Q. I have been on Catapres patches for several years to help control high blood pressure. My insurance company switched me to generic clonidine patches without my knowledge. Within 36 hours of switching to the generic, my blood pressure was out of control, higher than 200/100.
After a week I changed the patch for a new one and wondered if that was the problem. I got my doctor to switch me back to the name brand and within 24 hours my blood pressure was back to normal.
A. Doctors have known for years that sudden discontinuation of clonidine (Catapres) can lead to rebound hypertension. Other symptoms may include headache, nervousness and tremor. Your symptoms suggest that the generic clonidine patch was not delivering adequate medicine to prevent such a withdrawal reaction.
We recommend that people who think their generic drug is not performing appropriately make a report to the FDA’s MedWatch program: www.FDA.gov/MedWatch and to the generic drug office: genericdrugs@fda.hhs.gov.
