Strattera Problems? | ADHD Information

Strattera isnt a stimulant. I feel down and tired when I used to take it. I hate strattera.Thank you both for your replies.  I've talked with both of his docs and we decided to stay at the 18mg for the next month.  I really felt I was beginning to see good results when this incident occured.  He didn't take the meds yesterday, but we started back again today.  So far, so good.  No headache or stomache upset.  We'll see how it goes.  If this happens again we're done with this drug.  We've tried all of the stims.  Adderall was a nightmare (very moody), Ritalin La was good for about 8 months and just lost its effect, Concerta was great for about 2 years and then it just stopped working even at higher doses.  This is really our last hope.  If this doesn't work I'm going to alternatives.  I'm so tired of putting this kid through drug trials and changes.  Aghhhhh!  Thanks again for your input.  Would love to here from others too about your experience with Strattera.

Hi I've got an 8 year old. We've been trying staterra for 4 wk until today.  Two good point, he started to eat really well again (had been on concerta xl) even put 4lb's on in the 4 wk's. The second, he was sleeping even said he wanted to go to bed. One big problem his behaviour was really bad nearly got kicked out of summer play scheme for shutting one of the leaders in a cupboard and trapping her hand, and being really rude and aggressive to the other male staff these are all staff he has know for about 3 years as they teach him swimming and they couldn't believe his behaviour. Today i have decided to go back to concerta XL and upping the dose, concerta had worked really well for about 9 month the just seemed to stop. Did ur doctors advice you to carry on with it?

Hayley

 

My child was on stratera for about two months. You need to take stratera on a full stomach or you will get sick, this was happening to us. I took my child off of it because they became very moody and unusually arguementative and it wasn't doing anything for their focus at all. We were at 20 mg I hate strattera. for reasons I don't like antidepressants. Apart from making me feel INCREDIBLY irritable (I turn into the worst person in the world when I'm on stratera, no kidding), it gives me bad sexual side effects (sorry if that's too much information) and that freaking headache. I really tried to stay on it but it sucked. It potentiated the adderall in terms of concentration, I was able to concentrate well, but I just dont respond well to additonal norepinephrine tweaking.

antidepressants (and strattera is *kind* of like an antidepressant, like wellbutrin) have different reactions on different people. Some say it depends on your sensitivity to the different chemicals that they tweak. I personally must be really sensitive to norepinephrine, because cymbalta, strattera and wellbutrin are complete killers for me. they give me every side effect on the book plus irritability.

If you see your kid is not responding well, don't give it to him. Sticking it out will not work in most cases...
My son started taking Strattera about 7 days ago.  This morning about 45 mins after taking it, he started complaining about a headache.  Since he's had this problem with other stims, I didn't really pay too much attention to this because he's been off meds all summer and this happens when we first go back on for a day or two.  This is the first time we've tried Strattera so this drug is new to us.  Anyway, as the morning wore on he started complaining more and more and said his head was killing him and he felt like he was going to throw-up.  He couldn't get comfortable at all and finally curled up in a ball on the couch and fell aspleep.  After he woke up his headache wasn't as bad, but then he felt sick again and ended up throwing up.  All of this freaked me out and I put in calls to his ped and pysch.  He is on 18mg and is suppose to go up to 40mg tommarrow.  I don't even want to give it to him again.  Has anyone had this type of experience on Strattera?  It seemed to be working well until today.  Any advice?  By the way, its been quite a few hours since this has happened and now he feel absolutely fine.  I am being treated with Strattera since Adderal was denying me sleep.  I do not like Strattera. It is doing nothing to help my focus and as I write I have a splitting headache.  I absolutely  have to stop taking it and return to Adderal.  
AddMeYes, Strattera on an empty stomach is a bad idea.  it's also a bad idea to take it with a multivitamin, IMO.

I liked Strattera because I could concentrate all the time, even when I first woke up in the morning.  For the first time in my life, I was a morning person!

However, about 6 weeks after I started taking it, I started getting really, really bad acid reflux.  I have a tendency toward this anyway, but the strattera really aggrevated it. I stopped taking it a month ago (cold turkey, which is not necessarily a good idea but it was either that or go to the emergency room) and I still have some residual heartburn.

Has anybody else worked around this expeirence?  i'm on adderall-xr now and don't like it very much.  I'd rather take strattera but not have the heartburn and related problems...


I hate  strattera as well. It made me very moody and I had no control over my feelings. My wife and I decided to stop taking and switch back to Concerta.

Hi momtobug,

I am an adult with ADD and I have been taking Strattera for about one month now.  For the first two weeks, I had side affects, so I decided not to increase my dosage as prescribed.  Now, one month later, I have adjusted and am feeling great on the Strattera.  I am going to increase my dosage this weekend.  I have not been taking Strattera long enough to know about long term results but I have learned a few things already.  First, you have to give in a little time, because the way this drug makes you feel will change slowly and subtlety.  Second, for me, I do not believe I will need the standard dosage of 40mg 2x daily (standard for adults).  I think you need to increase your son’s dosage very slowly.  You may want to have him take it for two weeks and then increase, which worked well for me.