Is Benadryl The Medicine To Take For The Itchiness Of Body Rash ?

Posted on Mon, 11 Jun 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 Answered on

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : My husband inquired yesterday about a body rash associated with mono yesterday. Is Benadryl the medicine to take for the itchiness or is there a prescription that our doctor may call in? It did not itch for the first 24 hrs but is now itching severly.

Answered by Dr. Aparna Kohli (1 hour later)

Hi
Thanks for writing in.
For any itchy rash, Benadryl would be effective. He can take 1 tablet at bedtime as it would cause severe drowsiness. He should also not be handling any machinery or driving after that.
I presume that your husband has infectious mononucleosis. However, it is unlikely that his itchy rash is due to mononucleosis unless he has received antibiotics like ampicillin, amoxicillin or a cephalosporin. In that case, this rash is not due to mononucleosis but a hypersensitivity reaction to one of the drugs. Infectious mononucleosis usually causes a non itchy rash and you may want to re-confirm with your dermatologist about the cause of the rash.
Hope that helps.
I will be happy to address any more concerns.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar