I am the poster girl for clonidine. I sing its praises all the time. It is one of the few meds I've tried that lowers my blood pressure, and I do not have horrible side effects from it. I've tried meds that not only didn't work, but raised my bp and gave me bad side effects. I am on 180 mg tiazac (cardizem, a ccb) and .1 mg clonidine 3 X a day. These normally keep me around 116/65, pulse about 65. Sometimes I go as low as 105/61, pulse 55 and a couple of times I've been 92/50 and pulse of 45.
Clonidine side effects I have experienced are minor and are less common now. I sometimes have some dry mouth, some constipation and sleepiness. Getting really sleepy still happens fairly often, but I am constantly sleep deprived, so maybe if I slept better/longer that wouldn't happen, lol!
As mentioned in another post, clonidine is fast acting, lowering bp in 30-60 minutes. Unfortunately it only lasts 12-16 hours, so unless you use it just occasionally, you have to take it 2 or 3 times a day. I find better control if I take it 3 X a day, but last weekend I tried 2 X day and still got low readings. I'm considering trying to go to 2 X dosing. Sometimes I feel a bit jittery and some increased pulse at about 7 hours (just before my afternoon dose), which tells me I'm coming up on my next dose. There is some withdrawal if you take it regularly and just stop, so this is not reccommended. IMHO, this is not nearly as bad as beta blocker withdrawal.
The limited time in your system is both good and bad. On the bad side, you have to remember to take the dang pill more often! On the good side, I can micromanage my blood pressure. When I come up on time for my next dose, I take my bp. If it is low, I put off taking it or decrease the dose. If for some reason my bp is higher than I want, I increase the dose.
It also comes in a weekly patch called Catapress. I had some minor skin irritation from the patch, and I did not get as good a control as with the pills.
Clonidine is an old drug, so it is also fairly cheap.
So far here is how they have me. I take in the morning (which I'm not sure I should switch) but I take Lisinopril 20mg. I took (for the first time) the Clondine at 5:00 yesterday afternoon. So I plan to take it in the afternoon.
Tomorrow when I'm not at work to suffer from any sudden drop in BP, I will try taking the Clodine in the AM and by 12:00 or after lunch I will take my lisinporil.
I'd stick with your original plan, Lisinopril in the morning and clonidine in the late afternoon. The reason I say this is because clonidine has sleepiness as a common side effect. If you have trouble sleeping at night, this would be a benefit.
Is there a reason why you would rather take the drugs the other way around?
I have also taken Clonidine .1mg twice a day with no side effects. It was the only drug that would lower my blood pressure. Unfortunately I had some problems in September with side effects from Norvasc, Hyzaar and Lasix so the doctor discontinued everything and put me on different medications.
I was on Hyzaar, Norvasc, Clonidine, and Lasix for my blood pressure. This was a good combination for me but not for my kidneys and my blood pressure was too low so the Clonidine was discontinued as well as the Hyzaar when I was in the hospital.
I had heard quite a few horror stories about Clonidine and at first I didn't want to take it but I never had a problem with it and I didn't have any side effects from it either. I was on it for more than 2 years.
I'm now on Cozaar 100mg, Lopressor 25mg and Lasix 40mg. I take them all at the same time every morning and then at night I take the second dose of Lopressor 25mg. It's ok to take them all at the same time unless your doctor told to not to.
Dianne
Last edited by dianne12315; 01-15-2005 at 04:04 PM.
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I had heard quite a few horror stories about Clonidine and at first I didn't want to take it but I never had a problem with it and I didn't have any side effects from it either. I was on it for more than 2 years.
Is there a reason why you would rather take the drugs the other way around?
Well, after a nice relaxing trip to Vegas!!!!! I think my best bet is to take the clondine in the evening after all. Is it ok to take half in the morning and half at night? I didn't drink or anything in Vegas and I still felt very sleepy after taking it.
Last edited by strong_one; 01-17-2005 at 01:56 PM.
I take 1/2 of a.1 mg at night and also 1/2 in the AM if neded. My cardio said it was ok to take up to .3 mg. The half at night usually does the trick combined with my other meds (40/25 Benicar and 50mg Atenolol) I take the Benicar in the morning and Atenolol at night along with the clonidine.
I can't imagine what .3 would do since the 1/2 of the .1 knocks me out.
Cass
You could take 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night. Remember clonidine is only good for 8-16 hours before it wears off. I'd say budget it with how well your other medication works and use the clonidine to fill in the gaps, so to speak.
Re: Has anyone taken or take clonidine hcl??? 
