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Bad reaction to BP med: Clonidine


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This is just an alert about what happened to me.  It may not happen to anyone else, but I feel like I should pass it on.  I suspect it may be an inappropriate med during Benzo withdrawal.

 

My Dr. wanted me to try this as an adjunct to Lisinopril.  It's a short acting (8 hr) BP med.  It works by lowering adrenal activity and supposedly has a sedating effect.  For me, it caused horrible anxiety, INCREASED BP, insomnia, agitation, and some weird, very unpleasant mental stuff bordering on hallucinition.  Again, this might be just me, but...

 

I researched this stuff before I took it but found nothing indicating a problem.  If anyone has had an experience with this stuff, pass it along.

 

 

Joe

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Pulled this off drugs.com:

 

Nervous system side effects have included drowsiness (28%), dizziness (9%), somnolence (19%), fatigue (13%), headache (19%), irritability (6%), insomnia (6%), nightmares (3%), body temperature increased (1%), abnormal sleep-related event (1%), and tremor (3%). Patients with decreased autoregulation of cerebral blood flow appear to be at increased risk for clonidine-induced cerebral hypoperfusion if blood pressure is lowered too much or too quickly. This may be important in some elderly patients. Confusion (13.2%) and hallucinations (5.3%) have been reported with epidural usage. Dose-dependent sedative effects, memory impairment, and reduced cognitive performance have been reported in subjects receiving intravenous clonidine.

 

Well, looks like I had an acute reaction...  I still wonder if it's an appropriate med for us.

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Joe, do you happen to have a link to that article? If not, don't go hunting. I'll google.  :)

 

Just wanted you to know I've been taking clonidine for 20 months. I didn't have any immeidate reaction and it did calm me and probably aided sleep. However, it's now under suspicion to be causing some adrenal suppression, as you indicated. I'm only on .2 mg but I'm finding it difficult to wean off of. I feel anxious and generally terrible when I go lower and my BP tends to rebound.

 

I think this stuff is soluble in water. Starting today, I'm going to start titrating and reduce by 10% per day and keep a close watch on the BP.

 

I'm sorry you had trouble and thanks for bringing it up.  :thumbsup:

Flip

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If you google it, you should find it.  I'll try to look it up in a bit though.  I just talked to my neighbor who's an ER Dr; she was telling me how inappropriate it was for long term.  I also saw an article about withdrawing from it.  Seems you have to use a beta-blocker or other meds while doing so.  I'm refuse to take anything by Lisinipril at this point.  I'm having a pretty rough time from the Clonidine.
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So what is the best route to take if a person has Blood Pressure without having to depend on medication? perhaps maybe trying to bring it down holistic and nutritionally?
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I've been using Lisinipril which has usually performed well.  Unfortunately my BP has been wonky during this experience so my Dr prescribed Clonidine for supplemental use.  Obviously that didn't work out.

 

There's info on Wikipedia regarding Clonidine withdrawal.  It sounds complicated so you're gonna need to do so with your Dr involved.  Research it so you have an idea of what's involved.

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[72...]
This med reaction continues to be a horror for me today.  Extreme anxiety and headaches. Y mantra from near the start has been "Don't trust doctors!".  I can't believe I let my guard down!
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