Hi All,
I came across this forum while researching Strattera. I feel like I have been missing out on so much information because I haven't been her sooner. My 10 yr old son has been taking Strattera for about 18 months now. He was diagnosed with inattentability due to ADD. After the initial ramp up to his current dosage (40 mg), we saw a great improvement in his performance in school. His grades improved from C's to A's and he appeared to finally "get" school work. Prior to this, he struggled in school. I believe he may also have a little hyperactivity associated with the inattentability since his past teachers (prior to medication) have commented that he can't seem to stay in his chair and he has always been a fidgity child. Overall, he has been calmer and able to focus on what ever the tast at hand is.
However, since the start of this school year (September), I have noticed that he is reverting back to his pre-medication days. We've met with his teacher and she has expressed her frustration that he is always visiting and out of his seat. He isn't getting his work done and his grades are slipping. At home we have noticed that he seems to get frustrated more easily with everyday tasks and his patience with his 7 year old brother is almost non-existant.
I am wondering if the effectiveness of Strattera can fade after a period of time? Initially, he lost weight while taking Strattera but since that time his weight has remained consistent at about 75 pounds so I don't think it's a matter of him needing a higher dosage due to weight. Does anyone have any experience with Strattera becoming ineffective after taking it a year or so?
My other son recently began taking Adderall XR (15 mg) for ADHD and is a completely different child. He is such a joy to be around and is doing amazing in school. I wonder if it's time to switch my older son to this type of medicine.
Thank you in advance for any words of wisdom you can offer. I have a call in to is Dr. to discuss his medicaiton but I'm trying to arm myself with as much knowledge as possible.
i just wanted to add my experience. my 6yo dd was on Strattera. we ramped up very slowly and were very happy with the results when we hit our target dose. at about 4 months things went south fast. dd was having extreme highs and lows, would yell at her sister and then cry about it. i should also mention that she had a persistent low grade fever, and flu like symptoms. and when we took her off the meds it took about a week to get her back to "normal". We have tried several meds and i have learned not to get too attached to any of them. i would not try this medication on my children again, but i do believe some people to get good results with it. from what researching around i did on strattera, i did not see many that had sustained positive results after taking it for extended periods of time.
i hope it all goes well. we switched to focalin xr, but are thinking of vyvanse because the focalin does not last long enough.
DD took it for 2 years with wonderful results, my nephew has been taking it for over 5 years, and so far so good, he loves it. As edbson said, the dose may be too low. Our Jacob is a skinny 8 yr old and he's taking 40mg a day. Yours is 10 yrs old and on the same dose as our boy.