Well, I thought I'd just give you all a quick up date as to how my son was getting on with taking strattera.
He has been taking it now for 5 weeks and i can't say that i have seen too many positive changes.
He is taking 36mg a day (he weighs 71lbs) and the past couple of weeks have seen him become very angry and aggressive. More so than usual. Does this sound like the meds? Probably! And I just can't get him to do anything! Like getting dressed, having a shower etc. I am having to physically take him to his bedroom or bathroom after i have caught him( he tends to shout, scream and then run off).
Another thing is his appetite has been reduced to almost nothing, the only thing i can get him to eat is McDonalds and chocolate milkshake. (he is 145cm in height and weighs 71lbs) Oh and he eats a slice of toast in the morning with chocolate spread on. Totally not healthy but I just cant get him to eat anything else.
I know you have to wait to see an improvement for up to 6 weeks but are things going to dramatically improve in the next week? I am thinking of stopping the Stattera but dont know if you have to gradually reduce the dose before stopping? I am unable to see our consultant for at least another 3 weeks as she is off sick.
I dont want to continue with the strattera any longer than possible as his behaviour is getting worse!!
here's my story for strattera. My son was on it for 2 years. He is now 8. the med worked great for the first 5 or 6 months, then we had to up his dosage to right around 30 something mg.s then about 6 months later, upped again to 60mg! Went well, but over time (so slowly) we didn't realize how the meds were not really working Then he started getting into trouble alot at school. So, about 4 weeks ago, we took him off it and put him on adderall 10mg XR. Night and day difference. But the withdraws from the strattera were horrific! my little 8 year old was out of school for a week, was having thoughts of people killing him and him killing himself. After 5 nights of pure hell, the thoughts slowly stopped. Now he is back to his self. with less meds and happy, and he almost never gets into trouble. This is just our story. It may not happen to any one else, but it happened to us.
Who diagnosed him with ASD? That's a more serious dx. than ADHD (my son has PDD-NOS). You may want to go to an ASD board that is similiar to this one with the same question. Could affect ASD kids differently than ADHD kids. ASD kids all have ADHD symptoms--it's part of the Spectrum. My son is not on meds right now.
www.autism-pdd.net/forum/default.asp
OlderMom38883.7516087963The educational psychologist indicated my son could be on the autistis spectrum and then the consultant child psychiatrist diagnosed him with ASD and ADHD after a three day assessment. Will go to the ASD board thanx.
Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any experiences with Strattera. My 11 year old son has just recently been diagnosed with ADHD and ASD. He has already tried Equasym and Concerta but these didn't suit him so the doc has suggested trying Strattera. Thanks.
My son takes Strattera and we see the difference most in the afternoon and evening. He takes Ritalin LA and that makes a difference during school. He's not grumpy or moody and I guess I could say that it's been a good therapy for him. One thing, though. Strattera is advertised as a long-acting drug that builds effectiveness over the first 2-6 weeks, depending. You should know that it has a half-life in the blood stream of approx 5 hrs, so when you dose is important. We started out giving it to him at bedtime but didn't see any result. When we changed to morning dosage, it was much more effective. Good luck and welcome!my son did not respond well to strattera but it took us a while to figure this out....the stattera made him grumpy and irriatable...Some people have much better luck...What is Equasym? This is one med that I am not familar with.
my son does the best on Adderall
Does Adderall suppress the appetite? The reason I stopped the concerta was my son wouldn't eat much after his tab in the morning and he wasn't sleeping too good either. He's quite thin already and I didn't want him to lose too much weight. Maybe that's why the doc has suggested Strattera because it's not supposed to suppress the appetite as much.Yes Adderall does suppress the appetite...this is one of the major draw backs...I do think that my son is eating better on this than he did on concerta, he is also sleeping better. Some parent here hate Adderall because they say their kids got grumpy or weepy ( I am sure they will let you know if you ask about Adderall too)
I think the only way you can tell with these med is to give them a trial.. Strattera has to build up in the system before you get a the correct dosage...Strattera is also an anti-depressent ( someone correct me if I am wrong) therefore, you cannot stop strattera for the weekend and then start it up again...one of the nice things about strattera is that it can be refilled and you don't need to get a new prescription every 30 days.
It took us almost 1/ 2 of a year to get our medication figured out...it was alot of trial and error and good communication with the school.
joemom38883.5250347222Thanks for your reply. That's probably why the doc hasn't suggested Adderrall because of my sons weight. I think the whole medication thing is trial and error but I sometimes feel guilty when my son starts getting side effects and the med doesn't suit him. Does that make sense?Adderall is a stimulant that is a mixed amphetamine ( four different amphetamine salts).
There are two main groups or families of stimulant medication Amphetamines( adderall) and methylphenidates ( this is the ritalin, concerta, focalin and medadate group.
The adderall seems to be working the best for my son
My son was also on adderall and it worked well for him. We switched for a reason unrelated to the ADD. Hi, thanks for your replies. Equasym is just a brand name for ritalin. What sort of med is Adderall? Have heard alot of negative things about Strattera so any more success stories would be great!