Fort Worth

MedStar Responds to Apparent Overdoses at Two North Texas Schools

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Multiple students were treated at two North Texas high schools for overdose-like symptoms this week, Medstar officials say.

Matt Zavadsky with MedStar said of the five students who were treated at Shannon High School in Haltom City on Friday, two were transported to hospitals. Three were treated on the scene and released to their parents.

“During the course of the assessment and those types of things, it came out that this may have been part of a TikTok challenge that these kids were participating in,” Zavadsky said.

“According to the information that was available at the scene, these kids may have ingested a large amount of Benadryl. Oddly, that was also apparently in the TikTok string challenging kids to do take a whole bunch of Benadryl and see how they do.”

In September 2020, the FDA issued a warning about taking higher than recommended dosages of the common allergy medicine in response to the “Benadryl Challenge” that had been trending on the social media app TikTok. Taking higher than recommended dosages can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death, according to the FDA.

The incident at Shannon High School was the second time this week MedStar officials responded to a high school for overdose symptoms.

Zavadsky said on Thursday, three students at Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth were sent to hospitals after ingesting an unknown substance. Their symptoms included nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, he said.

“When you see that large number of incidents happening in such a short time frame, you really begin to be concerned what might be circulating on social media,” Zavadsky said.

“We don’t know if the incident that happened yesterday also was a social media challenge. However, when you have these types of unique circumstances happening in a very close proximity, the ere of suspicion is somewhat raised.”

He’s urging parents and caretakers to be mindful of what their students may be doing or following online in hopes of avoiding future situations like the ones this week.

A spokesperson for Birdville ISD confirmed two students were transported to a hospital Friday after becoming ill at school, though he was unable to discuss any specific medical conditions.

NBC 5 also reached out to a spokesperson for Fort Worth ISD on Friday. As of this writing, we have not received a response.

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