Strattera and side effects? | ADHD Information

If you are on Strattera, please let me know you're experience with it. i know everyone is different, but I'm still curious. If one of the above options doesn't apply to you, please post.

I'm thinking of asking my doc about it, since she brought it up last time, but I'd almost rather try Ritalin - which she also brought up. It would be nice though if Strattera works with no side effects... it's a non-stimulant and non-controlled. I like that.
I thought it worked better for me than adderall but i was so sick to my stomach on it that it was unbearable.i haven't used straterra but would be curious about the poll as well.  the wellbutrin isn't helping all that much for my management. i would think more ppl would be on straterra?

With the straterra, I'm having hot flashes, nausea, and fatigue, but it is really working.  Unfortunately, I'm not having a loss of appetite.

I am on Strattera and I dont like it. The first day I was on it, I fell asleep at the table. It is really not working for me. I would like to try something different. I don't like talking to my dr. she really does not know much about ADD. She is sending me to a specialist. I can't get in to see him until Aug.  I don't know if I should get off Strattera and just wait for my new dr. or just call  the dr. I have know.......ugh.  I also thought it was weird that she gave me a liver test. You know Strattera can't be good for you. But then again what is good for you?  I'd like to know what doses of Strattera people take.  I take 160mg and probably have about 95% of my ADHD symptoms that are relieved.  I have significant constipation, dry mouth and mild-moderate sexual side effects though.  But most importantly I can think and read!  My life is sooo much better now.  BTW, Strattera will be coming out with an 80 mg capsule in the fall, my drug rep also said that the FDA is approving or has approved a new dosage of 100mg a day.  Doses of 120mg a day are quite common in child psychiatry apparently.Wow - not a single response for "no side effects", whether ADD symptoms have gotten better or not.

This isn't a good track record.
I think it is because those people are off living with no sides, they are not here to answer  the question, unlike the rest of us with the sides.

I have to say, it works on some things, like the focus and this and that, but a side effect for me is I go into lightheadedness and flying thoughts within an hour of taking it.

 I also will become overheated when outside sweating , nausea, weakness , GET REAL sleepy, and kind of start to have muscle spasms and cramps. I also have some insomnia and think my heart beats harder. There are also issues of witholding in my bladder, I can't relax the bladder to evacuate properly, so I wind up going to the bathroom, then 30 seconds later I feel my bladder relax and I RUN to a bathroom to get the last dribbles out.  I never had that before strat. And then for night time, I have spotty sleeping and night mares. But most of that happens for the first 3 hrs, and the obvious night things, then I just have the bladder problem for the next day. I take 80mg after dinner. Maybe too much, maybe not enough???


bugzappers38505.7683101852[QUOTE=ADHDMD]I'd like to know what doses of Strattera people take.  I take 160mg and probably have about 95% of my ADHD symptoms that are relieved.  [/QUOTE]

Wow! I'm in awe. I started on 40 mg and never got any higher. Stratterra is one powerful drug. At my body thought so. It cranked my blood pressure thru the roof and I didn't feel any improved clarity or concentration. Quit after 3 weeks and was glad to be off it. Ritilan is next experiment.

Hi Everyone,

I started Straterra a little over a week ago. I take 25MG in the morning and will be going up to 50MG starting on Wednesday of this week. I have been waking up during the night but am able to fall back asleep. But the real difference I noticed the last couple of days are that I am waking up at around 6AM, very unusual for me and have been keeping busy at home all day long. My blood pressure has radically dropped and that freaked my self and my Medical Dr. out. I found that to be very unusual. I don't have an appetite and sex is on my mind but I am not aroused when it comes to being physical with my husband. Dry mouth and major day and or night sweats. Do the side effects ever go away with time? I do feel that it is starting to kick in and that is positive for me.

Hi bcgirl and everyone.

Strattera is a weird drug, and it has some side effects, but you just have to weigh up the pros and cons and deal with it. I think the higher the dose the worse the side effect.

I've had mild reduction of libido, dry mouth, and weird sleep. No constipation luckily.

I've been on strattera for 3 months now. It has taken that long to get used to it and decide if it works or not. The first few weeks were hard, I was sick, sleepy, irritable, emotional, but I got through it without giving up.

It's like  an antidepressant. It takes a while to work, about 6 weeks, so it's no use giving up after a couple of days. 

I take it because I have Tourettes and my doctor doesn't want me to take high doses of stimulants. Strattera is good for anxiety and mood levelling. My tics get worse if I am stressed, so Strattera helps me deal with that.

It doesn't help much with concentration, so I've started taking 5-10mg of ritalin as well.

Strattera is expensive for me. 4 times as expensive as Ritalin.

Ritalin LA might be perfect for you BCGirl, don't be afraid to try it, and if you do't like it, you can give Strattera a go.

 

[QUOTE=ADHDMD] . . .  I have significant constipation, dry mouth and mild-moderate sexual side effects though.  But most importantly I can think and read!  My life is sooo much better now.  [/QUOTE]
I've wondered about meds that cause constipation and dry mouth...if enough water is consumed during a day, wouldn't that help with both dry mouth and constipation?

This is so awesome to hear about everybody's experience with Strattera. Thanks to all that answered and I hope to hear from more. I just want to know what the heck this drug might or might not do for me. This will be the last I will take. If there will be a next time, I am going to live my life so full like there is no tomorrow, in a nice safe way. I just want to have fun again. Enough of this ADHD, I have lived it my whole life, but for now, I feel lucky that Strattera is working for me.

Good luck to you all!

Hello! I am new to the message boards I started Strattera 20 days ago and although I felt more calm and focused, I can't handle the nausea and abdominal distress. I went from 25 to 40 and I noticed that I was feeling like I had the intestinal flu. I started on 18 mg for 4 days, then went to 25 for 14 days. The first week I didnt notice much . The second week I began to feel like I was a fluffy cottonball and I could focus. Then I started to feel moody and I was depressed  So I began the 40 mg and I felt like crap!! I only took it for 2 days and now I am on the third day and I still feel like I have the flu GRRR! Has anyone experienced this and would anyone happen to know when I will feel like I can eat again? Any input is appreciated!! BTW I am on 50 mg of Zoloft also so I dont know if the Strattera is magnifying the Zoloft side effects or not.

Thanks, Shellie (newbie heheh)

The loss of appetite for me is a BIG DEAL. I love to eat but have lost weight and I really would love a great meal. I just wonder how long the side effects last and if they ever leave. I was craving a Cousins Cheesesteak sub the other night and after I ate half of it I got sick and lets just say, I won't be having another anytime soon. LOL.....Huge bummer!!!!!!!!! Tonight I am trying a chicken on the grill. hope that works out. this should never be taken on a empty stomach at all. The time it takes is 4-8 weeks to see the differences which most people forget. It should be started on a low dosage and then increases gradually. The effects most people don't like is the overemotions which for someone who doesn't express well I believe this is what they needed. If you are on more than 1 medacine try strattera at bed time and the others in the morning.  This will help decrease the effects from the mix of meds. Most people want a quick fix and this medacine isn't this way. We like this cause it didn't effect his apettite at all. He eats regardless on or off it. He grew and gained weight on it also.   Thi is for our 9 year old son. Brent38510.3355787037Are you taking about a son or daughter. I was under the impression that this was for adults and how it effects us in our "older age". As for an appetite, I force myself to eat and it helps wonders.I herd some ins. companies cover no adhd meds for any adults. We have copays on all meds. The problem for us living on 2700. for 4 people and can't qualify for any help. They say salary is to much.

Do you have any free clinics in your area or are you a member of a church? Does your doc give you free samples? Do what you have to do and stay healthy.

Good luck! Plus keep us posted, maybe we can all help you out.

i don't like strattera....

-i could not sleep through the night.
-i was MAJORLY and PAINFULLY constipated.
-dry mouth.
-zapped all my energy.  i could not force myself up to get anything done...usually because I was sleepy from insomnia the night before....or either overfocusing on something and could not tear myself away.

--i tended to "overfocus"....the focus was great, but it was usually on the wrong things....i got addicted to things, such as the game "collapse" on yahoo games, and also on that segga genesis sonic hedgehog "beans" game....dr. robotniks mean bean machine...these games require lots of focus, and i became EXCELLENT at them while on strattera, but i felt addicted to them, and other things,....i would get focused, and could not tear myself away.  (i know it was the strattera, because when I weaned myself off of it, i no longer cared anything about any of these games, and when I do play them, i suck now.)
-bladder issues.....made me have lots of bladder infections (although, i tend to be prone to them anyway), because i could not detect the need to go pee.  I KEPT a bladder infection while on strattera.  if i take strattera, i would HAVE to constantly take supplements to prevent a bladder infection also.  I only get them occassionally off of strattera, but i had one CONSTANTLY while on it.

