Medication could be worse behind the wheel than alcohol

A University of Iowa study finds people who’re taking certain allergy medications may be more dangerous behind the wheel than drunk drivers. Researchers found test subjects who used Benadryl were more impaired on the driving simulator than those who were given alcohol.Dr. John Weiler (WY’-ler) is a U-of-I professor of internal medicine and lead author of the study. He says the results of this study should send out a warning to people who have allergies and use these drugs for relief — since the start of allergy season is just a few weeks away.Dr. Weiler says people in the study were given either the allergy drugs, alcohol or sugar pills and were then put in the driving simulator in Iowa City, where they were tested on things like reaction time, speed and staying in their lane.He says there were several simulated “crashes” for people who took the allergy medication — adding — they performed on the bottom of virtually every category. While non-prescription allergy medications already come with warnings, Dr. Weiler says people may need to pay closer attention to what those warnings say. The study appears in today’s edition of “Annals of Internal Medicine.”