CATAPRES Reviews (CLONIDINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.2 (77 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare CATAPRES with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Age from youngest to oldest (reviews with no age reported listed first). Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on CATAPRES: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR CATAPRES | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | hypertention head aches | no side effect s very good for hypertention. And anxity | M | 1 days | 1/31/2012 | 5 | 1X day | 2/1/2013 | 3 | Hypertensive bursts | Depression, Anxiety, Hair thinning, Exhaustion and leg pain | The first few months the medication worked great in lowering my BP. However... the past few months I am experiencing spikes a couple times a day and THANK GOD I found this blog because I was starting to feel crazy, like something was wrong with me. I have had a very hard time with depression, anxiety and severe exhaustion. I am so glad I found this site and can see that its not just me. | F | 5 months .5 2X day | 4/10/2012 | 2 | High Blood pressure | Extreme dry mouth--even though it says the drug has a half life of 6hours, dry mouth lasts for over 24hours after discontinuation. Fatigue. Minimal eye dryness. Sleepy, not good while driving at all; very dangerous. Dose taken 300mcg/day. Changes in mood, slight depression, loss of sex drive. This drug has the most side effects of anthying else and the list goes on. Whoever approved this should be put to death. | Useless drug for reducing blood pressure and should be pulled off the market. All it does is give side effects. I also noticed while taking this drug that I would move my arms while sleeping at night, kinda of like sleepwalking motions. I'd actually wake up and see myself doing that. Once I woke up and I was sleeping in a "muslim praying" position. | M | 7 days | 10/29/2005 | 4 | My 7 yr old son takes it for | So far I havent noticed any side effects he takes the tablet before bed. The doctor said to try half a tablet in the morning and half at night but that turned him into a zombie and he fell asleep at school! I then decided he could stick to one at night only. | Catapres has definatley helped my son with the tics he was experiencing and his concentration at school is now amazing! Every 2-3 months he experiences bad stomach cramps that are unexplained - they are bad for about 1 hour and then disappear. I sometimes wonder if this is a possible side effect of the drug but nothing I read about it says anything about stomach pain???? | F | 7 | 18 months 100 mcg 1X day | 1/8/2011 | 2 | Problems getting to sleep | Usually I wake up really dizzy and semi-conscious. Two times something very scary happened. The first scary thing which happened was when I woke up and my entire field of vision was limited to a small box, and that box was shaking like crazy around my entire head while zooming in; luckily it zoomed in an fixed itself after about 30 seconds, but it was very frightening. The second scary thing happened just now. This time I did take .15 milligrams which is very slightly over the normal amount ans usually doesn't matter, but I won't be doing it again; I woke up and I couldn't move my right arm at all except for 3 fingers. It was extremely scary, and my arm felt like a brick of flesh. I'm glad it came back to functioning regularly after a minute, but that was extremely scary (I was on no other medication both times). | It was prescribes to be taken when needed, but I don't know how safe catapres is, though I rarely have any considering the crazy side effects it has managed to cause. | M | 18 | | 3/8/2007 | 3 | Hypertension 150/90+ | Major Fatigue, Dizziness upon standing too quickly, Bowel issues, constipation, slower reaction times. | Catapres work too well. It took my BP from 150/100 to 100/50. It is a serious medicine that works very well. The problem: The Side Effects. Wow, of all the medicines I have tried, which is well into the 30's, this by far has the WORST discontinuation syndrome, and hard to fatigue levels. I would recommend another drug over Clonidine, but if you need to get you BP down quickly then this is it. | M | 22 | 2 months | 10/4/2007 | 2 | Sweating/Blood Pressure/Anxiety | Dizziness, Noticable Hair Loss, Severe Constipation, Occasional