My son may be starting Strattera (?’s)
My biggest problem with the med is that my already skinny 9 year old just does not want to eat. When on concerta he had no appetite in the day time but ate evening and morning. There was rebound so homework had to be done before meds wore off and he was the goofy hyper guy all evening. He still did not gain weight.
Over summer we did just tenex and he gained 7 lbs. Then we started strattera, just as school was starting and weaned off tenex. He is now down 4 lbs from the 7 he gained.
He eats all day with strattera and I think that helps with the sugar levels and there is no rebound. The appetite is there but nothing sound good to him. He eats a few bites and he doesn't want any more.
Others have said that their kids really gained on strattera. That would be a nice side effect at this point.
I am also doing the amino therapy with this same son. I think it is helping with focus and organization.
Jacob started on stimulants and we had anxiety problems, tics, and other side-effects. Now he is on Strat. He's doing fine. His sweet personality came back and he's better at controlling his impulses. He's a joy in the classroom now.
But meds act different in kids! Don't expect Strat to do great for your boy just because it is doing great for our boy.
Anyway, I don't think your son's doctor will start him on Strat. I get the feeling that most ADHD doctors typically like to start on an easy stimulant, then monitor the child's progress for about 1 year before giving up on stims.
I'd be very curious as to what happens when you discuss this with your son's doctor. I hope you write again and let us know.
By the way, like other posters on this forum, I really don't like it when I hear that schools pressure parents into medicating, and I really don't like when therapists say "the doctor will proabably start your child on...". So, don't get too excited until you have a long sitdown with your son's medical doctor and discuss all the options, especially after your son has had an assessment or evaluation to determine if he has AD/HD, and what specific type. Give you and yourself some more time before you decide that Strattera is going to be prescribed.Reading internet sites on the various medications is not going to help. From reading all of your posts, I think you are getting stuck in the internet rut. Some of the sites have people behind them with hidden agendas. The internet is absolutely full of half-baked knowledge and bad advice (mine included
).Also, I don't know why a therapist would assume that the physician will recommend a certain medication. Our psychiatrist told us that she likes to start in the Ritalin family and work out from there. The stimulants are fast acting and are out of the body fast (think caffeine), so you know almost immediately what the effect will be. If you don't like it, you don't give it the next day. There's a direct cause and effect (although the effects can change with time, but it's pretty straightforward to begin with). Strattera is more complicated and can take a long time to have an effect. I don't know why they would start with that unless there are other conditions to consider.
If you have that much fear about the medicine, try caffeine. In a lot of people it acts the same way as Ritalin (because it's a stimulant). That's how we finally convinced ourselves that our son had ADHD and needed help -- he was always SO hyper and calmed down when we gave him some RedBull. Interestingly, caffeine has MORE side effects than Ritalin and is not as effective for ADHD (I believe that you need quite a bit more to have an effect). And here I sit drinking my 3rd cup of coffee today.
It's my personal drug of choice (I don't have ADHD -- I like the little caffeine buzz).I have fought to go the non medication route and help my son with his adhd by intense therapy, a smaller class and an aide. But the teachers and therapist pretty much shoved me into a corner and now I will have to medicate my child anyway. The therapist stated that the doctor will more then likely put him on Strattera. Can you give me some information on what may pop up when he starts this?
I'm afraid that I will lose the little happy, spirited, silly, funny and lovingly sweet little boy that I know. I'm afraid that he may loss all of that and become a sullen, depressed, quiet, aggitated, snarky and aggressive child while on the med.'s. As I have read so many of these stories. I don't want a quiet, depressive, aggitated child. I am okay with my silly boy. But the school isn't. So ofcoarse they win... I lose...
You can read the whole story over on the Children with adhd in schools board and catch up on my story if you'd like. What a battle in the last 4 or 5 days.
But anyway, any info. on what I should expect and your story with strattera would be soooo helpful.
Thank you!!
My son is on medidate not strattera but his basic personality hasn't changed. He likes being on the medication and it has helped him be a happier child because he isn't doing some of the things that got him in trouble beforehand. It takes some tries to get the right med sometimes and that is frustrating. By the way, the school can't tell you to medicate. I would look at the quality of your son's life and how difficult it is for him to function and see if medicating would help improve his life.
Strattera is a Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor and is weight based at a rate of 1.2-1.8 mgs per kilo of body weight. It HAS to be ramped slowly to the target dose. It will take 4-6 weeks after reaching the target dose to see full results. My DD took it for 2 years with great results, no personality changes, no problems with it at all.
ALl meds have side effects, and if it does "change" your child then it is not the right med for him. Not all meds work for all people, and it is a trial and error thing.
No, Strattera does not change the personality but a child psychiatrist should prescribe. Personally, I think you should pull a fast one on your "therapist" and transfer him to a child psychiatrist who is not authorized to interact with the school, and be rid of that clinic.After 7-6 months of behavior therapy with absolutely no results we were referred to a child psych by our pediatrician who immediately (relatively speaking) started our son (6) on Adderall. That was a nightmare. While his attention was immediately affected, for the most part positively, the crashes the occurred when the med wore off were VERY INTENSE.
After only two or three days of Addreall he was prescribed Stattera (25mg). It took about 4-6 weeks to begin seeing some results but they were there and they were positive. However, he still had some distractibility that the doc wanted to reduce so he upped the dosage to 40mg. That was eased in as well and we are really seeing the results.
His behavior (while still not perfect) has improved tenfold yet his charming, funny and creative personality is still there…minus the moodiness and explosive outburst.
I should add that he has also recently started Tennex to decrease his impulsivity as well (blurting out answers in class, etc). We are still ramping up on that so nothing really to report.
I agree that if you don’t have to medicate, then don’t do it. However, with our scenario and monetary resources we really had no other choice. The only schools around here that specialize in ADD/ADHD kids runs around 20k a year. To rich for my blood so we have to work within the system.
Hi,
My son took Strattera from May 1st through August. I agree the personality was there and no anxieties were noticed, but he could not stay focused for more than 3-5 minutes at a time. I would have to redirect him every few minutes on the task at hand. He started meds with focalin xr 5-50 mg...bad rebound, daytrana patch--great at controlling behavior and great for attention, but he developed anxieties and lost too much weight, went to Strattera, no ability to focus.
He is now on Vyvanse moving from 30mg to 50mg. The 30mg worked for about 1 1/2 months. We are switching tomorrow to a higher dose. Good luck with your journey.
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