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Re: clonodine

Posted by Omaha on July 23, 2000 at 23:39:50:

In Reply to: clonodine posted by Patrick Matone on July 22, 2000 at 05:42:57:

Well, I don't have any personal experience with it, but a quick perusal of the web gave me some rather disturbing info on it.

Clonodin, commericially known as Catapres, is used for people with hypertension. Is that why his doctor prescribed it? I wasn't sure from your posting, but it almost seemed it was being used to help him sleep, which is NOT what it should be used for.

I looked at a couple of sites (http://www.rxmed.com/monographs/catapres.html which gives the details in non-lay terms for Catapres, and http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/disorders/medications.shtml#Clonidine which gives info regarding ADD, which Clonidine is used to treat) and both sites said that Clonidine/Catapres had not been "established" for children; in other words, not enough information has been gathered to give a good recommended dosage amount for children, or what age this med is good for and what ages it is not. I don't know about you, but that would bother me. Perhaps you should ask your doctor why s/he wants to prescribe Clonidine. An article in the New England Journal of Medicine on February 3, 2000, (http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v283n8/full/joc91250.html) had some interesting things to say about the prescribing of meds like Clonidine to preschoolers and adolescents. Boiled down, they note a BIG increase in such prescriptions, including for meds that aren't necessarily "established" for the age group being prescribed for.

This isn't meant to scare you. However, if all of this is new to you, I would sit down and have a heart to heart with this doc, and if you aren't satisfied, get a second opinion. And don't let the doc bully you into believing that s/he knows better. That kind of doctor you don't need. Good luck.

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Archived Children's Sleep Forum2 viewing only. To post a new topic go to the Children's Sleep Forum Homepage.
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