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Clonidine for Insomnia, Stimulant-Associated User Reviews (Page 2)

Brand names: Catapres, Clonidine ER, Kapvay, Onyda XR, Catapres-TTS, Duraclon, Nexiclon XR

Reviews for Clonidine

Commonly mentioned side effects
  • dor...
  • February 22, 2013

"I have an anxiety disorder called TTM. Sometimes classified as an impulse disorder or OCD. When I'm engaged in TTM behavior at night, it sometimes drives me all night. The clonidine is great at slowing me down in about 45 minutes and letting me drift off to sleep."

10 / 10
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46 Report
  • Anonymous
  • August 25, 2008

"My 5-year-old son is taking clonidine for insomnia, and I can see a difference in him. My son is very hyperactive and has some anger issues, and I have noticed he is a lot calmer and seems to focus better on the tasks he is doing. This might be the answer to my prayers."

9 / 10
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54 Report
  • Jax...
  • Taken for 5 to 10 years
  • November 17, 2019

"Was prescribed this drug for insomnia. Does absolutely nothing to help me sleep, and I get so dizzy about 3 hrs after I take this medication I cannot even get out of bed. This drug causes me to wake up soaked in sweat and extremely tired and dizzy throughout the day. When I wake up, I have to sit on the ledge of my bed for at least ten minutes, otherwise, I will fall. This drug is terrible. Never take it."

1 / 10
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30 Report
  • unh...
  • Taken for less than 1 month
  • November 26, 2018

"I literally started this medicine 2 weeks ago, and it doesn’t do anything for me. It knocks me out for a good 5 hours tops, I wake up on and off throughout the night. No matter what my dose is, it’s all the same. I want new medicine."

1 / 10
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22 Report
  • Eri...
  • August 26, 2017

"I was prescribed this medication when I was 11 years old after having sleeping problems, basically since birth. Started taking one a night, built up an immunity, ended up taking three every night as a teenager. At 19 years old, I decided I was sick of being dependent on this medication. I slowly weaned myself off of them but struggled to get a normal night's sleep for about a year. Then, started taking Tylenol P.M. for sleep which can be detrimental if used long term. I'm now 22 and take three melatonin at night. Please, don't give clonidine to your children! I am technically still in the process of weaning myself off of sleeping meds, and it's been years."

10 / 10
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31 Report

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  • Mar...
  • Taken for 1 to 6 months
  • September 7, 2019

"I was given clonidine to help my insomnia due to anxiety. The first time I took it, I fell asleep in 15 minutes, and the next day I had to stay home from classes because of the side effects. I had a pounding headache, I couldn't walk or stand without almost fainting, I was too anxious to eat, and I was so dizzy. After that, I didn't take it for about a week, then began to take half of it. Now, I worked back up to taking 0.3 mcg, but every time I stand up or walk, I lose my vision and hearing and almost faint. I think it's due to the drug being meant to lower blood pressure, and I have a hard time eating."

5 / 10
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19 Report
  • Qua...
  • Taken for 1 to 6 months
  • July 2, 2023

"I have discovered that taking Clonidine 0.1 daily, or as needed, has been blissfully effective as a sleep aid. My major chronic depression, muscle pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, anxiety, PTSD, addiction, hypertension, and supraventricular tachycardia all remain in place. I've tried many medications for these conditions but usually end up scrapping them due to their ineffectiveness. Clonidine is one of the rare drugs that works properly."

10 / 10
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7 Report
  • Cha...
  • Taken for 2 to 5 years
  • October 8, 2019

"The only drug that has worked for sleep after trying over a dozen medications over the course of twenty years, but I have built up a tolerance and haven't been able to get the dose increased, so I have to take an extra pill or two, leaving me without clonidine at the end of the month, causing rebound acute hypertensive crises."

9 / 10
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17 Report
  • Jes...
  • Taken for less than 1 month
  • December 27, 2019

"Got on this for chronic insomnia. Seemed to help the first day but not after that. It made me lose my vision for a second when I stood up out of bed and consistently woke up for the day at 3-4 a.m. if I could fall asleep around 11. Left me feeling so groggy in the day I couldn't really function at work. Worse than no meds and insomnia."

