Opinions solicited

I lost part of speech on the morning of Nov. 10, 2003, and didn't go to hospital until the evening
of Nov. 11. At that time I had only speech difficulty, but nothing else. I drove 25 miles on the
highway, sometimes at the speed of 70 mph, from my residence to the hospital.

At the hospital I was diagnosed as having a stroke, and given some pills. A while after taking those
pills, my body started sweating profusely, and I became extremely weak and drowsy. In the meantime,
both the left and right sides of my body were numbing. I complained to the nurse about it, but
nothing was done about it.

Then the left side became better. The numbness was decreased and eventually gone. But the numbness
on right did not go away.

After leaving the hospital, I found the administered medication was 'clonidine' from my medical
records, and got some information about it from following web sites:

edutechsbs.com00019.htm rxlist.comclonidin ids.htm
whatmeds.comclonidine.html healthsquare.comCAT1072.HTM

All the sources say the starting dose for clonidine is 0.1 mg, and must be adjusted for each
individual's response to it. But the medicine was administered to me 0.2 mg only one time, and
changed to Norvacs after that.

I have been out of the hospital for more than three months. My speech has improved a lot. But the
numbness is not alleviated at all. The muscles on my right always ache. I feel a rope tightened
behind my right knee. My right should and side always feel tight and stiff. It is difficult for me
to walk, drive and lift things. My right side does not cooperate with my left side. I am not able to
do my regular job, and must retire.

I talked to a doctor from China by phone. She said that if blood pressure is dropped too fast after
a stroke, it will make the stroke worse. She told me that I was feeling numbing because the flow of
my blood became too slow. Unfortunately the doctor is not allowed to work in the U.S.

Now I need opinions from American doctors. For above description, was my stroke made worse by the
clonidine? Or was my body numbness and stiffness caused by it? Why did I became so sick after taking
the medicine?

Thanks.

Fuli Chang

(Fuli Chang) said:
Now I need opinions from American doctors. For above description, was my stroke made worse by the
clonidine? Or was my body numbness and stiffness caused by it? Why did I became so sick after
taking the medicine?

Without knowing what your blood pressure and heart rate were doing prior to and after the
administration of Clonidine, the location and extent of your stroke (based on CT or MRI), and your
specific neurological findings, it would be nearly impossible to give any kind of useful opinion.

Generally speaking, uncontrolled hypertension (high BP) is a leading cause of stroke. The mere fact
that you were administered Clonidine acutely suggests that your blood pressure was elevated
significantly. Statistically, a single 0.2 mg dose is unlikely to produce hemodynamically
significant hypotension (low BP) in someone who is already hypertensive (although anything is
possible), so I would suggest (lacking any further information) that you are more likely to be
suffering ongoing deficits from the stroke itself rather than anything directly attributable to the
Clonidine. The information given by the Chinese doctor is theoretically accurate. However, without
knowing what your blood pressure was doing during all of this, it will remain theoretical.

Good luck with your rehabilitiation.

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