reformulating Strattera | ADHD Information

Hi! I had read in another post about having Strattera changed into a liquid form.  Would I just need to ask the pharmacist to do this?  How does your child say it tastes when in a liquid form? My 5 1/2 year old son is currently taking 25 mg of Strattera by opening the capsule and pouring it on pudding. I know that it is not recommended to do this, but it is what my doctor suggested and the only way to give it to him.  He has started fighting us about taking it because it taste really bad.  We have tried to get him to swallow the pill, but with no luck.  Please give me any advice about changing it to liquid. Thanks!  

I have heard that it can be put into a liquid form, which is much safer than opening the capsules. Ask your Pharmacist.

What does your ds weigh? the weight range for his dose is about 49 lbs, and the higher the dose the smaller the capsule for some odd reason.

we just taught my 5 year old to swallow a pill. Might be worth trying to do this. We used tic tacs for starters. First in ice cream, or pudding, then moved up to swallowing with liquid. Actually who even cares if you have to give them pudding every morning, it's worth it! She learned right away, but of course she doesnt really need meds .Thanks for the advice. We have been trying to get him to swallow it whole, but he keeps spitting it out. We tried the tic tacs tonight, but he was chewing them. We also tried putting it in pudding.  We are going to keep trying for a little longer, but if it doesn't work then we will reformulate it.  I did realize you needed a special pharacist.  The key is getting him used to eating foods that don't require chewing.  I gave him a few spoonfuls of pudding and then the one with the capsule.  Of course, he is 9 but it was so much easier than I thought it would be.

Another suggestion I got was to practice with mini marshmellows.  That helped a lot too.
We reformulated it for about 6 months.  You need to find a compounding pharmacy - a regular pharmacy won't be able to do it.  If there isn't one near you, look online.  Because strattera isn't a controlled substance, it's easier that way.

My son took 35 mg. a day.  The way the pharmacy did it amounted to 1.5ccs.  We filled the Rx for 40mg. because that's the smallest pill (fewer fillers) and they adjusted it from there.

Unfortunately, it tasted really awful.  He did take it though. We would squirt it into his mouth and then he would quickly down some juice afterward.  We went to 2 different places to have it done.  At the second, it smelled like it was chocolate but he said it still tasted bad.

It was also quite messy -they have to put it into oil to make it.

It cost us per Rx to have it done.  I wonder in retrospect if I shouldn't have asked the psychiatrist to write for a larger dose so it would last longer.

ANyway, he started swallowing pills a week and a half ago.  We just put the capsule on a spoon with pudding and then he puts the whole spoon in his mouth and gulps it down.  He balked once and I told him he would have to go back to the liquid and then he swallowed the pudding.  LOL - it must taste that bad!

You cannot open Strattera.  First off, it is really bitter.  It can also burn your child's esophogus if the granules hit their throat.  There is some ADHD doc on the internet who claims you can put it in peanut butter.  We did try that once in desperation when the compounding pharmacy didn't reformulate on time and he was OK, but I wouldn't try it on a regular basis.

 I am so glad that he is on strattera that I would have tried anything to get him on it.  But getting him to swallow was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be.

PLease PM me if I can answer any more specific questions.