Palpitations, Tiredness, Malaise, Weight Gain, Extreme Dry Skin, Uncontrollable Dandruff, to name a few. | I started taking Clonidine (Catapres) about 2 years ago initially at one 0.1 mg tablet per day for sweating due to Methadone Maintenance Therapy's notorious sweating problems. At first, I didn't like the drug because of the dizziness I experienced and chose to stop taking it briefly. I started on it again to give it another shot and still had the dizziness although it went away about a month into taking the drug. For awhile, it was a wonder drug. My sweating episodes decreased and it helped with my unrelenting anxiety. My doctor put me on a sedative drug for a week in the beginning of treatment for the anxiety but discontinued it after the first and only prescription because I guess he didn't want me to form another addiction. So, I stayed on the Clonidine, and he increased the dosage to 0.1 mg tablets three times a day. I was on that dose for a good portion of my treatment,, I did notice that I was taking more naps than usual and was so tired I could barely get through a 6 hour day at school without falling asleep at my desk. After about 6 months of that my anxiety increased and my doctor in turn increased my dose again to two 0.1 mg tablets, three time a day. So by this time I was sleeping all the time, no energy. Then about 1 1/2 years into taking Clonidine, I started noticing more than usual hair loss in my brush. I wasn't worried at first, but then it started to fall out more and more. So with having the one last good feature of myself that I thought I still had st | F | 23 | 2 years .2 mg 3X day | 6/21/2011 | 1 | high blood pressure | dry eyes, mouth, skin, extreme hair loss, fatigue, decrease in sex drive, drowsiness, lack of interest | Treatment first week was very effective. I ended up taking too much and was dillusional, basically went crazy. I have now adjusted and been on it for over a year now. Once you get on it is extremely hard to get off. I got up to .6mg a day, .3mg patch and 3 .1mg pills. I have almost stopped taking the pill but can't seem to stop taking the patch. I have been really unsatified with this medication. The withdrawal symptoms from getting off this medication is horrible. I strongly recommend nobody take this medication. | M | 24 | 1 years | 11/21/2009 | 1 | For opiate withdraws | Bad dry mouth Confusion Very low blood pressure | Not worth taking, could kill you if not careful caused my heart to stop, do not take unless blood pressure is extremely high never when it's normal | M | 24 | 3 days 0.1 | 5/14/2017 | 2 | HBP | Extreme Fatigue, Weak Legs and Feet, flushed face, Extreme Anxiety, Loss of Appetite, Nausea, Increased Bowel Movements. | I have bad reactions to every blood pressure med on the planet. Off BP Meds BP is 165/110, with the patch my Bp is 115/80. I have terrible headaches and flushing when I'm off meds and bad side effects when I'm on BP meds. I've had numerous ct and mri's, Every Blood test on the planet, 24 hour urine, The doctors can't figure out anything. If anybody can relate to my problem, or give me any information that will help me feel better please email me at: [email protected] | M | 27 | 3 weeks | 11/28/2009 | 1 | Hypertension associated with PKD | EXTREME fatigue, slurred speech, literally could not keep eyes open. Mouth was so dry, almost threw up from drinking so much water to quench thirst. | DO NOT TAKE THIS MED! After the first dose, I slept for an entire day, only waking long enough to guzzle tons of water to quench my insatiable thirst and dry mouth. Couldn't walk right, couldn't even talk. It makes you feel like you are drugged, and not in a good way! | F | 28 | 1 days 10mg 2X day | 12/13/2010 | 1 | CFS/FMS | Everything under the blue moon. Especially nausea. This medicine sucks. | Horrible. Do not take because it is harder to detox off this stuff than it is off opiates. No joke. And they give Clonidine to those coming off opiates. I know. They give it to young ADHD children. The FDA is inherently corrupt. | M | 29 | 7 weeks | 10/10/2007 | 1 | To Lower Blood Pressure | Anxiety, depression, and constant fatigue were a constant with this drug. I have NEVER been so paranoid in my life. Slurred speech was another side effect. Sure my BP lowered, but who wants to live when your quality of life is diminished so much? The only thing worse