Clonidine...

[KeeperOfTheIceRN]

...used as a sleep aid in a child. This was my first experience with this and I was curious if anyone else has had this run in before???

[ohiobobcat]

Yep! I give it as a PRN dose here at school for anxiety/impulsivity.

I gave it as a scheduled medication at the summer camp I work a A LOT. My camp is for adults and kids with developmental and physical disabilities. And the reason I remember this specific medication is because the other nurse that helps me check in camper's medications kept trying to put clonidine in our lock box. And I had to tell her more than once that clonidine is NOT a schedule II medication so please stop trying to make it a medication we have to count every day.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

My patients are significantly below school age, but just throwing it out there that we also use clonidine po q6h for our opiate withdrawal newborns. It helps A LOT with their sleep. And when they sleep better they do everything else better (grow, eat, not freak out from withdrawal).

[KKEGS, MSN, RN]

My patients are significantly below school age, but just throwing it out there that we also use clonidine po q6h for our opiate withdrawal newborns. It helps A LOT with their sleep. And when they sleep better they do everything else better (grow, eat, not freak out from withdrawal).

Really?!? I work a side gig as a NICU nurse and we've never used clonidine for withdrawal. I'm going to ask our neonatologists about this! I love learning new things in the NICU realm!

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Really?!? I work a side gig as a NICU nurse and we've never used clonidine for withdrawal. I'm going to ask our neonatologists about this! I love learning new things in the NICU realm!

It isn't the only thing we use, but it helps with those kids that are just losing their minds. We use it as an adjunct with methadone and phenobarb. I can't remember exactly when we started using it but it's been at least a couple years.

[KKEGS, MSN, RN]

It isn't the only thing we use, but it helps with those kids that are just losing their minds. We use it as an adjunct with methadone and phenobarb. I can't remember exactly when we started using it but it's been at least a couple years.

We use alooooooot of methadone. Those babies just break my heart. I had one baby one night that I just sat and rocked for about 7 hours because the second you put her down she would just lose it.

[Julius Seizure]

Really?!? I work a side gig as a NICU nurse and we've never used clonidine for withdrawal. I'm going to ask our neonatologists about this! I love learning new things in the NICU realm!

Yup we use it in PICU, too, for post-op babies that have been on long term sedation. Some of our kids alternate 3 different meds, all q6h to start, so they get something every 2 hours.

Opiate withdrawal --> methadone

Benzo withdrawal --> valium

Precedex withdrawal --> clonidine

[JKL33]

It is an alpha-2 agonist (in same broad category as guanfacine/Intuniv with which you may be more familiar, though guanfacine works at a specific receptor subtype).

In my setting (ED) it would be used in the treatment of HTN or EtOH withdrawal mostly, but there are lots of uses.

I came across it once on the med list of a very young preschooler (additional details withheld); suffice it to say it begged the question of the child's overall chances in life. It most certainly was not being used for a legitimate therapeutic purpose. Kind of a sad eye-opener even after years in the ED.

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

Yep! I give it as a PRN dose here at school for anxiety/impulsivity.

I gave it as a scheduled medication at the summer camp I work a A LOT. My camp is for adults and kids with developmental and physical disabilities. And the reason I remember this specific medication is because the other nurse that helps me check in camper's medications kept trying to put clonidine in our lock box. And I had to tell her more than once that clonidine is NOT a schedule II medication so please stop trying to make it a medication we have to count every day.

Was she confusing clonidine with Klonopin???

[audreysmagic, RN]

Was she confusing clonidine with Klonopin???

I find this happens a lot. We use clonidine ALL THE TIME in my (freestanding psych) facility - for detox in our adults and ADHD/anxiety in the kiddos. I've had a lot of new-to-us nurses wanting to modify treatment plans for hypertension and/or questioning why we didn't count it. Another popular confusion area is the use of anticonvulsants for mood stabilization, but that's one that more nurses are getting educated about overall. I personally find the "hey, this drug works for this other thing!" fascinating, though I do understand in some cases that we don't teach to it in nursing school if it's off-label usage.

[ohiobobcat]

Was she confusing clonidine with Klonopin???

I'm sure she was. It got a little frustrating after I had to tell her multiple times to stop locking clonidine, though. She also kept trying to lock up phenobarb, which is also not a schedule II drug, which I also had to tell her multiple times not to do.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

Clonidine was treated like at schedule II when I worked at the hospital.

[ohiobobcat]

Clonidine was treated like at schedule II when I worked at the hospital.

Really? In the two hospitals I worked at, we did not have to count clonidine (I do NOT miss Pyxis counts). I find it interesting that different drugs are treated differently depending on where you work. We didn't count clonidine, but I think we had to start counting Flexeril at one hospital.

At camp, I go strictly by whether they are Schedule II meds. Some sessions we are counting up to 30 medications every day, so I am not about adding more medications to our count list.