Clonidine?

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Doctor wants to put me on this for wd. I haven't started it yet! I wanted to hear your opinions about the drug! Thanks!

[[Pa...]]

I took it for a few days after my CT to help with my blood pressure.  Quit taking it when my pressure came down.

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Well my bp goes up a little with the anxiety from wd especially social anxiety. Otherwise, it is normal. My dosage is 1 mg twice a day. Just don't want my bp to get too low. Also ,I don't want to get addicted to it.

[[Pa...]]

Wiki says this:  Clonidine is regularly prescribed to opiate addicts to help alleviate their withdrawal symptomology. It is mainly used to combat the sympathetic nervous system response to opiate withdrawal, namely tachycardia and hypertension, in the initial days of withdrawals.[6] It helps take away the sweating, hot/cold flashes, and general restlessness. The sedation effect is also useful although its side effects can include insomnia, thus exacerbating an already common feature of opiate withdrawal.[7]

 

Not sure if it's used for benzo withdrawal, but we get these symptoms too.

 

My feeling is....it's better to get through this as naturally as possible.  We all know that time will heal you, if you could give it a chance it will.

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Thanks Pam I'm still debating on what to do! I prefer do it naturally as well! Thanks!

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Yoda -

 

If you do decide to try it, I would recommend you think about taking considerably less than the 1mg the doc prescribed, at least to start.  I'm not sure the pills can be split so that may be a factor.  Anyway, 1mg isn't an especially small dose from what I've read.  This is from

the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders (sorry about the title; that's just what came up.)

 

Recommended dosage

Dosages of 0.4–0.6 mg have been used for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal. Total daily dosage for the treatment of opiate withdrawal range between 0.5 and 1.4 mg, depending on the stage as well as the severity of withdrawal symptoms.

 

Read more: http://www.minddisorders.com/Br-Del/Clonidine.html#ixzz0RiYfVITI

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Hi Yoda,

 

I was prescribed .1 mg clonidine for opioid withdrawals.  It worked really well.  I did get severe insomnia though...whether from clonidine or w/d's or both, I don't know. 

 

I also tried the same dose when I got a racing heart beat when getting off benzos (Klon.).  It didn't work at all.   And just gave me some weird symptoms.  What worked better for me was tapering a bit slower to keep my heart rate below 100.  I didn't want to throw a bunch of other drugs into an already confusing situation!  Also, have you ever noticed that when you go to drs, you get drugs?  Kind of like....when you go to a florist, you get flowers? 

 

adelia