Clonidine for Nightmares / PTSD

Has anyone had any experience with a medication called Clonidine

A few months ago I began occasionally having what I have referred to as: "emotionally charged" dreams They're not really nightmares. Most, but not all, involve extremely angry arguments with my parents (both deceased) & / or with my wife. (In real life we almost never argue.) During these dreams I would sometimes yell, begin to roll out of bed, jerk violently, or flail about. Then I'd wake up.

Lately these dreams have become more frequent, almost nightly. I mentioned this to my pdoc last week. He prescribed a medication called: "Clonidine". He said it is an old blood pressure medication. It is now given to sufferers of PTSD who have nightmares. It supposedly doesn't induce sleep, & it's not a treatment for depression. It is simply prescribed to calm nightmares.

Each Clonidine tablet is .1 mg. I can take 1 or 2 before bed each night. So far I've taken it for 3 nights. It seems to work. It does seem, though, that I feel a bit more "groggy". And it has definitely increased my dry mouth. I'm also on 120 mg. / day of Cymbalta; and I didn't have a noticeably dry mouth prior to starting on the Clonidine.

I haven't had experience with that specific med, but my pdoc recently prescribed me prazosin, which is also an old blood pressure med now used for PTSD nightmares (which is what I'm having). I'm supposed to take it with gabapentin at night before bed. It has helped a little with my nightmares so far.
Let me know what the clonidine does for you. The two meds we are on sound pretty similar.

Hi there,

I just started clonidine a month ago for PTSD nightmares and benzo withdrawal enduced night terrors. It's worked fairly well, although I feel drowsy in the morning. I'm not waking up screaming anymore sunnyfan

Hello Stronger: I wanted to tell you that I'm going off of the Clonidine my pdoc prescribed for nightmares. It seems to work quite well... but it is making my weight mushroom! It has also caused me to have a very dry mouth. So, no more Clonidine for me. How has the Prazosin been working for you?