My 6 year old son has been on Vyvanse since Jan 2008. In the beginning it worked for 10-12 hours and it worked wonders! But after about 5 months, I noticed that it was wearing off by around 5 hours. So this summer in addition to the Vyvanse, his psychiatrist put him on Strattera. He is 45 pounds, started at 18 mgs for the first week, then ramped up to 25 mgs. We tried that for 4 weeks, did not see much results, so his doctor increased his dosage to 35 mgs, which he has been on for 4 weeks now (so total he has been on Strattera for 8 weeks). He takes his meds in the morning with no side effects.
Here is my question, do people really find it to be a 24 hour drug for their children? In the last 2 weeks, I have noticed some improvement in that my son can focus more, not has hyper/impulsive, until about 4:00 in the afternoon (compared to the five hours before). After that he becomes extremely impulsive, has trouble focusing, following directions etc. I am wondering if I give the Strattera more time, will we start to see it work longer hours over time? Or maybe Strattera is just not the right drug for him. School is going okay for him, which is most important, but he has now started evening sports, activities, and he is struggling to get through them.
Thanks for any input!
Is he taking both the Strattera and Vyvanse?
One option is to split the Strattera dose, we did this for a while. My daughter takes Strattera with Methylin ER. We definitely notice when the Methylin wears off though. However she doesnt have this HUGE increase in symptoms like when on stims alone. Plus we can use just 10mg of Methylin since we are using the Strattera too.
What is his weight?
He is currently taking 70 mgs of Vyvanse and 35 mgs of Strattera. He is 45 pounds, so he is basically at the highest dose of Strattera for his weight.
When you split the dose of Stattera, did it seem to help her get through the evenings more? Did you notice an improved difference, compared to just once a day?
Yes we did it for more even coverage and to lessen the sleepiness side effects she felt in the beginning and it helped. Now she takes it in the morning after breakfast. Maybe he could do 18 in the am and 18 after school? Just a thought.
He has a doctor's appointment Thursday, so maybe I can ask the doctor to prescibe 18 mgs twice a day (he currently takes 25mgs and 10 mgs-it was what the doctor's had for samples). Thanks for your input. I appreciate it!
it's worht a try. You have to invest so much time in Strattera, may as well exhaust ALL options before deciding whether it is right for you or not.