Clonidine for Anxiety&Panic Disorder?

[BarClay]

Does anyone here have any experience with the use of Clonidine for anxiety and/or panic disorder?

I have extreme GAD and Panic Disorder and my new psychiatrist is slowly weaning me off of Xanax,
and only replacing it with 20mg Prozac and a bunch of Seroquel spaced throughout the day.

I requested Lyrica and Clonidine because I've heard they are good replacements for benzos with
less horrid WDs, and the doc flat out denied me Lyrica, but said that she'd give me Clonidine at
our next appt (in two weeks).

She told me "It won't help you, but I'll give it to you at our next appointment."

Any thoughts on this? Or suggestions in general?

 

[T. Calderone]

Clonidine is meant for controlling blood pressure but used off market for other conditions. Same for seroquel, because it's an antipsychotic and doctors have no problem prescribing it to help people sleep. Personally, I don't like seroquel because I had bad reactions to it. It was horrible for me. I don't know why this doctor won't give lyrica because it has way less side effects. Is this a new doctor for you?

 

[BarClay]

Yea, I've had one appointment with her, after I told my last psychiatrist to fuck off for ridiculously over-medicating me.

There is absolutely no chance at getting Lyrica out of her, which is what I was really hoping for...

I take 50mg of Seroquel every night to knock me out, and about the same amount throughout the day, maybe a bit less.
I just hate how her plan is to use a sedative so I don't feel anything, rather than anti-anxiety meds.
Would clonidine help my anxiety at all? Keep in mind that it's fairly extraordinary anxiety.

A combo of an SSRI, busiprone, and seroquel didn't do a damned thing. Ended up on 4mg xanax /day, which I'm currently weaning off of.

 

[T. Calderone]

Can you get with another psych doctor or go back to the other one? The current doctor is not helping much it seems.

 

[BarClay]

My last one is out of the question. He was a complete moron with zero regard for my health,
and lied to my parents (I'm 17, and refused to sign any release forms and still do) saying that
I "heavily abused Xanax" because at the end of one month, i was 3 pills short out of 120.
Honest reason: I dropped the bottle in my messy ass room and apparently didn't find them all.

And I'm pretty much stuck with this psych, or headed to a psych ward. No other choices.
Any recommendations?
This psych refused to answer when I asked "If in two weeks, or a month, my anxiety
is coming back, what's your plan to handle it if you know that SSRI's don't work, and that seroquel barely helps?"

Also, thanks for your help

 

[laCster]

clonidine is an alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonist which inhibits the release of norepinephrine in the CNS significantly reducing psychological stimulation/stress, while also reducing physical side-effects from anxiety or a panic attack i.e. sweating, trembles, voice shaking, ect.. i attest through experience that clonidine worked astonishingly well when i had to take public speaking as a class, and i fucking hate public speaking, but it wasnt bad with clonidine. clonidine and other alpha-2 agonists are best for performance anxiety, but they are alright for anxiety..

 

[T. Calderone]

So this doctor does pills counts? Fuck that and go to the psych ward. I wouldn't normally recommend this because being hospitalized sucks. I'd rather go to jail instead of hospital. Tell them you're alcoholic/drug addicted and at least they will help you with librium as opposed to nothing.

 

[BlueHues]

^I've taken clonidine for opiate withdrawals multiple times, which isn't the same thing as benzo wd. They worked okay for awhile, but seem to really do nothing after a week or so of taking them. They are dangerous to take too many off because they can dramatically lower your blood pressure. I fell into a wall and almost passed out from them when I got out of bed quickly. Also, gave me weird psychedlic effects and strange dreams at times.
as far as detoxing at the psych ward goes....there definitey gonna talk to whatever asshole doctor you're seeing now and you might not really get treated much better. You don't want to use xanax for the rest of your life. Youre only 17. People go through hell coming off of it.

 

[BarClay]

laCster: Thanks for the info Makes me feel a bit more optimistic about it helping me.

