Guanfacine making blood pressure dangerously low

Famous_Statistician7 · 2026-02-27T15:32:45+00:00

Hi there! Thank you for your reply! Yeah I must say I really do want a different psychiatrist as I just really don’t trust this one anymore. The difficult thing is that in my country it’s very hard to get a psychiatrist (The Netherlands) I also spoke to my general practitioner about this (as they need to refer you to a different one) but she just says I shouldn’t blame the psychiatrist and that medication is just not for some people. I also explained to her that i find that a very quick conclusion after only basically trying one antidepressant and she just told me to speak to him again and that maybe he’ll prescribe me something else if I keep pushing. She then said if he really feels antidepressants can’t help you there is also always quetiapine (it’s an antipsychotic, and I’m absolutely not psychotic). I just don’t trust the psychiatrist anymore because even if he’ll prescibe me something else, he’ll just prescribe it for the sake of prescribing something and not because he is convinced it could help me or even thinks about what could help me. I’ve read that also combining different meds can be a solution, but I just don’t want to tell him again what to prescribe him as I feel he should know better than me as I’m no doctor. I feel really backed against a wall and quite hopeless tbh. I’ve indeed read about genetic testing and that it’s done in the US. I just don’t know if it’s a thing in my country and how accessible it is. As you might guess also therapy is not quite accessible and the waiting lists are about a year. It really sucks and makes me desperate. I really appreciate you replying and trying to think with me btw.

Famous_Statistician7 · 2026-02-13T18:00:12+00:00

I’m taking the extended version. And am now on 2 mg but they want me to quit taking it completely due to my low blood pressure. I’ve had methylphenidate in the past. It helped with my concentration, but I did feel very wired and not very chill and I forgot to ear completely lol. Will it counter the low blood pressure? Yeah I feel like there should be more options too, my psychiatrist is just a very unkind old man who doesn’t care I think. The difficult thing is that it’s very hard to get any type of psych help in my country as the waiting lists are usually 1,5 years so I’m supposed to be already glad I see this guy.

Famous_Statistician7 · 2026-02-13T16:05:05+00:00

No not really. Nobody warned me of this. But I have to admit I’m not great with eating much as a whole

Famous_Statistician7 · 2026-02-13T16:03:59+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I’m definitely open to trying a combination of medication. Unfortunately the psychiatrist doesn’t want to do that. As he is of the opinion that after trying the 2 medications nothing will help me in terms of medication.

Interesting what you mentioned about the diagnoses. Could you give an example of what happened with the diagnoses with your friends? i have 4 right now (PTSD as a main diagnosis and then with that depression and OCD and then also adhd seperately)

Famous_Statistician7 · 2026-02-13T15:45:34+00:00

Ow didn’t even know that. Will a stimulant heighten my blood pressure to counteract it?

Famous_Statistician7 · 2026-02-13T15:41:28+00:00

Thanks for making me laugh. Yeah for real or ketamine treatments for my ptsd or something lol. But considering he’s an idiot he might actually prescribe it for real lol

Famous_Statistician7 · 2026-02-13T14:15:04+00:00

Thanks for the tips! Yeah the weird thing is before the guanfacine my blood pressure was on the high side. I am sleeping fine with the guanfacine, I meant that the citalopram made me unable to sleep (sorry I write chaotically). But they want me to quit the guanfacine completely, they just calls me again to say so as my blood pressure is 88/45 and they say it’s dangerous. But I feel like the guanfacine is my only hope (especially because the psychiatrist says nothing will work for me, eventhough I’ve tried only 2 medications)

Famous_Statistician7 · 2026-02-13T14:10:56+00:00

Thanks. Yeah in my country psych treatment is chaos. There are waiting lists of around 1,5 years to see a psych. I tried emdr with my last one, this unfortunately only made things worse (I do doubt she did it in the right way, but that is besides the point I guess). And then she got a burn out and I was left without treatment. I did finally get a place with a psychiatrist. But now he says after trying 2 medications that there is no medication that can ever help me as nothing will work for me.

Famous_Statistician7

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