower dosages of adhd medication, i actually feel slowed down and even feel tired and can fall asleep easily. No matter how ADHD a person i feel, is if I take a high enough dosage the slowing down and tiredness eventually gives me the effects a stimulant should. For me to feel stimulated i need to exceed almost triple the dosage at one time. opiates from the most common to the very powerful usually cause most people to be drowsy and fall asleep, i only had that affect the first few times i ever tried opiates before it acted almost like a stimulant and would make me feel more awake even at high dosages of strong opiates. both the over the counter sleep aids luckily work if i take 5-10x the dosage depending on the day. Sad to say i need to take so many and go through them so fast but it works. Xanax does wonders for me and i dont even need a high dosage to make it work like it should for me. Xanax is my sleep aid of choice. most people though probably feel groggy when they wake up which i do not seem to have that problem.

No two people are alike, so what works for one person may not work for another..... However, I have taken both medications (independent of each one) for several years and I can ONLY speak from my experience....
Diphenhydramine HCL worked great for a while. I decided to cut back because it can't be good to take an over the counter med for a long time, right? Skipping a day here and there was good, but I still was not sleeping soundly so decided to switch to doxylamine succinate.... Stopping diphenhydramine HCL brought on an INCREDIBLE itching attack like I could NOT believe........ And it made me realize that the occasional "skip the dose" here and there, bringing on itching, was related..... Needless to say I will NO longer or ever again take diphenhydramine HCL. I also went to the FDA site and recorded the fact that for me it brought on an incredible withdrawal reaction (for what it is worth!).
I have read that tinnitus can be a side effect with doxylamine succinate but since I have had that for years I can't say that it has exacerbated the ringing in my ears.....
I am wondering if my current unusual level of irritability is due to doxylamine succinate, but could very well be due to poor sleep......
Oh well, I am VERY leary to take some of the prescription drugs due to adverse reactions (I've experienced on Tramazone, Pammelor and Elavil) and feel that working out hard to a real sweat is a better solution.
Here's to a better night's sleep (as elusive as it is!).

The doctor above (myrah) is leaving out one important fact.

The human body builds up a SUPER FAST tolerance to Diphenhydramine, making it virtually useless after a few days of consecutive use. Clinical studies have shown that after 4 consecutive days it has virtually no effect anymore. You can search on Google and verify this fact.

This is not true for Doxylamine Succinate, which is much harder for the body to build a tolerance to.

I've personally found this to be true. Diphenhydramine works great for me -- but after a few days it has no effect on me anymore (zero effect) unless I stop taking it for a while.

But Doxylamine Succinate always works for me and I've never developed a 'tolerance' to it.

Have you tried other warm drinks before bed?