Is Scopolamine the active ingredient in Dramamine?
Dimenhydrinate (marketed under brand names Dramamine, Gravol, Gravamin, and Vertirosan) is an over-the-counter drug used to prevent nausea and motion sickness. It is marketed in Portugal as Viabom, but in prescription format. It is most commonly used as pills, although it is also available in liquid form and in suppositories. This last is particularly useful in the case of persistent vomiting. It is closely related to diphenhydramine HCl, or Benadryl. The differences relate to the weight-for-weight potency (50 mg dimenhydrinate contains 27.2 mg of the drug diphenhydramine), delay of action (dimenhydrinate must dissociate into diphenhydramine and its counterion in the body before it is active, therefore diphenhydramine produces effects sooner), and degree of sedation produced. Chemically, dimenhydrinate is a salt of two drugs: diphenhydramine and 8-chlorotheophylline, a chlorinated derivative of the theophylline. Theophylline is very closely related to caffeine and theobromine, mild cen
