I’ve taken this drug for a total of six days now. Each day
the side effects have become gradually worse and worse. The first side effects were quite minor and,
in fact, I didn’t even associate them with this drug. Finally, last night the effects became so
totally terrifying that I have completely stopped taking Strattera as well as
all of my other medications for high blood pressure, cholesterol, type II
diabetes, gout, and whatever other medications I take. I will be firing my family doctor who I
mistakenly trusted with my life for the past seven or eight years. After last night I feel that by taking
Strattera for six days, I, my doctor, and the drug maker (I believe it’s Eli
Lilly & Co.) have all been playing Russian roulette with my life and those
around me whom I happen to love very much. Here’s my run down of side effects:
First few days:
Little things like… Feeling a bit
“disconnected” from time to time, feeling the blood flow throbbing in arms and
hands from time to time, a little lightheadedness when getting up quickly,
feeling run down and a loss of energy. I
did notice that I was becoming mildly constipated and also it was weird that
when I urinated it sometimes took quite a while for the flow to begin. All and all I would rate these first days as
mildly uncomfortable. Frankly, I didn’t relate the constipation or occasional
twinge of nausea to the Strattera.
Next few days: I
thought I was coming down with the flu.
I had much more nausea and would suddenly have to throw up. I developed headaches which quickly became
the most severe I’ve had in many years.
I did notice some sexual side effects as well, but compared to how
generally overall rotten I felt I would rate them as relatively unimportant at
this point. The dizziness became much
more pronounced and nearly constant. It
started getting very difficult to get to sleep.
I felt driven to get things done but at the same time was fighting
extreme feelings of lethargy and discomfort with moving. I never felt “normal” from this point
on. I noticed weird moods… especially
feelings of extreme sadness. I found
myself nearly sobbing at the nightly news.
I tried to explain it to my wife and I totally broke down with tears
streaming from my eyes. I told her about
a friend who had gone to Viet
Nam under the then “Buddy Plan” with his
best friend and how together they formed a machine gun team. I told her about how my friend never recovered
from seeing his best friend’s head blown off when they were in a fire fight and
how so many young men would come back from Iraq similarly damaged for life
from the things they experienced. I
hadn’t thought of my friend for years and now I couldn’t stop crying about him. I wasn’t at all depressed or sad about me,
but rather I was overly maudlin and empathetic about others… even if only
characters in a movie. Even the swelling
of music in a movie would cause a swelling of emotions and tears. This wasn’t me.
Last night: This
month my wife and I will have been married for ten years. She is the love of my life. I reiterate, my wife is the love of my
life. Last night I was probably the
worst to her I have ever been. I
completely lost it… a couple of times. I
became so angry I was completely
out-of-control for a while. I became so
frustrated over a very minor incident that I felt as though I was going to
explode. I began sweating and was sure
it was over 100 degrees in the house although my wife assured me that it was
only 72. Sweat was running down my face
and into my eyes. It completely soaked
through my shirt. I felt my heart
pounding hard in my chest and I could barely catch my breath. Everything I touched, I broke, which only
made me more frustrated and angrier. I
was shaking all over. I could only sit
and clench my teeth and fists. I wanted
to drive a fist through the wall… Hell, I wanted to drive my head through the
wall. I didn’t know if I would ever come
back to sanity again. I felt I was very
very close to falling off the edge and might never be able to get back. I wasn’t afraid for my physical safety but I
was horrified to look at the terror in my wife’s face. She was clearly very scared and didn’t know
what to do. I’ve never been like this
before and I’d never seen my wife looking like this before. She was clearly frightened beyond belief but
there was nothing I could do about it. I
was raging inside… I didn’t care about what happened to her, I didn’t care what
happened to me. I didn’t care
period.
About an hour later I was sobbing again, cursing Strattera
and the company that made it. Soon the
anger was building again. It was an
uncontrollable rollercoaster of emotions.
I knew I didn’t like the feelings but I was powerless to stop them. I’ve never felt so powerless and I will never
ever allow myself to feel so powerless again and so out-of-control again, ever
ever ever. If it means I never take
another prescription drug of any kind again so be it. Strattera’s side effects can best be described
in two words… LIVING HELL.
well i have taken it for a year now and just recently lost my wife my step daughter and evry thing i love because of this drug it was my fault i just ignored the irritability and mood swings because i was able to focuss i am atruck driver and been gone from the house during the week so my wife really didnt get to see how it was effecting me was only home on weekends and we were always so busy we realy never talked much about it well about 3 month ago i got off the road and came home im home evry night now my wife left me because of my mood swings and fits of rage toward her not un til yesterday did talk to my sons pysc and find out about the side effects of this med. my do took me off zoloft and put me on welbutrin and now im going to get off strettra i'm really sorry for your experience but as far as i know this seems like one of those rare cases. if everyone went through that no one would be on it. i wouldn't blame your doctors though.