6.5 yro on Straterra: Update | ADHD Information

For those of you who have followed my posts, I thought I'd give a quick update.

My son started Straterra around three months ago, and the first month was great!! Actually, the first two months were great at school. But, being the idealist that I was I wanted to try and keep that greatness going through homework and the dinner hour. So, his ped said to up his dose by adding another in the afternoon.

From the first I felt like it was too much. He was having emotional breakdowns from imaginary causes (i.e. his stuffed hedgehog died, or he never got to meet his great-great grandfather). So we gave him a lower "extra" dose in the afternoon. The side-effects didn't go away entirely, and he started to develop others.

He had mood swings like crazy and started to react aggressively in response. Also, when he was tired he would have verbal "tics" that he really couldn't seem to stop on his own. Finally, he couldn't even make it through the school day without breakdowns and aggressive responses (like tearing up anything he could get his hands on or trying to hit his teacher).

Sooooo....instead of trying to drop him back down to his original dose, the ped wants to drop this med for awhile and as a stop-gap wants him to try risperidone (until his psychiatrist appointment). Not really sure how I feel about all this, but am willing to keep trying until a solution is found.

On a positive note, he has been approved for some funding in order to go to psychotherapy sessions at a horse ranch. I think this will be great for him, and really give him something to look forward to on the weekends. The couple doing the counseling sessions are really great, and they are gearing the plan to his specific abilities/short-comings. And of course, he LOVES horses, so that is a plus.

I'll keep you updated on where we decide to go from here. We may even end up trying Straterra again on just the 25mg. It worked so well before and everyone noticed a difference. I feel a little bad for trying to make it even better, but we all make mistakes. This is just one I'll have to learn from for future reference. Thanks to everyone who has been supporting me here. You can't imagine how much you all mean to me. Thank you X 300!!!

I am so sorry you are going through all this! Meds are such an emotional roller-coaster. And I had so hoped you would succeed because your son sounds a lot like my daughter (hope this doesn't sound selfish!).

We are still on Strattera, in our sixth week. My gosh - it seems like we've been doing this for a lifetime! We are now doing 18 mg in the a.m. and 10 mg at lunch. We have only been doing the p.m. dose for three days, but the past three days have been really nice...kind of like your first two months, I suppose.

I really appreciate you sharing your experiences so I know what to look out for. I am hoping this will be at part of the solution for my daugther, but I am still walking on eggshells because I realize it might not be the answer after all.

Congrats on the horse stuff. Sounds wonderful!

Oh, and Logan'smom, how is the Strattera working out for your family?

 

 

Mugzysmom,

I think it was aggravating his anxiety issues too. Glad I stopped when I did (for now). I suffer from controllable anxiety, but I've had attacks where I wasn't sure if I would need intervention or not.

Marykath,

Don't give up yet. It really did seem like yours and mine had a lot of similar things going on! I think that if I hadn't upped my son to 35mg total, he might have been just fine on the 25mg. We did have two really great months and we may end up heading back to it. I am actually tempted to try a few weeks without anything, but don't want to interrupt the school year right now.

Please keep me (and others) posted on your situation. Successes are better shared!!!


We had similar issues with Strattera.  My daugher was so miserable and bitter and had constant breakdowns.  The end result was a huge anxiety attack that landed her in the ER.  That was the end for me.