dimenhydrinate, antihistamine used to treat nausea, chiefly that which occurs in motion sickness, and also in the symptomatic treatment of vertigo, such as in Ménière syndrome, a disease of the inner ear. Dimenhydrinate, a synthetic drug introduced into medicine in 1949, is administered orally in tablet or syrup form. Its duration of action is about four hours. The most common side effect is drowsiness.