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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Clonidine - New prescription...now what?

N

NoCatharsis

Greenlighter
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
15
I've been taking Ambien for 2-3 years for insomnia, but my tolerance is so high now that it barely helps me go to sleep.

My doc gave me a script for clonidine today and I'm going to give it a shot tonight. I have 0.2mg pills. I'm familiar with benzos and opioids, but I have no idea what an "α2 adrenergic agonist" is (pulled from Wikipedia's description). What should I expect?

With Ambien, the effect was more of a detachment, not a drowsiness. My mind is very active, so the Ambien helped to shorten my memory and detach my thoughts enough that I could drift off. Is clonidine anything like that?
 
No, clonidine is used to lower blood pressure and its a sedative. NOTHING like ambien.

-> BDD?
 
No, clonodine is not a replacement for Ambien for the reasons that C2TL laid out. I don't know what your doctor's up to, but there are a lot of options besides Clonodine. In fact, I don't even think that prescribing it is helpful at all.

Really, I don't get it. I'm not calling bs on you at all, just questioning your doctor's judgement. I've never heard of a psych doc prescribing Clonodine for sleep. It seems to me that the logical choice would be a sedating benzo, but maybe your doctor wants to de-drug you.

Or maybe s/he mixed up Clonodine and Klonopin. I wouldn't be surprised. I've had doctors who are that uninformed and/or spacy. My spine doctor hadn't heard that there are 10/325 hydros and he's been practicing for many years. Or it's possible that your doctor thought s/he was prescribing Klonopin but just had a brain freeze and wrote the wrong med.
 
clonidine is used to treat high blood pressure, and to help ease opioid withdrawal symptoms. I'm not sure what dose they put you on, I can't imagine more than 0.2mg if it's for sleep; however, even at that dosage, until you start to tolerate it, you might notice if you get up quickly, or move quickly that you'll have distorted vision, a sudden cold flush feeling, stumbliness, etc. It's because of the lowering of blood pressure, and should eventually go away, or become less common. I haven't had luck with it for sleep, unless I'm in a panic attack, combined with my alprazolam. However, that's not to say it won't work for you, as many other people I know, and have spoke with, say it does indeed help with their sleep. I don't know anyone who has been on it for anything but a withdrawal medication, as anyone I know who's had high blood pressure has been on something else. I'm not sure how much that changes the ability to ease you into sleep, or if it does at all.
 
I think Restoril (temazepam), as as sedative benzo would work better than Klonopin, or Ambien. Of course, there are plenty of other options out there. Trazadone is frequently use, and it doesn't couse as much, or as long lasting grogginess.
 
Clonidine is often used off-label as a sleeping aid. If I remember right, there are a number of links off the Wikipedia page for Clonidine related to the clinical use of Clonidine as a downer to counteract Methylphenidate/Amphetamines in ADD/ADHD cases.

Take as directed. Theres a good chance it will work better than hypnotics (Ambien) at putting you to sleep. There is an increased risk of rebound syndrome- so don't raise the dose or go off of it without consulting a doctor.
 
Clonidine helped me sleep big time. I'd take like .2-.3mg and half hours later cound't keep my eyes open. It works for sleep, not only for me for for others also.

xanax also works very well for sleep for me or temazepam, but those have much more dependency issues. Maybe talk w/ the doc to sometimes take the benzos and somee times clonidine.
 
^why? If you are going to make such clear-cut statements why not back them up and offer a little support?

I think Tchort laid it out pretty well. Clonidine is frequently prescribed off-label for insomnia and anxiolysis and provides many benefits over recreational and habituating options.

If the OP described the ambien effect like that to his doctor, the doctor might have suspected he was abusing them... I'm not saying he was, but either way a drug like ambien has not been studied for long-term effectiveness and if he's required hypnotics for 2-3 years already I think it was probably a good call on the doctor's end to find something with less abuse potential.

With that said, I wouldn't expect clonidine to be his first choice over other more common options like trazodone, ramelteon, or one of the first generation antihistamines. Regardless, as long as you simply want a medication to sleep and not to abuse, the clonidine should work very well for you.

___________________________
@Tchort- its great to see you around, man! I've missed your extremely well-informed, expansive posts around this place!
 
