Clonidine in respiratory panic disorder subtype

OBJECTIVE: Clonidine, which inhibits locus coeruleus discharge, would seem for theoretical reasons to be a good antipanic drug. Panic disorder (PD) presents a heterogeneous cluster of symptoms and a classification based on subtypes has been suggested and the respiratory symptoms group appears as a distinct subtype. METHOD: We report three cases of respiratory PD patients who were successfully treated with clonidine. RESULTS: Patients obtained panic free status, reduced anxiety levels and better functioning after clonidine administration (0.30-0.45 mg/day) for 6 weeks. CONCLUSION: Clonidine can be effective in the treatment of respiratory PD. This drug might play a role in relieving symptoms of anxiety due to noradrenergic hyperactivity in these patients.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Valença,Alexandre M., Nardi,Antonio E., Mezzasalma,Marco A., Nascimento,Isabella, Lopes,Fabiana L., Zin,Walter A., Versiani,Marcio
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Academia Brasileira de Neurologia - ABNEURO 2004
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2004000300004
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!