strattera questions | ADHD Information

You might want to adjust his dosing schedule. Strattera has a half life in the bloodstream of 5 hours and spreading out his doses might help.

[QUOTE=mamasan] Anyone have any recommendations for what now? Does this mean we should be looking at increasing his dosage or is it time to look at other med.s?[/QUOTE]

Hello Mamasan,

My 7yo daughter started taking Strattera in November. She started at a low dose and gradually increased until the dr no longer wanted to increase the dose. I believe it was 25 mg in the a.m. and 18 in the p.m. It gradually lost effectiveness for her. We added in Concerta with the Strattera for a few months. She was discontinued from taking Strattera about 2 weeks ago, and we are on to other meds. My daughter is a drama queen anyway, so it was hard for me to determine whether her moodiness was due to the Strattera or not. She still is moody and she isn't on Strattera anymore. Good luck.

Thank you everyone who responded, my ds is currently taking 18mg. in the am and another 10 in the afternoon. He currently weighs 52lbs. He really hasn't gained weight in the last six months, maybe 2 lbs. total. He is on the small side for his age

. So, according to the previous posts it sounds like we're right on for dosage. In any event I will be touching base with his Dr. on Fri. Again thanks for everyone's help. Is there anyone out there who had a positive experience with Strattera but eventually found it fizzling out? What did u try next? How did it work? Sorry for all the questions everyone, but I figure if Strattera works on certain receptors and worked well for us then maybe other's it worked well for will have subsequent suggestions for meds. that worked well for them.

Hi. My DD was on strattera. We eventually took her off it because it made her downright mean! But heres what I've learned along the way.'

First, if your sons been on the same dose 6 months theres a VERY good chance he needs a doseage increase. I'm sure hes grown in that time & Strattera is very weight dependant. Heres the formula for finding the target dose:

The target dose should be at least 1.2mgs for
every 2.2 lbs of body weight.Divide his weight by 2.2, then multiply
that # by 1.2. That will give you the mgs you need to
work up to. A low dose has almost no effect except
moodswings, a high dose can cause rage and is a
dangerous game to play with a childs blood pressure.
This is not like the other meds, there is only one
right dose and it is completely size dependant. The longer you stay on a lower dose the higher the possibility of mood issues.watch the weight gain. Some kids are eating themselves right into
needing a higher dose and just as they reach 3-4 weeks
when they should be having results, parents are
mistakenly thinking the stuff doesn't work. Keep an
eye on the weight. Adjust the dose accordingly.

Alot of people like to spilit the dose...half in the AM half in the afternoon.

You should never open the capsules to mix it in with food. This can cause severe stomach aches!Also, if you are going to
resort to opening the capsules for any reason, PLEASE
BE CAREFUL, inhaling this powder can cause serious
repiratory problems!

One of the major side effects of Strattera is mood swings. That could be what you're seeing. In terms of increasing his dose, Strattera is dosed by weight. How much does your DS weigh?

In any event, I recommend checking in with his doc as well.

Hello all, I'm brand new here and have been reading through many of your posts. My son is 8yrs. old and has been taking Strattera, 40mg./day for about 6 months now. At first his teacher and I thought this was the wonder drug of the century! His behaviour was excellent, no more getting into daily trouble at school and his school work just took off, he was reading and doing math at a 4th grade level, where as before strattera we were wondering about maybe testing for L.D.s. Within the last month we ( his teacher and I) have been noticing some lessening of this med.'s effectiveness and a lot more "confrontational" and angry outbursts. He seems to go from normal happy demeanor to seriously pissed off and unhappy in no time flat, for things that he was handling fine before. Anyone have any recommendations for what now? Does this mean we should be looking at increasing his dosage or is it time to look at other med.s?Definitely speak to his doctor. It could be one or the other. Sometimes they just need an increase, but I would say more often then not, if there are mood issues, usually a med change is in order. I would give his doctor a call though as it sounds like a change either in dosage or meds, is needed. Hi, don't shoot me, but I heard this medicine can cause the kids liver to fail and they could die from it. I don't know if this is true or not, but I did read it somewhere.

