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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Clonidine

S

SPC123

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
640
I am getting a clonidine scrp today to help me reduce my Oxycodone usage. I was wondering is this a relatively fast acting drug that I can take as needed or is it something I should take on a schedule daily?
 
clonidine wont help reduce your oxy usage, the only thing it will reduce is your blood pressure. it is commonly used in individuals who are w/d'ing from opiates for this reason as opiates raise blood pressure upon cessation. i have never tried it myself but i am pretty sure it wont get you any "higher" if that is what you are expecting. try looking into some 100% natural white grapefruit juice or tagamet to help boost the effects of your oxy
 
I am not using the clonidine to get more "high". I find that I am constantly going over my prescribed dosage because at night I wake up sweating a lot from early WDs. It's impossible to sleep through the night, so I end up taking an extra oxy. My doctor is adamant that he's not upping my dosage anymore, but has released my refills early for me on several occasions.

Anyhow, I am hoping the clonidine will help with the sweats. I think if I can just get that one thing under control, I can use less oxy. If I can reduce my usage by just 20-40mgs a day, I will be happy. Again, this isn't about potentiation. It's about countering some of the more annoying early WD symptoms particular sweats which prevent me from sleeping.

I was just wondering if I can take one as needed, or if this is something you have to take regularly in order for it to work effectively.
 
oh, well this info would have helped if you posted it in your first post...but you can take as needed and clonidine will def help with the sweats....
 
be careful of standing up too quickly, its a blood pressure drug primarily and you will get dizzy from time to time on it especially in larger doses. it can also knock you out for hours. It helps in withdrawal as it acts on a part of the brain that is affected by opiates and once in withdrawal clonidine acts on that same part of the brain thus reducing some of the more upsetting physical symptoms withdrawal brings.
 
Ok. What kind of dosage is usual? I my doc has me on .05mg twice a day, so .1 mg daily. My WD symptoms aren't that bad. Day 1 is worst. Day 2 close on day 1. Day 3 is better and by day 4 I am pretty much back to normal. I take 120-160mg of Oxy IR shortly after I wake up. Usually I will take 60-100mg in one shot in the morning, and that does me until I need to sleep, in which case I will take another 40-60mg. I am scripted 120mg a day. I would like to try and avoid the dose I take at night, since I only use it eliminate the sweats and help me sleep. I figure once I reduce my tolerance I can avoid my nighttime dose altogether without the help of clonidine. I also have 30 x 0.5mg clonazepam that I can take as needed, but I try not to use that at all if I can help it. A benzo addiction, even a mild one, is something I really REALLY want to avoid.
 
SPC123 said:
Ok. What kind of dosage is usual? I my doc has me on .05mg twice a day, so .1 mg daily. My WD symptoms aren't that bad. Day 1 is worst. Day 2 close on day 1. Day 3 is better and by day 4 I am pretty much back to normal. I take 120-160mg of Oxy IR shortly after I wake up. Usually I will take 60-100mg in one shot in the morning, and that does me until I need to sleep, in which case I will take another 40-60mg. I am scripted 120mg a day. I would like to try and avoid the dose I take at night, since I only use it eliminate the sweats and help me sleep. I figure once I reduce my tolerance I can avoid my nighttime dose altogether without the help of clonidine. I also have 30 x 0.5mg clonazepam that I can take as needed, but I try not to use that at all if I can help it. A benzo addiction, even a mild one, is something I really REALLY want to avoid.
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I'm on a clonidine patch (called Catapres) that's 0.2mg/day. The patch is changed weekly and I find it AMAZING for withdrawals. I mean it's kinda a miracle drug in my opinion. With it on, I've been able to cold-turkey a 300mcg (3 100mcg patches at a time) prescription for fentanyl. While I get mild RLS and insomnia from stopping opiates, many other symptoms that I had before are 100% gone - most notably sweating, anxiety, nausea and/or diarrhea.
 
My doc has be on .05mg twice a day. Think I should bump that up? I will say that my blood pressure is usually high anyhow. Like I just took it and it was 158/125. So I am not really worried about that dropping. I would kinda enjoy it.

Also, I am using this drug in addition to opiates. Basically to help me spread out my usage more. I am in pain and so I take oxy for that, but at the same time as I get more dependent on the oxy I find I run out early because I take it both for pain and for the sweats and shivers that I get when I don't dose. I was hoping adding clonidine would get rid of those sweats and let me use oxy only for the pain.
 
Clonidine works very well for helping during opiate withdrawal. It greatly reduces blood pressure, the hot/cold flashes; it also helps somewhat for the RLS and anxiety. Since it works well for reducing these symptoms it should help with your insomnia issues. But be careful if you start to use it on a daily basis, as stopping clonidine abruptly is not safe and has its own 'withdrawal syndrome' you need to be careful of. If you take it daily for more than a couple weeks it is necessary to taper your dose down to no more than .05mg per day before ceasing usage.

On the other hand, have you thought about breaking up your dose throughout the day? The reason you are starting to feel withdrawals at night is since the half life of oxycodone is not long enough to carry you for the 24 hours until you dose the next morning. If you are scripted 120mg per day, you could take 40mg every eight hours.. Or take like 80mg in the morning and the other 40mg later in the day. This isn't your usual routine, but I feel if you attempt to change your routine and possibly taper down you'll be able to sustain throughout the day using your prescribed dosage. In the long run I feel like you'll be happier that you don't wake up withdrawing every night. But in the short term it may involve a little bit of suffering until you can get used to a different dosing regimen or taper a bit. But since you have clonidine, you could use it over just a week or two while you adjust your dosing routine, to help with the minor withdrawal symptoms you'll experience while tapering, etc.
 
