Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Hi all... I want to add a little note about a serendipitous effect of the clonidine. I started it a few days ago to help me with some w/d symptoms during my taper. It's an anti-hypertensive that acts centrally to control bp, and also side effects from opiate w/d. Well.. it is definitely helping with the w/d and lo and behold I noticed it helping a lot with my sitting pain, tenderness over sit bones... etc. I had a consult with a dr the other day who is helping me with my taper and he was also an anesthesiologist and he said that Clonidine is one of the older drugs that was frequently used for pain management. Just wanted to share
Cora

I had tried the Clonidine patch but it dropped my BP too much. Would love to give it another try though. So glad it is working for you. It should help with pain as it decreases the amount of the neurotransmittor norepiphrine in the brainstem thus decreasing the sympathetic nervous system drive. Some individuals with RSD find it very helpful because it works at the central nervous system level to calm down the sympathetic portion which is in overdrive with people with RSD. Good luck and maybe you can stay on the Clonidine for pain control.

Thanks for posting that good news, Cora!

Cora,

I've seen clonidine used in the hospital setting for people going through alcohol withdrawal. Glad to hear you are getting some relief from it. I will keep that in the back of my head!

cari

Interesting comments about the clonidine. I think in some ways it's considered an "old school" med for pain control... but I am really getting really significant relief from it. I think we need to ask our docs about these drugs because I think what happens is they start to focus on all the new and "better" drugs that are marketed so heavily to them, and then these old stand-bys end up working pretty well. Thanks for the input.
Cora

Hi Cora,
I'm glad that you are finding additional relief from your pain with the clonidine. Are you using tablets or the patch? And what dose are you on?
Thanks for any information you can provide.
Best wishes for your continued taper off the meds.
Lois