I have heard that kids can be so moody with strattera. SHe is really hyper but not moody at all. SHe has a great even disposition. I don't want to mess with that. Also, the way her doctor wants to ramp her up doesn't sound 100% right to me. I still don't have the specific intructions but I think he said start at 18mg for a week and then go to 40mg and that we could add 10mg for a total of 50mg if she needed it. He did say it would take 4 weeks or so once she was on the 40-50 mg. The target dose seems right but not the ramp. Any insight? Is the ramp up info on the strattera website?
I am almost tempted to try daytrana again. She was on it once and I didn't love it. I think it's such a pain to deal with but she did return to adderall with great results. I wonder if being on a stimulant that doesn't go through the stomach helped alleviate some of the "tolerance"?
Thanks again. This information is really helpful!
Jo
thats how we ramped. 18mg for one week, then doubled it to 36 for one week, then went to another 18 in the am which is where we are at. 2 18's in the am and one 18 in the pm (to keep it one prescription). She did totally fine. Her mood is GREAT. So she is 54 per day at 82 pounds. He said if I want after the 4 weeks to call him if it's still not quite right and we'll go to 60 (max for her weight), 30 am and 30pm. For now until the holidays are over and life settles back down, I'm leaving it alone.
Hi Diane-
Is your daughter hyper? Also, was she tired whrn she first started the strattera? How long has she been on it? Is it helping with all the ADHD symptoms or just some? My dd is 9 and weighs 77lbs. She has been eating and growing on the concerta/focalin (more so than on adderall) which is another thing I don't want to mess with.
It's so hard trying to figure this whole thing out!
Thanks! Jo
My daughter started Strattera 5 weeks ago. The plan was to ramp it and add Daytrana back (she was on this prior to Strattera). At this point the Strattera alone is doing what we need. We do need to split the dose, by late afternoon on the Strattera she is getting silly and "all over the place" and I am usually glad we have part of her dose to add then .
Good luck, it sounds like our plan. I chose to stop the stim while we ramped the Strattera, but we were planning to use both, my choice to hold off re-adding the stimulant for now.
she is not hyper. Well, she fidgets, gets out of her seat, gets silly, that stuff, but she was never the running around jumping off things unable to stop kind of kid. She has been on many different stimulants (actually almost all of them, except Vyvanse). She has been on the Strattera for about 5 weeks. This is our second week at target dose. We saw improvement (compared to no meds) after 2 weeks, we werent even at target dose. At first she got pretty quiet, but not tired. She's tough because she has a lot of other things that contribute to fatigue. But she's been on several meds that have made her tired and she is not like that on this even a little. Her appetite seems to be back to normal (she is not a very big eater anyway). She just seems "normal", for her. Without being ALL OVER the place. no meds she cannot complete a single task, not even washing her hair in the shower without giving that task all of her attention, it's awful. She is able to do these things now. In school she has been great according to them. She gets A LOT of support (has coexisting LD), but has had that for several years and this year is more able to stay on task. It's not magic, she's STILL quite ADHD, needs promtping an reminders, but no meds she cant get by even with that, and on stimulants she can, but gets all kinds of side effects (weight loss, anxiety, restlessness, tics) and doesnt do great with that up and down.
If you're looking at mainly hyperactive type, you will probably need the stimulant with it, but you should be able to use a much lower dose.
I know stimulants are not dosed by weight but is there a total daily dose by weight that you are not supposed to exceed? My dd has been taking 54 mg of concerta in the morning with 10mg of focalin in the afternoon since October 1st. Overall we like it but she really needs more meds during the day. Her doctor said she could try concerta 72 mg but that if she takes the 72mg in the morning , he doesn't think she should take the focalin in the afternoon b/c the 72mg is really already a little over the max for her total daily dose. She weighs about 77lbs. We really need afternoon/evening coverage so he suggested adding strattera to the concerta. I just haven't heard good things about straterra. Has anybody had any luck adding strattera to a stimulant to augment it and get afternoon/ evening coverage?
Thanks, Jo
Yes, alot of kids seem to do really well on the combo of Strat and a stim. My DD did well on both in the beginning then we stopped the Stim due to tics.
Just make sure she is ramped, and don't exceed the target dose which will be 40-60 mgs.