Guanabenz therapy for opiate withdrawal.

A 29-year-old man used codeine approximately 1000 mg/d for seven years prior to detoxification. He developed dose-related clonidine side effects of dizziness, sedation, and dysphoria during standard clonidine detoxification; however, opiate withdrawal symptoms persisted. Conversion to guanabenz, a clonidine-like alpha 2 agonist, promptly relieved the opiate withdrawal symptoms without side effect recurrence. Guanabenz shows promise as an opiate withdrawal agent.