I am really having trouble with all of the downsides of stimulants, especially with a really young child.
Has anyone had luck with Strattera?
I am thinking of pushing this with the dr next...I just want my boy to eat, sleep and remain emotionally stable while controlling his symptoms.
Good and bad experiences appreciated...
We are having a good experience with Strattera. Really the only ADHD med we've used with no side effects. We saw some sedating symptoms during the ramp at each dose increase, but resolved that by splitting the dose morning and afternoon. She eats normally, sleeps normally and it takes the edge off her symptoms. She doesnt complain about "rushing thoughts" unless she is under a lot of stress, it doesnt seem to compensate during times of high stress. This week has been standardized testing at school and she has been great though. We see very even keeled mood, and are happy with this med. How young a child though? I dont think they'll prescribe Strattera too young.DD had great results with Strat. She took it for 2 years, and we would have stayed with it but it did cause her to have appetite issues, and she gained weight. DD is already chunky, so that was not a good thing. Almost 4-so very young. However, developmental ped prescribed stims and said he would add strattera to that to help. We are not on board with stims after really bad side effects. If Strattera helped with 25% of the issues without the negative side effects, I would rather have that than 100% help with stim side effects. Does that make sense?I have been taking strattera 40mg for two years. It has really helped my concentration a lot. I have had a few side effects. I get sick my stomach right after taking it. The effect would last at least 4 hours. I finally found a way to stop feeling sick. I get a bowl of cereal, take the meds and then eat something else. I no longer feel sick anymore.
I am now starting to have some new side effects. I can fall asleep, but I can't stay asleep. Once I wake up, it takes at least 30 minutes to go back to sleep. This has been going on for at least six months. At first I didn't think that the straterra was causing this to happen. The stratterra seemed to stop working. My doctor increased my dose to 80mg and I started to wake up several times in the night. I am not sure what I am going to do at this point. I thought most side effects happened during the first couple of months of taking a new drug, but this effect has shown up after taking the drug for several years. I am also not sleeping deeply enough either. I am thinking about taking the drug at night to see it it makes a difference.
I had a very bad reaction to taking antihistimines and straterra. It made me feel like I was drunk and uncoordinated. I had to leave work and go home for the day.
Hope this helps,
Anika
Oh yes it does becasue that is EXACTLY how I feel. It helps us way more than 25%. She doesn't have any side effects (hope I didnt jinx us, but so far so good) since November.