Clonidine question.
 

I started taken clonidine Sat. morning for the sweating and I have not slept for 3 nights. I am wondering if it might be causing the sleeping problems.
From what I have read it is suppose to help a person sleep.

Sunday when I took it I drove to the store and was going to go visit a friend about 6 blocks away but as soon as I left the store I knew I had to get home, I shouldn't be driving. I was so tired, dizzy and out of it, and still can't sleep.

The other problem I am having with it which I know is going to make me go off of it is the chest pain. Certain meds cause me to have chest pain. It took us 5 years to get my chest pain to where it was tolerable and we have been able to get it completely calmed down in the past year and a half and now the Clonidine starts it up again. The Drs. have no ideal why the meds do this to me. To me it feels like an ulcer in my left side near my heart but the Drs. have said it wasn't possible. I got shots in that area to calm it down. It took 100's to do it so that's why I am not anxious to get it going again.

My Dr. turned my VNS back on last night but turned it all the way back down due to the chest pain .He says he'd rather go slow as to cause more problems.

I doubled up on my Prevacid to try and help with the chest pain to see if that will help me be able to take the clonidine. It has helped completely with the sweating, that's why I want to keep at it.

I was wondering if any of you had the sleep problem with it. I am trying to figure what to do about staying on it. Does the sleep problems finally calm down? Did the dizziness finally calm down?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Ada

Hello Ada...
 

Have you tried taking the clonidine at night instead?

What dose are you taking now? Is it a high one?

Clonidine also lowers blood pressure, which may be the reason you have
the lightheaded/dizzy feeling.

Clonidine is used for Tourette's, ADHD, blood pressure, and addiction control.
It is a pretty complex drug.

It will cause sedation in most people. And for that reason it is typically taken at night. A rare paradoxical irritablility may occur with is too. It has made some
patients --about 2% --hypomanic. This happened to me when I was on it for
blood pressure. In about 3 weeks, I could no longer sleep. I had to discontinue it. That experience was horrible for me...never had anything like THAT from a blood pressure tablet!
http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/11/1/58/T5

It is not wise to stop clonidine cold turkey if you have been on it for at least 2 weeks. It can cause a rebound hypertension. So a taper off it advised when you decide to stop it.

hmm
 

Hi Ada..
I just looked up Prevacid and angina can be a side effect of that too in a very small percentage, and it can raise your blood pressure which is mabie alot to do with how it helped with the clonidine, one lowers the blood pressure the other raises it.. I have tried neither drug myself, but thought I'd throw in my 2 cents cause I wory.

http://gerd.emedtv.com/prevacid/prev...ffects-p2.html

:hug: