Hypertension after clonidine overdose. A case report.

: A hypertensive reaction is described in a 28-year-old woman with renal failure who took 30-70 clonidine tablets (150 micrograms each) with suicidal intent. She became increasingly drowsy. Her blood pressure on admission was 210/150 mmHg and gradually fell to 140/100 mmHg during the next 16 hours, at which time her plasma clonidine concentration was 4.7 ng/ml. This interesting hypertensive reaction was probably due to excessive stimulation of peripheral postsynaptic alpha-adrenoceptors.