1 / 10
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16 Report
  • NEa...
  • November 16, 2019

"This medication is terrible. Clonidine causes me to become so dizzy that I cannot stand without falling. Taking 0.25 mg every night for insomnia. Does not work and only makes me dizzy and weak instead. I have headaches every night around 30 minutes after I take this. Every day at school, I am dizzy and disoriented, even though this medication is supposed to make me fall asleep without side effects. Instead, this has terrible side effects and does not help me fall asleep at all. Most nights, I cannot even fall asleep at all. Could not recommend not ever taking Clonidine enough. I regret being forced to take this medication."

1 / 10
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17 Report
  • DPa...
  • September 15, 2020

"My 7-year-old ADHD-diagnosed son was prescribed clonidine 0.1 mg to help with sleep issues. He doesn't sleep well or pretty much ever for a long enough period of time. This medication was a nightmare. The first night I gave him the prescribed 0.1 mg, he fell asleep within 30 minutes and then woke up and was very noticeably dizzy, drunk-like walking, head rolling, eyes kind of rolling around, nauseous, and crying because he felt weird. He could barely put a sentence together. He was in and out for hours that night, he would fall right asleep, then wake up scared of the way he was feeling until well into the morning. The next night, his pediatrician recommended taking 1/2 a pill. The side effects weren't as drastic, but it was still bad, he woke up maybe 5 times throughout the night, again dizzy and having a bad reaction. We called his pediatrician again, and she basically said he was having some kind of adverse reaction and to stop the meds."

1 / 10
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17 Report
  • lan...
  • Taken for 5 to 10 years
  • September 25, 2017

"I've been taking this medicine since I was little (4-6 years old?). It helped for a few years, but now suddenly the side effects have been hitting me hard for 2 years. I definitely don't recommend this medicine for sleep, as it is a high blood pressure medication. It makes my blood pressure extremely low, to the point my legs give out and I can't help but fall to the floor. I get very pale, drowsy, lightheaded, weak, and it's not nice. It doesn't really help me 'sleep' anymore, I wake up 2-3 hours later, and sometimes I wake up more than once. And the pills always seem to be in my system, I experience side effects every day. I totally regret my mom putting me on this medicine."

5 / 10
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24 Report
  • Gen...
  • Taken for 10 years or more
  • December 27, 2022

"I have been taking clonidine since I was very young to treat chronic insomnia, when melatonin was ineffective. My dosage was 100 mcg when I was a young child, and now I take 200 mcg once daily in the evening. Clonidine works for insomnia and gets me to sleep relatively quickly, usually within two or three hours after taking the medication. I also have moderate to severe depression, and I have unsuccessfully taken multiple antidepressants, antipsychotics, and other medications over many years in an attempt to treat my depression symptoms. Regardless, clonidine has consistently worked even through severe depression symptoms. The only downside is there were noticeable discontinuation symptoms when I needed to miss my evening dose for an imaging procedure. However, this virtually never happens. I am impressed with how effective clonidine is for chronic insomnia, and I would recommend clonidine to anyone with ongoing or chronic insomnia."

10 / 10
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7 Report
  • mom...
  • Taken for less than 1 month
  • March 25, 2014

"The doctor put my nine-year-old on Unichem 0.1 mgs at night to sleep. He also has autism spectrum. I was worried about him taking this medicine at first, but he is finally going to sleep and getting a good sleep without waking up. I wanted to know if anyone experienced any reactions I need to look for. Concerned mommy."

6 / 10
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30 Report
  • Ser...
  • Taken for less than 1 month
  • August 27, 2019

"I was given this when my blood pressure went up to 220/153. I was in the hospital when given this. It dropped my BP fast. However, doctors don’t like to prescribe for daily use because it slows the heart rate to dangerous levels. If you decide to give this to your 3-year-old or any age child, please check their BP every day and record it..."

8 / 10
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14 Report
  • moo...
  • July 23, 2015

"My 3-year-old was put on this to treat his insomnia triggered by autism and ADHD. Without it, he would get up at 9 a.m. and be up until 3 or 4 a.m., sometimes even as late as 5 or 6, and still get up ready to go. This medication absolutely helps him get to sleep. .01 mg is what he was prescribed, however, the next day, to be honest, he was stoned the whole day or most of it, so the doctor had us cut that in half. Now the problem with that is that he gets his pill promptly at 9 p.m., and at midnight, he's back up. So he gets a second dose to get him to sleep until about 6:30-7ish before he wakes up ready to go. I'm hoping that we'll be able to solve him getting back up, I think the problem is his pill has to be crushed, and so it's not a timed release."

