Frightening Strattera side effects | ADHD Information

MetisRebel, i think i read in another one of your posts that you took and anitbiotic, was it pnmonia (sp)?  my daughter had pnmonia also and i too thought it was her being sick.  they gave her a pretty strong antibiotic along with an injection of an antiboitic, and thats when things really were going sour.  i was wondering if you thought that there was a conection between the two meds that could have caused the reaction?  The Dr took her off the Strat because of Contradictions to the other meds she was recieving in the hospital. Tha anti's combined with the Strat can make tthe Strat less effective, like no meds at all. So it was probably the Anti's that caused the reaction and not the Strat. if that was the case edbson, would the Strattera "get back on track" once the course of antibiotics was donemy daughter did not get "back on track" after the antibiotics ended.  while on both, the strattera wasn't less effective, it was devistating.  loss of focus and hyperactivity wasn't the issue.  it was aggresion and MAJOR MOOD swings that did not stop when the antis stoped.  she was extremely angery and depressed and was even seeing spiders and bugs, she would yell at her teacher and scream at the kids in her class if they looked at her.   she also would talk excessivly about running away from home and that no one loved or liked her.  she has been on ritalin la, adderall or metatdate and on antibiotics several times and never had the same reaction.  i can't stress how frightening is was to see my daughter go thru this.  like all these meds straterra is a very powerful drug, only when you stop taking it, it takes a while to exit your system completely.  after about 10 days off the strattera she finally was smiling and happy and her wonderful self.  it was like getting my daughter back again.  both her perscirbing phy and her developmental peds doc said that this is not uncommon with strattera, when it works it works great and when it doesn't it is awfull.  her developmental peds said that he has not seen much success with this med and prefers not to perscribe it.  I am really curious about the possible effects of antibiotics on the use of Strattera.  Last February after surgery I developed a Staph infection that required me to take a really strong antibiotics for 4wks (side note: this infection had me run a body temp of 94.5 to 96.9 never was it elevated!)  I never noticed an aggressive change to my personality in the months after that but in Sept I decided that maybe the Stratttera was no longer enough.  So my Psych decided to wean me off Strattera and try me on Vyvanse.  And if you have seen any of my previous posts the two months I spent ramping up the Vyvanse proved to be a total loss.  I have in the last three weeks returned to Strattera, slowly ramping it up and have added Omega 3s and have seen very good results.  So good that I don't think I will have to return to my original dosage.  My Chiro thought that maybe I had saturated my system originally and needed a break from the Strattera, but I am going to discuss with my Drs the comments from these boards about the possible effects of antibiotics on the effectiveness of Strattera.i would be interested in what your doc says about it.  mine just said that the side effects of mood swings and aggression are not uncommon.  they had really no comment on the combination of the two.  my mom has a friend and both her and her son are on strattera (both over 30 and have been on it for at least a year) with no problems, even when her son had a bad infection and was on antibiotics.  personally i think if it works, that is what is important, as an adult esp since you have noticed adverse side effects in the past, it would be easier for you to detect it in the future.  After about 4 months I became quite aggressive. I naturally have foot-in-mouth-disease but this was different. There was a viciousness about it that doesn't normally happen.

I had to take another medication and I thought that caused it. But when the other med came out of my system I was still super aggressive. It was either quit the strattera or turn into a hermit before myself or someone else got hurt.

It doesn't seem to have that effect on everyone but I tend to be med-sensitive at the best of times.

Diane

DD got back on track after an infection, and hospitalization. We did have to ramp a little again, not start back up at target, but she had stopped the Strat for 10 days.

So she was off it when she ahd the infection? That is encouraging.

 I am thinking this is such a good fit for her, although since we've hit traget dose tics seems to be back. Intermittent, but there. Seems the only time no tics at all was on the tricyclics, but it's so intermittent, and she feels so good otherwise, for now, we're leaving things alone.

my daughter was ramped up beautifully over a 10 week period, and at about month four had the same reaction.  Very high and low mood swings, she would throw her toys around, and hit her little sister in anger and then cry for hours about it.  Me, being the dumb mommy that i am, counldn't put two and two together, it took me about four days to figure out that after four months, this was going south fast.  when i think of side effects i never would have imagined that it would happen out of the clear blue sky, after it worked so wonderfully for four months.  i think that some drugs just work better for some people.  I felt led to post this - so that others will know to be watchful, in case their child has the same terrible experience that ours did while trying Strattera...
Our daughter, 14 y/o, had taken Adderall XR for years and was tired of the "crash" at the day's end. We suggested to her doctor that she might like to try something like Strattera. He gave her the prescription to try for a couple of months. At first, she seemed to do well and actually concentrated in school better.
BUT the 3rd week, she became very obsessive and moody. She became MEAN. She began doing hateful things and acting very impulsive/obsessive, using bad language that we had NEVER heard her use, and saying mean things to us. She also said things like "I hate myself" " I hate everyone" and other things that made us worry about suicide. When this hit a peak, we took her off of it and called her psychologist. We went as a family to see the psychologist a few days later, and the psychologist said that she'd had many patients have poor reactions to Strattera, some similar to this. In fact, she said she'd only had ONE patient improve on Strattera. So please be warned. It may be wonderful for some, but it was a total disaster for our daughter.

Was she ramped properly and was the dose weight appropriate? These side effects are usually only seen when Strat is not ramped and dosed properly, Usually when the dose is too low for the weight. A too high dose can cause some of these side effects but not usually, it is usually the low dose that does it.  It should be prescribed by a Psychiatrist, psychologists cannot RX meds.

It sounds to me like she wasn't ramped.

 

DD took Strat for 2 years, and I know at least 15 people who have taken it and improved on it, if it was dosed properly the side effects are minimal.

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