Clonidine Overdose as an Unusual Cause of Heart Failure. (June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bhullar, Jagdeep; Patel, Arti; Chitithoti, Jaagruthi; Venter, Frederick; Win, Theingi; Joolhar, Fowrooz
• Is Part Of: Journal of investigative medicine high impact case reports. Volume 10(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Subjects: heart failure -- clonidine overdose -- HFrEF -- troponemia -- NSTEMI -- GDMT -- cardiology; Internal medicine -- Periodicals; Medical care -- Periodicals; 616.005
• DOI: 10.1177/23247096221106856
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2324-7096

Abstract

Clonidine is used as an antihypertensive medication due to its effect on decreasing peripheral vascular resistance and therefore lowering blood pressure. Alpha antagonism in the medulla and the posterior hypothalamus causing a reduction in sympathetic activation allows for clonidine to be used as an effective off-label treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is a case of a 28-year-old female with hypertension, ADHD, and depression who developed acute heart failure with significant troponemia after ingesting 30 pills of clonidine. We illustrate the possible rare diagnosis of systolic heart failure and coronary vasospasm secondary to clonidine overdose.