Clomipramine is used to treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Clomipramine is a tricyclic agent with both antidepressant and antiobsessional properties. Like other tricyclics, Clomipramine inhibits norepinephrine and serotonin uptake into central nerve terminals, possibly by blocking the membrane-pump of neurons, thereby increasing the concentration of transmitter monoamines at receptor sites. Clomipramine is presumed to influence depression and obsessive and compulsive behaviour through its effects on serotonergic neurotransmission. The actual neurochemical mechanism is unknown, but Clomipramine capacity to inhibit serotonin reuptake is thought to be important. Clomipramine appears to have a mild sedative effect which may be helpful in alleviating the anxiety component often accompanying depression.

Side Effects

• change in appetite or weight
• stuffy nose
• headache
• decreased memory or concentration
• decreased sexual ability
• nervousness
• constipation
• diarrhea
• vomiting
• upset stomach
• dry mouth
• drowsiness

If you experience any of the following symptoms or those listed in the IMPORTANT WARNING section, call your doctor immediately:

• unusual tiredness or weakness
• severe muscle stiffness
• difficulty breathing or fast breathing
• shakiness
• eye pain
• delusions or hallucinations
• depression
• difficulty urinating or loss of bladder control
• fast, irregular, or pounding heartbeat
• seizures
• tremor

Keep this medication in the container it came in, tightly closed, and out of reach of children. Store it at room temperature and away from excess heat and moisture (not in the bathroom). Throw away any medication that is outdated or no longer needed. Talk to your pharmacist about the proper disposal of your medication.
In case of overdose, call your local poison control center. If the victim has collapsed or is not breathing, call local emergency services.
Keep all appointments with your doctor and the laboratory. Your doctor will order certain lab tests to check your response to Clomipramine .

Special precautions

• You should know that your mental health may change in unexpected ways, especially at the beginning of your treatment and any time that your dose is increased or decreased. These changes may occur at any time if you have depression or another mental illness, whether or not you are taking Clomipramine or any other medication. You, or planning or trying to do so; and frenzied, or your caregiver should call your doctor right away if you experience any of the following symptoms: new or worsening depression; severe restlessness; acting without thinking; irritability; aggressive behavior; difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep; panic attacks; agitation; extreme worry; thinking about harming or killing yourself, your family, abnormal excitement. Be sure that your family or caregiver knows which symptoms may be serious so they can call the doctor when you are unable to seek treatment on your own.
• Plan to avoid unnecessary or prolonged exposure to sunlight and to wear protective clothing, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Clomipramine may make your skin sensitive to sunlight.
• Tell your doctor if you use tobacco products. Cigarette smoking may decrease the effectiveness of this drug.
• Remember that alcohol can add to the drowsiness caused by this drug.
• You should know that this drug may make you drowsy. Do not drive a car or operate machinery until you know how this drug affects you.
• If you are having surgery, including dental surgery, tell the doctor or dentist that you are taking Clomipramine .
• Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you become pregnant while taking Clomipramine , call your doctor.
• Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your family has or has ever had depression, bipolar disorder (mood that changes from depressed to abnormally excited), or mania (frenzied, abnormally excited mood), or if you or anyone in your family has thought about or attempted suicide. Also tell your doctor if you have or have ever had a heart attack, thyroid problems, problems with your blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, glaucoma, problems with your urinary system or prostate, seizures, or heart, kidney.
• tell your doctor and pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications you are taking, especially MAO inhibitors [phenelzine (Nardil) or tranylcypromine (Parnate)], even if you stopped taking them in the last 2 weeks; trihexyphenidyl (Artane); tranquilizers; selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as or schizophrenia; levodopa (Sinemet, dizziness, and paroxetine (Paxil); sedatives; secobarbital (Seconal); quinidine (Quinidex); propafenone (Rythmol); oral contraceptives; medications for nausea, sertraline (Zoloft), Sarafem), fluoxetine (Prozac, Dopar); haloperidol (Haldol); guanethidine (Ismelin); flecainide (Tambocor); disulfiram; digoxin (Lanoxin); dicyclomine (Bentyl); clonidine (Catapres); cimetidine (Tagamet); benztropine (Cogentin); anticoagulants ('blood thinners'). You must wait at least 5 weeks after stopping to take fluoxetine before beginning to take Clomipramine .
• Tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to Clomipramine or any other drugs.