I'm an adult male, age 55. Roughly a year and 1/2 ago both I and my son were diagnosed with ADD. We both tried Concerta with mixed results, then Adderal, and finally Strattera.
The Concerta made me feel anxious, particularly when I'm drinking coffee, which I love. Adderal seemed to cause mood swings for me, but works passably (compared to not taking anything) for my son, though he complains of stomach pains and loss of appetite. Interestingly with him the drug seemed to be much more effective when he first began taking it. I see far less in terms of results at the present time.
However the reason for this post was to describe the side effects I experienced with Strattera.
Putting it simply, within a few days I became impotent, with several uncomfortable and unpleasant sensations accompanying attempts at sexual relations. My wife noticed differences in my erection and endurance, also. Then there was the strange, urgent sensation during sex that I needed to urinate, particularly when nearing climax. Not a pleasant feeling.
Worst of all was a sensation of everything in my life suddenly appearing like it was going to fail, collapse, or crash & burn. I have never felt suicidal in my life, but I began to think it would be a good thing if I just got struck by lightning and could be "outa here," and that my family, friends, and everyone else would be better off without me.
Part of my mind was telling me that this whole thing was irrational, and that these feelings were a totally out-of-proportion reaction to relatively minor circumstances. So I decided to discontinue the drug.
After discussing this with my wife, and thinking that it was perhaps a fluke, or that I was not taking a high enough dose, I tried taking it once again.
Same results, almost immediately. Totally irrational feelings of hopelessness and despair. "Normal" reality seemed like a "high" by comparison.
Just a note of caution. Sexual performance problems notwithstanding, the strange and intense emotional side effects were a disaster for me.
how long into the treatment did you start experiencing the depression??
Are you on any type of blood pressure medication?? Let me know how much'if any' your blood pressure rises, i am on my 3rd week of strattera and about the only thing i see different so far is that i have been ontime for work more than usual probably due to me waking up before the alarm goes off i go to 80mg next week so maybe that will do something.. my dr wants to try something other than strattera but is concerned about my blood pressure being in the borderline area..
I think the depression for me was more like tiredness and the doc put me on ritalin Friday. Only 10 mg twice a day. I have no drastic results, just a little more energy. I do not have the hopelessness you feel. I felt that before I took strattera. I got a little depressed when I was diagnosed because I am 38 and thought I was dumb all of my life. I used to think that ONE Day people would know that I was not dumb, somehow I knew I was smart or at least average. My biggest problem is whether or not to tell family and even my husband. There is so much stigma attached to ADD. My best friend is a therapist and even she jokes about it. She jokingly said that I wantes some speed. Well, it is not speed if you have ADD it is like being normal. Why cant they understand that? I have three children ages 2,3,4 who I will adopt soon so I am too busy to even think about sex. I had a hysterectomy a couple of years ago and it kind of zapped out my drive too. Dixiepeep38061.3363541667i am on Lotrel 10/20 for blood pressure (I hate take it cause when you get up fast you see spots). I will check my BP tomorrow and let you know. I started Ritalin Friday 10 mg 2x daily. I hope I can continue to take it. I am trying to lose weight and see if that helps my BP. I am about 30 pds overweight. My doc requested that I send a copy of a recent EKG before he would let me take Ritalin. I was borderline high BP but lately it has been running high. It may be the fact that I work full time and have the three kids ages 2,3, and 4 that I am trying to adopt. The two year old just went into the terrible twos tantrums. Hope this helps and hopefully my BP will be okay. I will let you know. If you have to take lotrel you may have to consider taking Viagra because it really slows everything down. I have heard that anyway.
Edwd;
I'm about to go back to the doctor and to change my prescription to Strattera and was looking for a little independent validation when I googled the terms Strattera and depression. Your post showed up.
I read all the Strattera literature and there was no mention of Suicide as a potential side effect. That said, like you I suffered from a very dramatic side effect from Strattera. The first week on the medication was okay but as it built up in my system the results changed.
Within the first hour of taking it I experience severe anxiety which would pass in about another hour. That was bad enough but I was willing to live with it for the sake of being functional. However, usually about 2 hours after taking my dosage, I experienced crushing depression with an intense compulsion to take my own life. I recognized this as not real so never acted it out but I have never felt such a strong compulsion to do anything in my life.
I continued to take the meds for a couple of weeks stopped thinking I was going through some sort of emotional breakdown (perhaps) and the drug was not to blame. Within a couple of days of stopping Stattera the suicidal thoughts stopped and my mood returned to normal. I waited a month and thought I would try it again to see if anything occured. The suicidal thoughts came back with a vengence, stronger then before. I stopped taking Strattera within days and I'm fine now.
As I said at the start of this post I thought it might just be me but apparently there are at least two of us who have experienced this sensation.