Yet another social media fad has forced the FDA to step in to issue a warning. This time, the organization is begging people to stay away from the “sleepy chicken” challenge, which involves coating poultry in NyQuil.
What is the sleepy chicken or NyQuil chicken challenge?
The Internet has provided a slew of ridiculous, dangerous, and deadly challenges that typically spread like wildfire on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and now most prominently, TikTok.
Everyone’s heard of the Tide Pod challenge, where teens challenged one another to eat the laundry detergent packets. Another is the pass-out challenge or choking game, which has led to at least 82 deaths.
Now, the latest challenge is the “sleepy chicken challenge” or “NyQuil chicken challenge,” which involves people slathering, coating, submerging, or boiling chicken in the over-the-counter cold medication NyQuil.
The danger comes not only in ingesting the chicken but also from the vapors that escape during the cooking process, as boiling a medication can change some of its chemical properties.
FDA issues warning over sleepy/NyQuil chicken challenge
“Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways,” the FDA wrote. “Even if you don’t eat the chicken, inhaling the medication’s vapors while cooking could cause high levels of the drugs to enter your body. It could also hurt your lungs.”
“Put simply: Someone could take a dangerously high amount of the cough and cold medicine without even realizing it,” the FDA warning added.
The FDA advised parents to inform their children of the dangers and point out that overdoses can also occur with over-the-counter drugs, CBS reported.
What is NyQuil?
NyQuil is primarily marketed as an over-the-counter remedy for cold and flu symptoms.
According to manufacturer Vicks, “NyQuil Cough, Cold & Flu medicine helps to get relief from nighttime symptoms including headache, fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat,” and more.
NyQuil contains three active ingredients:
1. acetaminophen: For fever and pain relief.
2. Dextromethorphan (DXM): A cough suppressant
3. Doxylamine: An antihistamine (anti-allergy) that also causes drowsiness and helps people sleep
NyQuil side effects: Blurred vision, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth/nose/throat, lightheadedness, nausea and vomiting, nervousness and excitability, stomach pain. NyQuil should not be combined with alcohol or other antidepressants. More info on side effects.