T. Calderone: She doesn't actually count my pills, but yes, she's extremely strict. Any deviation from her treatment plan or disagreement, and she pretty much tells you to get out of her office. I'm on the fence about going to a psych ward. I'd have to make up a story about how I'm going to kill myself that night to force them to admit me, then I'd be stuck there for quite a while and would have to explain it all to my parents. Do you think it's worth it?

BlueHues: I know about the dangers of taking too much clonidine, and trust me, I'm not one to take RX drugs recreationally (anymore, anyways).
I am sort of happy about being forced off of xanax, because I know I would've never done it on my own because it works so goddamn well...

 

[BlueHues]

If you're just going to the psych ward for the chance that you might get "better meds" than you're getting now, I wouldn't suggest it. You'd just end up in the psych ward at the local emergency room for an evaluation most likely, be uncomfortable, bored to tears, etc.

Plus, They'd probably catch onto the fact that you were lying about being suicidal and just quickly discharge you. I'm not a doctor, so I have no idea....but you are a minor, so maybe they'd hold you for awhile if you claimed to "actually" be suicidal....
Plus, they'd drag your parents into it. It has "embarassing drama" written all over it.
Some places have state run detoxes that you might be able to go to that usually follow a specific protocol for detoxing people from different drugs, but again, being a minor, I'd don't know if they'd accept you.... Benzo detoxes are long and drawn out and it can sometimes take a long time for the withdrawal symptoms to even present themselves. There's really nothing I can think of that's non addictive and safe that will completely take away the symptoms. IDK
Sorrys mods, if we're crossing a line in this discussion here....

 

[BarClay]

BlueHues: It wouldn't be for the medication alone, it would be just to get away from it all. I feel like it would be therapeutic in itself, and extremely eye-opening.
I don't need a detox program, I can wean off of xanax just fine. I weaned off of 100mg of Zoloft in 6 days without any supervision (wasn't under the care of any doctor at the time).

I could claim to be suicidal, then say some shit about how my time here has helped me immensely and blah blah blah, I'm not worried about the specifics.

I'm more concerned with the fact that if this psych's plan doesn't start working some medicinal magic unbeknownst to the rest of the world, that I need
some sort of backup plan besides having a small stash of xanax hidden away.

 

[Bryant73]

Psych wards now will take you, or most psych wards, if you tell them you want to detox only if your suicidal. So keep that in mind or they might send you straight home. As far as clonidine, I've been on it'd for 3 yeats. It kinda helps with anxiety. It Lowe's catacolamine or adrenaline. You will build a tolerance to it. Can severely lower your heart rate. Otherwise it works ok for anxiety. But even though I had a problem with them, there is no substitute for benzos. Unfortunately. Clonidine just barely cuts it. My honest opinion.

 

[paranoid android]

I never found Clonidine to be much good for either psychological symptoms of anxiety or the physical. I have used it a few times for Benzo withdrawal and was not impressed as it didn't work much. gave me unpleasant hypotension and a feeling of being drowsy without being sleepy. I would rather take Quetiapine as it's not as unpleasant in my books.

It's also worth nothing that Clonidine when used for a period of time has to be tapered off slowly as the rebound hypertension from quitting it suddenly can cause strokes and cardiac arrest leading to death.

 

[apexpredator694]

I never found Clonidine to be much good for either psychological symptoms of anxiety or the physical. I have used it a few times for Benzo withdrawal and was not impressed as it didn't work much. gave me unpleasant hypotension and a feeling of being drowsy without being sleepy. I would rather take Quetiapine as it's not as unpleasant in my books.

It's also worth nothing that Clonidine when used for a period of time has to be tapered off slowly as the rebound hypertension from quitting it suddenly can cause strokes and cardiac arrest leading to death.

I have panic attacks regularly and when i first went to the doctor i was in hypertension so they prescribed me clonidine. i would presume that the cause for most of the physiological symptoms of a panic attacks would comes from adrenaline (and adrenaline can cause high bp) so that's why clondine might help, however if i have allot of adrenaline going becasue of the panic attack clonidine feels like it does nothing and usually at that point i take another then just try to sleep off the panic