Hi Metis,
My husband HAS gotten shakey from it, but it passes after a couple of days or so. Since going to 80mg he has been nauseous a lot of the time. His hyperactivity has calmed quite a bit. He does find it easier to focus on tasks when he NEEDS to, but still has to make the conscious decision to focus on it. Does that make sense? It helps give him the ability to MAKE choices without hitting a mental roadblock, but won't actually make him focus.
Anyway, 40mg is nowhere near a therapeutic dose. 80mg should give you a better idea. 100mg would be the ideal target dose.
Good luck!
40 is a pretty low dose. i got up to 80, which i was on for nearly a month. never really helped me focus so now we're trying 40 of srat + 54 of concerta. one of these concotions will work. i hope. Oh cripes I don't want to be chemical soup and in fact--with the meds I take for a physical condition, that could be downright dangerous *sigh*None of the ADHD meds should be making you focus- if they are it's a sign that the dosage is too high. Also, four days is FAR too early to be adjusting dosage on strattera. It usually begins to kick in at about 3-4 days, but it can take up to two weeks for the full effect (strattera has to build up in your system- which takes time). If you go too high on strattera, you risk burnout. For people whose brains simply don't produce enough norepinephrine, too much strattera will cause you to burn out, and the meds will begin targetting other receptors. You should be increasing your dosage gradually and giving ample time between doses (at least a week) to assess efficacy.
Strattera tends to get a bad rep because it doesn't cause the stimulant rush and rollercoaster. That sounds odd, but since stimulants give us a daily with meds/without meds comparison, we're more likely to notice the benefits (or, as is often the case, the side effects that we confuse with benefits). Since strattera is constantly in your system and works more gradually, you don't have the benefit of that comparison. For a disorder that is characterized in large part by impairment of self-monitoring this can be a challenge. If you have a partner, good friend, or trustworthy co-worker, you may want to ask them to give you feedback on your behavior every few days to ask them if they're noticing improvements. Often times, the people around us pick up on improvements before we do (just like they tend to pick up on our deficits when we don't!).
Good luck!