Clonidine

[Kitsakatsa]

I'm on clonidine at night and I've been having some slightly (at the time) distressing symptoms. The thing is, I'm not sure whether to tell my physician because I'm afraid he will D/C the Clonidine. The drug slightly reduces my AM nausea and after 3.5 years, that is a something that is priceless. During the day, I'm bound and determine to hang on to the drug, but I get a little nervous to take it as night draws near.

I have the re-occuring dream that someone is giving me a hand transplant. On this drug, I have hallucinations nearly every night, but during this dream I wake up to hallucinations and severe pain in my hands and arms. They feel like they are vibrating, like they have machinery in them. I sometimes hear things and sometimes there is a wierd taste in my mouth. For the last several times, I've been completely awake. I even tried to get out of bed last time and felt sooo sick. I happened to be at my parent's house and even when I was sitting with them, my arms and hands were painful and tingly.

It sounds pretty wierd, but I just can't face the nausea increasing if this drug is d/c'd. I will do nearly anything to keep that misery from coming back. Has anyone had these experiences? What did your physician ultimately recommend?

Kitsa

[yogini]

I don't know anything about this drug, but it's usually a good idea to talk to your dr if you are experiencing unusual symptoms. If you're worried about losing the med, maybe you could look online to see what the side effects are (to see if this is a normal one) and/or talk to your pharmacist before talking to the dr. Sometimes new drugs take a little getting used to, so hopefully that's all it is.

[dizzygirl]

kitsa~

i can relate your not wanting to go off the drug due to your nausea.. and also the hallucinations!

i have been on clonidine since i first saw dr grubb in 2003.. and it has been one of the only drugs that has given me relief.....it has been a godsent to me .

BUT.. the side-effects from the clonidine.. are and can be quite rough.. I have expereinced hallucinations since ive been on the "PILL" form of clonidine.. but not on the patch form of clonidine.. why i dont know...I also get mood swings and fatigue from this med too..

the type of hallucination i have... is i will wake up and i will be fully awake and look at my boyfriend.. and he will look to me like decomposed corpse... it scares the crud out me.. i know im not nuts.. and it my medication.. but holy crud i can understand you feeling on this..it doesnt happen as often as you are describing..

I would talk to your doctor..see waht he/she says.. what kind of clonidine are you on? pill or patch?

there are pill forms of clonidne and there are patches that you can use too..

I have used both..I like the patch form better.. it offered a more constant stream of cloninde to my system...and i did not have hallucination problems while using the patch like i do using the pills.

your not alone on this dear.. ive talked to other who have had issues with clonidine..some choose to stay on it.. while other dont...

like i said.. i dont have ahallucinations every night like you are.. and if i did i think i would consider going off clonidine b/c i dont think i could handle that every night.. right now i get it once in a while.. and i generally need to up my clonidine dose.. and then im fine again until i need ton increase it.. its weird but the way it is..

I wish you luck in talking with your doc and hoping that you both can come up with something to help you..

one more thought.. can you tweak your dose or play around with the timings of you clondine? maybe take it earlier or something?

mabe your bp is too low.. dropping in your sleep? i do believe that low BP can do hallucinations as well..(somebody correct me if im wrong on this.. i seem to remember reading that ..)..and that is how your body deal with the drop in pressure.. our bodies do very odd things when we are getting enough blood/oxygen.. to our brain.....

good luck

hugs

linda

[AJVDK]

This is just a thought, but I problems with the pill form of clonidne, But the patch worked great for me. I was able to handle the patch much better. Just a idea for you. One nice thing to about the patch is it last for 7 days also so it less pills to take. (I did better with sleeping on the patch)

There was on night when I was on the pill, (i also had a pain pill, and my heart med that night) but I thought all the picture on my walls came to life and I was freaking out I woke my husband up the was telling him, I stopped taking Clonide after about 3 month and I felt did better off of it.

I would talk to you doctor, and tell him/her everything. Hopfully your doctor will understand and can find whats going to be best for you!

Good luck

[Kitsakatsa]

I'm on pill. I asked about patch and was told that it would make me way too drowsy during the day (the pill is like anesthesia for me). Is this true? Are you guys drowsy on the patch?

Holy Crud is right! A corpse? I would wig. Yeah, the hallucinations are pretty trippy. I just think there are probably people who would pay good money for this drug! It is so scary at the time and then the next morning, I feel so dumb for being so scared of Clifford the Big Red Dog materializing out of the drapery:) I get a big shot of adrenaline when I see these things and the fight/flight response. It happens nearly every night and it is hard to go back to sleep- so I like the idea of maybe starting the drug earlier or even patch. How often do you change your patches?