[QUOTE=mamasan]Hello all, I'm brand new here and have been reading through many of your posts. My son is 8yrs. old and has been taking Strattera, 40mg./day for about 6 months now. At first his teacher and I thought this was the wonder drug of the century! His behaviour was excellent, no more getting into daily trouble at school and his school work just took off, he was reading and doing math at a 4th grade level, where as before strattera we were wondering about maybe testing for L.D.s. Within the last month we ( his teacher and I) have been noticing some lessening of this med.'s effectiveness and a lot more "confrontational" and angry outbursts. He seems to go from normal happy demeanor to seriously pissed off and unhappy in no time flat, for things that he was handling fine before. Anyone have any recommendations for what now? Does this mean we should be looking at increasing his dosage or is it time to look at other med.s?[/QUOTE]

Strattera does that. It did for my son, it was gradual so we didn't notice till it was bad. We changed him back to adderall. he is 8, too. he was on 60mg of strattera and now he is on only 10mg xr adderall and perfectly fine. He had HORRIBLE WITHDRAWS coming off the startteria. watch him closely thoughts of him hurting himself were unbearable. it took about 2 or 3 weeks for the withdraws to go away, but he is fine now and as happy as a lark!!

[QUOTE=good1]Hi, don't shoot me, but I heard this medicine can cause the kids liver to fail and they could die from it. I don't know if this is true or not, but I did read it somewhere. [/QUOTE]

I'm talking about Strattera . I haven't read about the other ones, just heard that the drugs make them into zombies, which I would think does more bad than good. How can you learn anything at school, if you are a zombie?

[QUOTE=good1]Hi, don't shoot me, but I heard this medicine can cause the kids liver to fail and they could die from it. I don't know if this is true or not, but I did read it somewhere. [/QUOTE]

This is what our doc told me about the strattera and liver damage...she said there was a slight chance of reversable liver damage and to keep an eye out for any symptoms such as jaundice ( yellow skin tone).

My son no longer takes strattera, the side effects were too much for us

I really think that is hard to determine how a child will react to meds and which meds work and dont only because every child is different in their own way. My child did not do well at all on strattera but he did not do well or respond to any stimulant. But that does not mean that your child will not do well on it. I have heard positive feedback on adderall and that is one drug that is on all my kids charts under no circumstance are they allowed to recieve because it sent them into terrible rages. So every child is so different so its hard to compare notes from one childs meds to the next. ThanksMy son has been on stratera for two months now, I have noticed no change in him. He was getting stomach aches but he needed to take it with food, this helped his stomach aches. Last week we just increased to 20 mg (he is 49 lbs), and has lost 1/2 lb so far. He seems very angry now and he is usually very happy go lucky in the summer so I am going to call the doctor, I would rather have him off of it than like this. I have seen NO improvement or I should say difference.My son did not do well on strattera ( at first he did). I would keep an eye on him. We switched to adderall and things improved 100%our son is moody even off meds. Depakote masks this in him. A ld specialist told me lots of parents told her it didn't help their kids. I have met kids who do strattera and a stim.

I would be so afraid to give my kids any of these drugs. From what I have heard, these drugs scare me to death.

[/QUOTE]

Strattera didn't turn my ds into a zombie, actually it started out being nothing short of a godsend for him in school. try learning anything when you can't focus on it for more than a few moments with your best effort. my ds actually did so much better at school his teachers were all amazed and his progress reports went from almost all "needs improvement" to "exceeding expectations"

[QUOTE=good1]

I would be so afraid to give my kids any of these drugs. From what I have heard, these drugs scare me to death.

[/QUOTE]

You know, I was scared to medicate my ds, still am scared truth be known. I guess you have to see firsthand the tears of frustration your child has when they truly try as hard as they can and just can't seem to function like the other kids are. He wanted to know why he was always so "bad" and in trouble. He really felt he was stupid and couldn't do the same work as anyone else. Of course I knew he was such a bright, compassionate, guy, it broke my heart to hear how he felt about himself. Starting him on strattera may have been a big risk, and it may not keep being such a big help as it was, but at least now he knows what he can do, he knows he's smart and capable of not being sent to the opportunity room daily for getting into trouble.

HI: My son is 10 years old and has been taking strattera for about one year now. He has been taking meds for 3 years now and we have tried concerta (worked great for 6 months but stopped working all of a sudden, tried to up meds but it was like his body just got use to it and it no longer helped) and other meds but found this one works the best. He was alittle moody at first but that changed (only for about 2 months). I have also been giving him some cod liver oil tablets to go along with them to build up the amino fatty acids. I dont know if this prevented some of the side effects but it seemed to help him. He takes one pill in the morning and this year in school he has made such a big improvment in work that he is almost up to grade level. He sleeps well and his eating is normal with this med. So far this one worked the best for him.

my son is on 40mg of strattera in the am, and 20 mg of ritalin LA and he has been doing wonderful in his summer day camp program( a spin off of school like situations with some fun and field trips) In fact his teachers have told me that he has done MUCH better and seems to be more cooperative. It's nice to get nice notes instead of bad ones. I had him on strattera about a year ago and I stopped it due to the reports of side effects of this med. But we needed to put him back on and he is doing great for now. Hope this helps