I snorted clonidine a few days ago, I think I snorted about .2g and ate about the same amount. I didn't notice anything but I was high on stims and sleeping pills, and tried valium for the first time that day, so I don't think I would've felt effects unless they were strong. It didn't do anything for me. But the others are right about its effects. My poor nose >_<
As the others have mentioned, it's strange that you'd be prescribed clonidine to treat insomnia, considering the other options.
 
Lord said:
I snorted clonidine a few days ago, I think I snorted about .2g and ate about the same amount. I didn't notice anything but I was high on stims and sleeping pills, and tried valium for the first time that day, so I don't think I would've felt effects unless they were strong. It didn't do anything for me. But the others are right about its effects. My poor nose >_<
As the others have mentioned, it's strange that you'd be prescribed clonidine to treat insomnia, considering the other options.
Click to expand...

You snorted it ?:? That's interesting...

Clonodine I haven't heard of being used much as a sleeping aid, unless to aid people during opiate withdrawal. As others have said I'd verify that this is the drug he/she meant to prescribe. If you have a say in things I'd ask what other options are available. I was prescribed temazepam for sleep and it worked great-I'd highly recommend it.
 
Clonidine is used for a whole batch of off label reasons. Sleep is often one. Personally i believe it would potentiate the effect of Ambien simply by lowering your blood pressure, frankly a smart doc would not combine the two for sleep issues because if Ambien isn't working it is time to switch to something stronger. Ambien is tolerance grows fast not as fast as benzos but almost. I would try a Benzo for sleep but know that you will never be able to go back to ambiem working. Once Benzotised you are not likely going to fall asleep with out espcially with a Z drug!
 
Tchort said:
Clonidine is often used off-label as a sleeping aid. If I remember right, there are a number of links off the Wikipedia page for Clonidine related to the clinical use of Clonidine as a downer to counteract Methylphenidate/Amphetamines in ADD/ADHD cases.

Take as directed. Theres a good chance it will work better than hypnotics (Ambien) at putting you to sleep. There is an increased risk of rebound syndrome- so don't raise the dose or go off of it without consulting a doctor.
Click to expand...
Good too see you around man. Take your jacket off, stay awhile. :)
 
its a short acting drug... If it works for sleep for you... Good... but theres just so many other pills out there that would work Alot better.

altho i hate clonidine, it can be usefull when needed in cirtain situations.
 
I'm the OP and sorry I haven't been around for a while to comment on any of the replies. There is a bit more to the story that I should have added in the first post...

For one, I never really abused ambien, at least not recreationally. I had gotten to the point where I would take it to get tired and force myself to sleep, but end up staying awake because it never actually made me tired. I admit I enjoyed the feeling, but I would definitely prefer any list of other drugs for recreational use over Ambien. I prefer to actually remember the fun times I had the night before if I'm going to go recreational!

Secondly, I am on Adderall and my tolerance is very high considering years of continuous (legal) usage. This has led to consistent insomnia, and I was an insomniac my whole life before I ever took Adderall. I found many resources online referring to the effectiveness of clonidine in conjunction with stimulant usage, so I assumed this was the reason my doctor gave it to me. And I admit it definitely calms my heart rate and finally makes me sleepy enough to actually sleep. However, if my mind is restless enough, the clonidine cannot do for me what the Ambien can do.

On a separate note, I have a question considering the clonidine. I recently refilled my Adderall script from a different pharmacy and received a generic brand I had never had before (Eon/Sandoz). About the same time is when I started taking clonidine. Suddenly last week I started experiencing panic attacks during the day when taking my Adderall, which had never happened to me before in 3 years of stim usage. Would this be a side effect of the clonidine, the new generic, or a combination of the two?

Thanks.
 
i know i have heard not so good things about nuerotin and seraquill,,,but hey i heard not so good of things about heroin but that didnt stop me.
anyway,,ambian never helped at all,,,lunesta did until my insurance quit covering it,,as far as the benzo's,,i have problems with relapse there so that wouldnt work for mr,,so in the end i use both nuerotin and seraqyl at night and it works for me,,and believe me i have some real problems when it comes to sleep.
anyway,,i just joined your forum,,you might recognize me from other forums ,,but just wanted to say hey!
Tattoo Tommy
 
my psyc prescibed me .3 for sleep been on it for 4 fours now and i am trying to get switched to either temazapam, ambien, or lunesta any suggestions
 
Yes, temazepam (Restoril) will knock your ass out, but it should be used temporarily as it's highly addictive. Not recommended for chronic insomnia because you'll find it will stop working, and then have horrendous withdraws to deal with.
 
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