[cardiactec]

I have taken this med, and i can tell you, it also helped a little with my nausea but totally wasnt worth it to me, as i too had hallucinations while on this med..........i repeatedly literally kept seeing a dead man in my room, and i couldnt tell sometimes if i was dreaming (actually asleep) or if i was awake when i saw this - that is how messed up i was on this med......

there are many other drugs out there to try to help with your nausea, though i have pretty much exhausted all pharmaceutical agents to help with MY nausea, without success............I am guessing this is the case with you....but if not, please try some other med as it is not worth dealing with these crazy symptoms you are having from clonodine - no med with worth taking if you are literally scared to take the drug because of the symptoms you are getting from it.......

I would talk to your doctor about this. this is nothing to be taken lightly.

also, have they figured out the cause of the nausea? for example, if it is due to gastroparesis, perhaps they can try pro-motility meds on you to help with nausea.....

take care.

[Maxine]

Wow,

I'm just wondering what is in this drug to cause you all to hallucinate...............

I was prescribed this drug when I was mis-diagnosed with "hyper adrengic" POTS. I have POTS, but my catecholimine levels were in the normal range. I didn't take the drug, as my BPs were already very low, and I sensed the drug could only be trouble for me.

I told the NP prescribing the drug that My BP was really low, and asked if this would be a wise choice.

After having my cardiac loop recorder inserted, local anesthetic (lidocaine) was used, and I had a toxic reaction due to systematic circulation. My body was in flight or fight response for a while, and I had an increase in anxiety----------but this did not necessarily mean I have "hyper adrengic" POTS. On my next appointment with the NP, I asked to have my catecholamines tested before I take the clonidine.

I was finally prescribed Klonopin by the Doctor, and it helped calm things down.

Uggggg-----you all don't need this when you finally find a drug to help you with your symptoms. I'm so sorry------maybe the patch will work without the hallucinations. That has to be pretty scary. I had hallucinations on an anti-nausea drug given to me back in Feb 2001. It was horrible. Every time I close my eyes I saw what was on the TV in my head. I had a visit to the ER after having an ednoscope done. I had a reaction to the sedation drugs they used, and I wound up with tachycardia that was too high for my comfort zone considering I had increased the beta blocker dose that previous december---I was scared.

The RN there said he will give me something to relax me, and I told him NOOOOOOOO, and that I was already having problems with a reaction to something else. Before I knew it he was adding the drug into my IV. They wheeled me down to x-ray to take a picture of my abdomin--( the usual ER routine-- ) I thought I was on a bad trip, and told the x-ray techs that I could not get off the bed-----I thought If I moved I would lose my mind. They worked around it, and did the x-ray while I was in the bed.

That night they sent me home------(I ended up going to my parent's house so I wouldn't keep my husband awake). I was extremely restless, and I had dry heaves. I was jealous of my dog because she could sleep. I had not slept in over 24 hours, and I wanted to sleep. My mind was definately a train wreck on this drug. Finally I fell asleep with Hogan's heros inside my head. It was late at night, and TV land channel was on-------------(I was grateful for the 3 hours sleep I got).

I know what it feels like to have this type of reaction, but it was on a different drug. I never did get the name of the drug. It was at a different ER, and I never did get the records.

Maxine :0)

[dizzygirl]

kits~

you change the patch once a week.. the obnly reason i do not use the patch instead is i have an allergy to the sticky stuff...they have 3 different strengths... you can shower with it on and everything..

like i said in my earlier post.. i have been on clonidine since 2003.. it does take some getting used to both the patch and the pill...

I also wanted to mention.. again about maybe your BP is getting to low at night and "maybe " that is in part along with those adremline spikes.. that you are hallucinating..

Uhm im not aloud to take my clonidine at night.. if my bp is lower then 120/70..b/c it can drop you too low at night.. this is coming from my potsy doc...

and clonidine is suppose to help with adrenaline surges...

uh oh yea.. the patch making you drowsy.. yes it can make you drowsy when ever you take.. if you go to patch form.. make sure you start out on the #1 patch.. i dont remember the exact dose of the patchs.. hopefully you will get used to the drowsiness.. i can be truthfull.. that i still get really sleep 4 years later after taking my doses.. some days i can fight it.. other days i can not..

But seriously.. hallucinations are not a cool sideffect of any medication...if they dont stop after tweaking your med.. i would hate to see you deal with this type of thing all the time..

though i get your hesitatnce in going off of it...

If i had hallucinatins where i saw the dead guy every night instead of only when my meds need upped.. i would NOT be on clonidine any longer.. i dont care how much it helps with things... having an adrenaline rush like that everynight really runs ya ragged..

hope that you can work something out dear

hugs

linda