Posted by sdb on May 11, 2005, at 13:54:39
In reply to Clonidine for anxiety?, posted by chess on May 11, 2005, at 10:59:21
Hi!
Yes it helps to control noradrenaline release, it is a alpha2-agonist. It has influence of Nucleus coeruleus, which controls with some long "nerves" the brain and the spine.
It does not diminish anxiety but it can be helpful for example performance anxiety (trembling, sweating, heart pounding). You could combine it (low dosage) with a betablocker. Less noradrenaline can cause depression. I have taken clonidine temporarely to see what it does. It did not affect my mood, i only had dry mouth and otherwise almost no sideffects. There is another alpha2-agonist guanfacine, which can (according to studies) even improve memory and cognitive performance through more blood flow in the frontal cortex. I am not sure but it even has longer half-life and it is more selective (check this). Normaly a2-agonists are used in hypertension or years ago to calm animals during examinations. I personally had no problem stopping the clonidine immediately combined with very small dosage of nadolol. It could be also useful in ADHD and perhaps combined with lipophil betablockers against emotional shocks. Betareceptors and norepinephrine has influence on memorizing bad emotional shocks. I would take only small dosages in the beginning to see what it does. Normally two dosages in the beginning per day is recommended.
I personally had a bad panic attack caused by mirtazapine which has strong alpha2-antagonist properties (this should be activating and therefore good for depression but it did the wrong thing during an oral performance, heart pounding, almost jumping on the roof...). Above all mirtazapine is an interesting med in small dosages). My strong believe is (because of the bad experience during performance with an alpha2-antagonist), that alpha2-agonists could be helpful to diminish physical symptoms thus, helpful for you if it is tolerable (blood-pressure, no depression).
I used it only occasionlly i don't know what i would do in the long term.Kind regards
sdb
poster:sdb
thread:496383
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050510/msgs/496460.html