than the side effects of taking the drug were the side-effects coming OFF of the drug. Insomnia and hypo-tension (a couple of fainting spells) occurred. | This was absolutely the WORST experience I ever had while taking a drug. I dumped my general physician and went to a nephrologist that specialized in blood pressure. He has prescribed a combination of a beta blocker, diuretic, and a vascular dilator, and my BP has never been better. PLUS, I have my quality of life back. Catapres/Clonodine is the WORST. I cannot believe this sh#t is on the market. | M | 29 | 13 days | 11/29/2007 | 1 | high blood pressure | We each sound like we are putting our last entries into a nightmare journal, and we have. First, the side effects are serious dry mouth, severe constipation, weight gain, muscle aches and incredible lethargy. I finally realized that this medication is also responsible for my severe hair loss, hair dryness, and hair thinning. Finally, the withdrawal symtoms are worser than any withdrawal sypmtoms that I can imagine. I spent a night in the hospital due to rebound high blood pressure, headaches, insomnia, and terrible anxiety (due to trying to get off this medication). Yes, you do have nightmares . There are other combinations of high blood pressure medications that you can get on, but this is not one of them. | I started taking it about 4 years ago. I wished my primary doctor(at the time) would have never put me on it. I have been to several doctors and nephrologists to help me get off of it. I also have finally found a good nephrologist that feels the same as I do about it. Currently, I am down from taking 6mg a day to about 1 or 2mg a day. I know that one day I will be completely off of this drug. It really does take time (weeks/months) to get off of it, and I'm still trying to. | F | 31 | 4 years | 12/23/2007 | 1 | high blood pressure | extreme constipation and immediate/extreme weight gain-difficulty getting off this medication due to high blood pressure spiking-I wish there was a cure for this drug. | Severe and extreme side effects this is not the end all cure all medication. It never should have been approved by the FDA. | F | 31 | 4 years | 7/15/2007 | 1 | High pulse | Discontinuation syndrome/ withdrawal | Developed high blood pressure since being on this. Doesnt even help with my fast heart rate anymore. I have to take it to avoid withdrawing from it and having a stroke. Last time i tried weaning i was in the hospital with A-FIB and sinus tachycardia. I think I will forever be STUCK in this drug. Stay away from it unless you want to be in ICU. This is by far THE hardest pill to come off of and I really don't think it's possible without killing you. If you just started taking it, talk to your doc about stopping before its too late. How is there not a class action lawsuit for this drug?? | F | 31 | 4 years 2.4 mgs | 10/8/2015 | 5 | sleep/anxiety | Drowsiness.., dry mouth. | F | 32 | 5 weeks .03 | 4/23/2015 | 5 | Tourettes | Tiredness | I love this med. After twenty years of facial twitches (etc) this is the ONLY med. that ever helped. Tourette's symptoms are about 95% gone! More people with Tourette's should try this med. The side effects are nothing compared to the anti-psychcotics you usually have prescribed for this. Helped me quit smoking to, in fact I quit with no effort due to this med. | F | 32 | 2 years 0.2 2X day | 5/7/2010 | 3 | Migraine Preventitive | now im starting to get the side effects, hair thinning (getting scary) extreme fatigue, at times my legs feel so weak and sore that i feel like they are going to give way while im holding the carry basket at the supermarket, arms are weak, weight gain, seem to have no emotions, no sex drive, | Im disapointed and now a little scared, i have now been taking this for 6 months, hope its not as hard to get off as you all say.. | F | 33 | 6 months 0.1mg 2X day | 1/31/2012 Patient History |
CATAPRES (CLONIDINE HYDROCHLORIDE): This medication is used alone or with other medications to treat high blood pressure (hypertension). Lowering high blood pressure helps prevent strokes, heart attacks, and kidney problems. Clonidine belongs to a class of drugs (central alpha agonists) that act in the brain to lower blood pressure. It works by relaxing blood vessels so blood can flow more easily. (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)