Centennial paper: Beta dimethylaminoethyl benzhydryl ether hydrochloride (benadryl) in treatment of urticaria by Arthur C. Curtis and Betty Brechner Owens.

1. Beta dimethylaminoethyl benzhydryl ether hydrochloride (Benadryl) is a member of a new group of pharmacologically active antihistamine drugs. 2. Its use in amounts of 50 to 100 mg. given orally one to five times daily to a diverse group of 18 patients with both acute and chronic urticaria is reported. 3. Eleven patients experienced prompt relief of symptoms as long as the drug was taken. Three had definite and real improvement, and many of the wheals which did appear were not pruritic. Four patients were not benefited. 4. The drug has a wide margin of safety, and the only toxic manifestations noted were drowsiness and muscular aching (2 cases) and dizziness, weakness and vertigo (1 case). No cumulative toxic symptoms were noted in patients who ingested the drug as long as six or seven months. All toxic symptoms promptly disappeared when the drug was discontinued. 5. The effect is palliative, and in many patients the urticaria recurred when the administration of the drug was discontinued. 6. Since an antihistamine drug seems to be effective in controlling urticaria, it may be assumed that this is further indirect evidence that histamine is a factor in the production of urticaria.