4 / 10
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27 Report
  • Clo...
  • Taken for 1 to 2 years
  • June 22, 2021

"I was prescribed clonidine after 7 years of taking Seroquel 200 mg. This was because I had built a large tolerance to Seroquel and needed an extra kick to knock me out. I have always suffered from mania and insomnia, and could even go days without sleep. When I first started taking this, I finally started sleeping again. That never stopped, but what did start was every morning I was COMPLETELY hungover from both medications for about 6 hours a day. I would have to sleep for 11+ hours just to sleep off the hangover, and of course, life often doesn’t let you do that. I am considering getting off of clonidine simply because it feels like I’m in a video game, blurred vision, and nothing feels real. I have no clue how I’m allowed to drive on both drugs. I’m so impaired. Not to mention the morning sickness. Every single morning, I wake up with bouts of nausea and even sometimes vomiting. It is torturous, and I wish I could live normally again. Nothing feels real anymore."

2 / 10
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9 Report
  • Anonymous
  • January 8, 2009

"This drug was given to my son as part of a treatment for ADHD and ODD. He was given this to help him sleep at night to counteract effects his ADHD medicines had, which kept him awake. This drug for him was good at helping him fall asleep, but didn't keep him asleep; but then again, everyone is different."

4 / 10
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32 Report
  • Ken...
  • Taken for less than 1 month
  • April 30, 2019

"I have taken 26 nights of taking two of the 0.1 mg tablets of clonidine. It is for my inability to fall asleep. I also have ADHD. This medication is ineffective for my inability to fall asleep naturally."

3 / 10
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13 Report
  • Ken...
  • Taken for 1 to 6 months
  • April 2, 2020

"While clonidine made me fall asleep with ease, I started sleepwalking and binge eating in my sleep on this medication with no prior history of either. Did so for months before fully realizing what was up. Did some research and found out that it can negatively impact REM sleep. Extremely scary medication and had a doctor wean me off of it immediately. If I could rate it 0/10, I would. If you are considering this medication for sleep, think again!"

1 / 10
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18 Report
  • Tir...
  • Taken for less than 1 month
  • July 18, 2019

"Struggling to remain asleep after 3 or 4 hours. I used to take Benadryl but started having bladder issues because of it. Doctor prescribed clonidine 0.1. It did nothing. I felt dizzy, and got a dry mouth but never fell asleep."

1 / 10
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13 Report
  • cat...
  • Taken for 1 to 2 years
  • April 3, 2021

"I take clonidine for PTSD nightmares. This medication has been my lifesaver. I’m now able to sleep with no nightmares or waking up in the middle of the night. I have become dependent on it and can’t sleep if I don’t take it. It also lowers my blood pressure and heart rate slightly, but nothing concerning."

10 / 10
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8 Report
  • Big...
  • March 21, 2016

"I have insomnia, and I take Xanax for anxiety. I needed a different med so I wouldn't keep using my Xanax for sleep, so I was given this, and it works great. I woke up in the middle of the night, though, and fell back asleep in a few hours, and it felt like I had a full night's rest. There wasn't a really high feeling when I woke up like I'll sometimes have with Xanax, only a slight one before I went to sleep."

8 / 10
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16 Report
  • Nes...
  • Taken for less than 1 month
  • September 4, 2020

"I was prescribed this medication, clonidine, to help with my insomnia. This medication didn't help me fall asleep at all. I took it and still stayed awake all night. I didn't experience any side effects."

1 / 10
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9 Report
  • Out...
  • Taken for less than 1 month
  • December 20, 2022

"I despise the term 'miracle worker,' but this medication has completely eliminated my chronic insomnia and RLS after trying numerous other medications. I've been taking it for three weeks, and I'm still blown away by how well it's worked. It is, however, an unusual medication. It doesn't really make you sleepy, so every night I worry that it has stopped working. I'm wide awake even when I'm lying in bed, but if I close my eyes for more than a minute, I'm out like a light. This has happened every night since I started taking it. I usually watch a movie in bed before going to sleep, but when I take clonidine, I fall asleep so quickly that I never finish the movie. Because of how effective clonidine is, I've attempted to watch the same movie for three days and still have about an hour to go. My dose is 0.4 mg about an hour before going to bed."

10 / 10
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4 Report

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Reviews may be edited to correct grammar/spelling or remove inappropriate content. Reviews appearing to come from parties with a vested interest are not published. This information is not intended to endorse any medication and should not replace the expertise and judgment of healthcare professionals.