Swiss medical weekly
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Swiss medical weekly · Dec 1989
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial[Analgesic effects of an oral dose of clonidine].
Experimental data and anecdotal clinical observations have shown that clonidine, an alpha 2-agonist, has a marked analgesic effect. We investigated clonidine-induced analgesia in response to nociceptive stimuli. On 2 different days 7 normal volunteers received either placebo or clonidine (200 micrograms) orally according to a cross-over, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled design. ⋯ Side effects were a moderate fall in blood pressure, sedation and dryness of the mouth. A single oral dose of clonidine induces significant analgesia. These results suggest that clonidine is potentially a worthwhile drug for pain treatment which deserves further clinical investigation.