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Author Topic: Clonidine for hot flushes  (Read 6694 times)

MaggieM

  • Guest
Clonidine for hot flushes
« on: March 08, 2014, 10:07:31 PM »

Evening ladies,

Does anyone have experience of taking Clonidine in the form of Dixarit 25mg tabs (2 x 50mgs a day) for hot flushes? If so, how did you get on with it?

I am on an enforced break from HRT (long story - heavy bleeding/anaemia caused by a large fibroid I am waiting to have attended to). Since stopping (cold turkey) about 7 weeks ago, my original symptoms have come back with a vengeance and my GP has prescribed Clonidine to help with the hot flushes which are getting me down and keeping me awake at night.

I have been taking this for 10 days now and whilst I think it's helped the flushing (it's still there but not as intense/frequent), I think it's affecting my mood and making me feel quite depressed/tearful as well as tired and listless. Maybe it's not the Clonidine causing this but if it is, I think I'll stop taking it because it's not good feeling like this  :'(.  I'm 53 and am temporarily (hope!) off HRT after having been on it for 5 years. 

Sometimes I think I was better off on the HRT and just putting up with the bleeds...  At least I was sleeping through the night and my moods were even. I'm a nightmare to be around right now  :-\

Cheers,

Mags x
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tiger74

  • Guest
Re: Clonidine for hot flushes
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2014, 10:31:37 PM »

Sorry to hear about your situation - sounds like 'Catch 22'.

I was prescribed Dixarit about 18 months ago.  Made me feel nauseous and generally yuk and I didn't persist with it long enough to find out if it worked on the hot flushes.

I'm not on HRT and thankfully the daytime hot flushes have pretty much gone away (although the night sweats have continued  :-\)

I sympathise with how you feel as a result of lack of sleep and I hope that a solution/balance can be achieved soon.
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Joyce

  • Guest
Re: Clonidine for hot flushes
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2014, 10:35:04 PM »

I tried it few years back. Told it worked for 1 in 3 women. I was one of the 2 in 3 it did nothing for.  As I remember it, if it's not working within 4 weeks it's not worth continuing. 
I too had stopped cold turkey. I was miserable. Flushes, sweats, lethargic, moody you name it. After 8 months GP put me back on HRT. I wanted some quality back in my life, which I only get with HRT.
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MaggieM

  • Guest
Re: Clonidine for hot flushes
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2014, 10:39:55 PM »

Thanks for that ladies. Good to hear how others got on with it. Friend of mine who used to be a pharmacist advises stopping it but like you say, it's Catch 22. I might persevere for a wee while yet but if things haven't improved by next weekend, I'm chucking the lot in the bin.

Just wish this horrible period in my life was over. Who'd be a woman  ::)
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lubylou

  • Guest
Re: Clonidine for hot flushes
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2014, 02:15:14 PM »

I tried this, and I gave it a good trial for over a month but it did nothing to help me.
Lubylou
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MaggieM

  • Guest
Re: Clonidine for hot flushes
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2014, 09:21:48 PM »

Thanks ladies - I think if there's any improvement it's marginal but I'm going to bear with it until the end of the week before ditching it just in case. I'm still flushing one minute and freezing cold the next. I'm waking about 3/4 times a night and feel wretched at work the next day.
   
It (Clonidine) makes me dozy and a bit zombified if I'm being honest - not sure if I should be driving on it but need to for work.
I checked to see what other uses it has and it's apparently used as a mild sedative and has the effect of lowering blood pressure. It's also used to treat ADHD (!) and as someone who works with youngsters with ADHD, I'm used to them telling me they don't like the medication they are on because it makes them feel like a zombie - I know what they mean.... 
Sometimes I think we're just guinea pigs for the medical profession and they give us anything in the hope that it "might" work.
The sooner I get my appointment at the gynae clinic and my fibroids/bleeding sorted (and get back on HRT), the better for me and everyone in my radar  :(.

Mags x     
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Joyce

  • Guest
Re: Clonidine for hot flushes
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2014, 10:47:03 PM »

I always thought I felt like a zombie as I was wakened several times a night with the flushes rather than the Clonidine.  In fact when I was using them, hubby & I were away for a few days for a break. I sat up all 3 nights by the window trying to cool off. Even tried to make up a bed from two chairs, by the window to get some shut eye. Didn't work, very uncomfortable.
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