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 Gender males 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 |
| 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 | 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 | BP | irregular heartbeat, poor circulations, dizziness/faintness | M | 61 | 14 days | 2/25/2008 | 1 | Essential Hypertension | Dramatically elevated blood pressure, severe panic attacks, tachycardia, insomnia, inability to concentrate and focus | I took clonidine for approximately 3 weeks on a continual basis. My normal blood pressure (outside of medication) is about 135/85. The clonidine sent my blood pressure up to about 175/115 on multiple occasions throughout the course of the three-week period I took it. I also had several severe anxiety attacks, all of which occurred after sleeping for about 20 minutes. The end result was that I had to make about 7-8 visits to the ER, about 4 of those were for observation only as my BP declined to a less-dangerous level of about 140/100. The panic attacks were so intense that I had to call the paramedics, which I don't think I've ever done before. Finally, I had an ER doctor who told me to just discontinue the clonidine without fear of rebound hypertension. I took my final dose last Friday, and within 12 hours my blood pressure was back down to 140/90, and after 18 hours, 122/88. Advice: do NOT take clonidine!! It is a very dangerous - and perhaps - deadly medication. There are other alternative hypertension medications (benazepril, propranolol) which are far more effective and have minimal side effects compared to the clonidine. | M | 45 | 21 days 0.1 2X day | 9/25/2019 | 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 | 5 | REM sleep behavior disorder | sleepy, but thats why i take it. take it about 30 min to hour before i want to be asleep. | this drug is saving my life! i havent slept more that 3 hours at a time in 3 years. and when i do sleep i have very vivid dreams/nightmares that i act out so i end up waking up punching kicking and yelling. from the very first night ive been sleeping a solid 6 to 8 hours without all the craziness! so glad i found a sleep specialist who knew what the hell she was doing. ive been suffering from this for over 30 years! rx: clonazepam and a good trauma therapist(not as easy to come by) | F | 50 | 6 months .5 mg 1X day | 12/13/2019 | 5 | PTSD nightmares | This had been a life altering God send. I've suffered from scream out loud nightmares for years. Brought neighbors to my door with my screams. Since being on Catapres I have no nightmares. I sleep without fear. | F | 56 | 1 days .1mg | 4/4/2015 | 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 | 5 | Blood Pressure Surges/High BP | I first took clonidine/catapres for uncontrolled blood pressure surges, and it worked fantastically, very fast control. They also used it on me in the ER. Extreme tiredness is a side effect---this caused me to take 1/4 to 1/2 tab of .1mg on a regular basis, and it still works perfectly. BUT, YOU MUST NOT CONSUME ANY ALCOHOL WITH CLONIDINE. Alcohol, even one drink, reverses the effect of clonidine. Moderate alcohol (a few glasses of wine for several days) will completely stop clonidine from working for 24 hours--you will need ER and a different drug to bring down BP. Once I realized this, I found many research papers on the alcohol effect in animals. I now have no side effects from clonidine, because I quit drinking. | YOU MUST NOT CONSUME ANY ALCOHOL WITH CLONIDINE. If you need to drink, find a different medication. The "Avoid Alcohol" warning is a joke--you can't drink at all without diminishing the effectiveness of this drug. | F | 49 | 3 months | 6/5/2006 | 4 | Orthostatic intolerance & tourettes | Weight gain. | I've used the patch for several years with no skin problems. I take this to raise my blood pressure, not lower it, and it works great for that. It seems to help ticks some but not great. I am searching for causes of insomnia which brought me to this site. They say the % is low. | F | 42 | 5 years | 5/24/2006 | 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 | 4 | stress | Stopped taking cold turkey. Started having stabbing pain in bback of my left eye. | F | 59 | 1 years 3mg x2day | 11/19/2014 | 4 | high blood pressure | lowers bp for 16 hrs | F | 52 | 7 days | 2/10/2005 | 4 | blood pressure | when taking a patch, the adhesive caused skin irritation. the drug works adequately. I have to make sure I take doses on time, as it clears the system quickly. | It keeps my menopausal hot flashes at a minimum. | F | 54 | 3 years | 2/20/2005 | 3 | Hypertension | Severe leg cramps, fatigue, lack of focus, dry eyes, depression, dry itchy skin, loss of sex drive, crave for next dosage,dizziness | Oh it lowered my blood pressure, but wrecked what life I had left after changing my eating habits and such. I am currently weaning off, and it is horrible. I am hot and cold, the top of my head feels like it is going to fly off, the fatigue is horrible. Stay away from this drug, it is horrible. The hospital put me on it because my bp was 240/102, it has lowered the bp, but the cons outway the pros. My family doctor describes this drug as old and outdated and didn't hesitate to pull me off of it. | F | 42 | 3 months | 11/12/2008 | 3 | HOT FLASHES | I HAVEN'T TAKEN THE DRUG YET AND WANTED TO READ ABOUT THE SIDE EFFECTS ON THIS SITE. | F | 55 | 0 days 1X day | 11/4/2010 | 3 | Hypertension | Drowsy. Dizzy. Confusion. Lethargic. Very slow heart rate. Nausea. No appetite. No desire to drink which contributed to dehydration. Hospitalized with heart and kidney failure. | I have severe hypertension without medication to levels over 200/150, so this drug was combined with three other anti-hypertensive drugs and a diuretic. [Verapamil, Bystolic,Amlodipine, Triam/HCTZ]. I took Catapres on a as needed basis when my BP was severely high. It took about 24 hours for my BP to get to a normal level, but shortly got dangerously low. Twice I was hospitalized when it got really bad and the last time almost killed me. | F | 45 | 3 months .10 1X AN | 1/1/2012 | 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 |