We had the same problem with Stratera. We had to switch her to Adderall. It has made such a great difference since we switched her.
Well day 4 was great! Raves from teacher and attention at baseball! Then... suddenly he jumped on another kid! Well... they were running for the same ball and my son is an orphan with a sharp competitive edge. Not so strange... Then they were running/racing and he slugged the same kid in the stomach!!! He and dad left practice. We had a long talk about being mean to your friends and threatened him with being taken off the team. He has 3 older brothers that play pretty rough and this is not the first time he has been in trouble for hitting. He is easily over whelmed but lately the hitting has been better. I know Strattera is anxiety producing, hopefully this is what he will adjust through. Gotta go get him to make an apopology card!!! We've taken her off Strattera because she was having serious emotional meltdowns and attitude/back talking both at home and at school. Causing her to disrupt the classroom which she never did before meds. She then was put on Metadate CD 10mg (also with no luck because of heart palpitations, stomach pains, and headaches) she only had 4 doses and we just stopped that on Weds. We go back tomorrow to have the Psych eval her blood pressure and heart rate before trying short acting Ritalin 5mg (my suggestion because my oldest son that's now 17 1/2 did well on it) we're going to try one dose a day to start and increase to twice if she tolerates it. I hope she does because she seriously needs help.The dosage WILL need to be increased at 3-5 day intervals until the target dose is reached. The target dose is 1.2-1.8 mgs per kilo of body weight. Straterra is EXTREMELY weight dependent, and needs to be ramped slowly. It will take 4-6 weeks after reaching the target dose to see full effects of this med.
Straterra is a 24 hour med, but since she is not at the taregt dose it may seem like it is wearing of, when in fact it is not working properly at all yet.
I am surprised your Psychiatrist did not know this. It is info that is readily available on their website.
edbson39127.8280092593Yes, I don't think she has been on it long enough for you to really see an effect. It shouldn't wear off in the afternoon. Although, come to think of it, my dd was taking it morning and afternoon at one point, to help her behavior in the afternoons. For her, Strattera worked for a short time, then we had to move on to stimulants. I hope it works for you, though.I didn't ask her these questions in the office because I didn't think of them then... I'm used to Ritalin because that's what my oldest son was on. My daughter can't take stimulants because of seizures. The Psych just told me to keep her on this dosage for 3 weeks and follow up with her to see if she can increase it then. Wonder why she didn't increase like normal per the site? I know it hasn't been long at all, not even a full week, but she has already complained of a tummy ache and this morning was constipated (but was finally able to go after I gave her some Apple Cider). I did read that the tummy aches are very common with this med, so I'm making sure she eats when she takes it and trying to make sure she eats well all day. (hard to do when she's at school though) Your doctor may be waiting to see the full effects of the drug which can take as long as six weeks according to the experience of my son's doctor.It is imperative that it is dosed as per her weight or you will not see any good results. The side effects of a too high or too low dose are mood swings, irritability, and several others..........all bad. She is also very young, and it is possible that the seizure disorder is causing the symptoms and it could be something that is not ADHD at all.
I would ask your Psych ASAP why it is not being ramped, alot of dr's don't read the literature and are not aware of this at all.
Well, technically she's not dx'd with a seizure disorder. She's only had one before this last Spring and it was a Febrile seizure for sure. This one wasn't, so they ordered an EEG just to be on the safe side. We're sure it is ADD as she's been through full psychological evaluation, and a 2nd opinion with a Psychiatrist not in the same office. But I do understand what you mean. I do have another daughter that does have seizure disorders... she's nothing like her older sister though. I will call her Psych and ask her about the increasing of dosage.I've heard there are FDA warnings about Strattera due to severe liver damage, apparently it's supposed to be labelled on the medication. When a child is put on Strattera, they are supposed to monitor the liver function closely, to make sure it's not causing harm.
Most Dr's do monitor liver function, but that is usually after they have been on it 6 months.My 5 y.o daughter started taking 10mg Strattera this past Saturday, so of course we're still waiting for full effect and to see if this dosage works or needs to be increased.