Well on my doctors advice I have been taking it regularly for about a week and my oxy cravings are almost gone, even though I still take them for pain, I have noticed the sweats all but vanished. Also, my blood pressure used to be high as is. Now it's about 130/80 rather than 159/110. I am happy with that. The down side is, I have never felt so tired. It's worse than alcohol + benzos. It has taken me almost half an hour to write this post.

Anyone else experience this symptom?
 
^ it's one of (if not THE) most common side effects in those who use it for any indication.
 
That's good to know. The downside being if I take enough oxy to get a buzz, I nodd hard. I really enjoyed the energetic high I got from oxy. Oh well.
 
I've had clonidine scripts, and currently I am on tizanidine, and I too, take opiates regularly, scripted DHC, not as potent as oxy, sure, but nevertheless if I fail to take my dose regularly, withdrawals, and not pleasant at all.

Clonidine is potent stuff, both it, and tizanidine are alpha2 adrenoreceptor agonists, which means they basically 'trick' the brain into thinking there is too much adrenaline/noradrenaline being released, and then it acts accordingly to reduce release of those neurotransmitters.

This both lowers blood pressure, and makes one sleepy, I have a benzo script too, for nitrazepam, a pretty strong hypnotic benzo, and damned obstinate insomnia, but I last used the nitrazepam more than two weeks ago, most of my scripts just get saved up and stashed, so I always have them available if I need/want them, and not used. Every night, a plugged dose of tizanidine knocks me out in just about the time it takes to have a last cigar/rollup, after that, out cold.

With larger doses of either, orthostatic hypotension as has been said, becomes an issue, get up too fast, and back down to earth you will come.

I find both drugs do relieve opiate withdrawal, although it takes a MUCH higher dosage orally than it does rectally or insufflated. I take it usually during the day for autistic sensory overload stuff, but to make me sleep, it works great also (tizanidine, although clonidine does likewise) relieves the hyperstimulation of WD, as well as restless legs, insomnia and sweating.
 
clonidine is an opioid-sparing medicine, meaning it has synergy with it and reduces the "pre-clonidine" opioid requirement. Having said that, using it as an "opioid withdrawal" agent in "cold turkey" pt.'s, the dose rarely exceeds 0.3 mg three times daily. Actually, the withdrawal relief it provides primarily is the insomnia, chills, sweating. Like I said, after you exceed 0.3 mg three times a day, your really gonna have issues with orthostatic hypotension (blacking out when standing up, feeling totally listless, useless really). My recommendation is titrate from 0.1mg by mouth three times per day up to 0.3 mg by mouth three times per day. That should at the very least stop escalation of your OC habit and hopefully knock it down 20-30 mg daily - a little discomfort not-withstanding. Good luck, and props on your self-awareness:)
 
I don’t know in-depth of clonzies other than the basic adrenaline/ lower bp but it has been pretty amazing for me. It is subtle (never feel tired or drowsy whatsoever but neither does diazapem for me) but if I forget to take it for couple days and take them again; I can feel the big difference in helping w my benzo taper program and just taking bit too much stimulants. And I take 0.1mg x2 but going to try 3. It does make the dizziness when you get up too fast bit more intense.
 
Limpet_Chicken said:
I've had clonidine scripts, and currently I am on tizanidine, and I too, take opiates regularly, scripted DHC, not as potent as oxy, sure, but nevertheless if I fail to take my dose regularly, withdrawals, and not pleasant at all.

Clonidine is potent stuff, both it, and tizanidine are alpha2 adrenoreceptor agonists, which means they basically 'trick' the brain into thinking there is too much adrenaline/noradrenaline being released, and then it acts accordingly to reduce release of those neurotransmitters.

This both lowers blood pressure, and makes one sleepy, I have a benzo script too, for nitrazepam, a pretty strong hypnotic benzo, and damned obstinate insomnia, but I last used the nitrazepam more than two weeks ago, most of my scripts just get saved up and stashed, so I always have them available if I need/want them, and not used. Every night, a plugged dose of tizanidine knocks me out in just about the time it takes to have a last cigar/rollup, after that, out cold.

With larger doses of either, orthostatic hypotension as has been said, becomes an issue, get up too fast, and back down to earth you will come.

I find both drugs do relieve opiate withdrawal, although it takes a MUCH higher dosage orally than it does rectally or insufflated. I take it usually during the day for autistic sensory overload stuff, but to make me sleep, it works great also (tizanidine, although clonidine does likewise) relieves the hyperstimulation of WD, as well as restless legs, insomnia and sweating.
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‘Autistic sensory overload’- that s definitely the word I was looking for. is there any source for guide line when it comes to tapering off clonodine?
 
I used clonidine against anxiety and for sleep, 0.15mg taken before bedtime. It worked but over time a heavy depression creeped up which was delayed so I didn't attribute it to the clonidine, thought it was just a reoccurrence of the depression I was supposed to have (but think as psychiatric nonsense retrospectively) until I as forced to quit after many months m and the depression resolved. Be careful with this substance, it's potent at lowering norepinephrine and you need some of that to feel okay.
 
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