--no appetite.  i would literally have starved to death had i not forced myself to eat.  and when i did force myself to eat, i felt very nauseated all the time.... I lost weight and got as skinny as a rail.

--metal taste in mouth.

--worst of all....i was on straterra for 6 months....these symptons got worse and worse and worse...they did not go away or lessen like i thought they would.  I kept waiting, and taking them so long because i thought: ok, the side effects should lessen at some point....and they never did.....the constipation and weight loss was too much. that is why i stopped it.

good points:
my husband said it stabalized my moodiness.....
I was able to focus on some good things (although, usually, my focus was on things that were NOT so great..see above.)

BUT THAT WAS JUST ME FOLKS....Maybe my body just did not strattera....

everybody's body is different.
that was just my personal experience.

(if i EVER get finished being pregnant, i plan to try something else....)

Okay, dr decided to try me on Strattera. I started with 40mg day for 3 days, then went up to 80mg day. This is day 7 now.

Other than a slight dry mouth, and some slight sleepiness late in the afternoon, my only weird side effect seems to be an inability to regulate my temperature. I go from feeling hot to getting chills within minutes. It's pretty annoying, but if that's the worst of the side effects, then big deal.

I haven't noticed any changes in my ADD symptoms yet, but supposedly Strattera can take up to a month or more to start working. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for all the responses everyone!

bcgirl197838512.5926041667Konnichiwa! I'm on Strattera. I take 60mg in the morning, I used to take it also at night but due to medicaid issues we've had to change things around a bit. It seems to work at times, but yesterday I was in a really hyper-happy mood, I guess it just seemed to wear off. I was so talkative and fidgety, does the medicine ever wear off for anyone else or had that experience? o_O; Also, when I did take it at night, I had some...thoughts of sex and masturbated several times during the night, was that due to Strattera? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm just a bit cautious to what this medicine is supposed to be doing. Any replies would help. Arigatou.  fukaiotaku38513.3909953704I've been on Strattera 60mg for a while now.  I love it!  The only lasting side effects that are noticable for me is the dry mouth and some dizzyness.  But that's it!  It's made me feel better about myself and it's given me the confidence and drive to finish my college education and move on with my life.  I know that everyone reacts differently to medications, but for me it's well worth the effort.  I didn't notice any change at all at first.  It took a while before I saw a result.  It takes a while for the chemical to build in your brain.  But when I did see a change it would be things like remembering to put the relish bottle back in the fridge when I was sone with it, instead of leaving it on the counter.         

I have dry mouth, constipation, can't sleep through the night, get up between 4:30 and 6:00 am., I'm always tired, hot flashes, and I have no libido.

It doesn't upset my stomach, I still have a good appetite. concentration is better.

 

 

 

Ok here is the wildest side effect I and my Dr. have ever heard of. I started out on Stratera can't remember the dose. On about the 3rd day I had this pain in my testicals (like the constant feeling I was sitting on them), I thought well my body just needs to get used to the Stratera and if I keep taking it will go away. WRONG WRONG WRONG The pain got worse each day. It got to the point I could not walk. I called my Dr. and they said stop taking it and made an appt for a week later. Within 36 hours of stopping the Stratera the pain was gone. Been on Adderall XR ever since with no problems except it takes me forever to pee....lolI take strattera, I have been on it since March 2005, I started out at 40mg once a day, now I am up to 100mg/day. It is helpful some of the side effects I have experenced is nausea in the morning (only because I don't eat breakfast), lower sex drive, and occassional anxiety late in the day...that is about it. I plateaued at 80 mg that is why i was increased to 100 mg and it has been better. I was still getting distracted a lot and I felt i could be doing more or better... So i have justed started adderral XR 20 mg/day and it seems to be helping with the attention. The doctor indicated that we may ween off the strattera but I like its positive effects.  I also abuse alcohol and taking it has DRAMATICALLY attenutated my desire to drink.   [QUOTE=Steve30121]Ok here is the wildest side effect I and my Dr. have ever heard of. I started out on Stratera can't remember the dose. On about the 3rd day I had this pain in my testicals (like the constant feeling I was sitting on them), I thought well my body just needs to get used to the Stratera and if I keep taking it will go away. WRONG WRONG WRONG The pain got worse each day. It got to the point I could not walk. I called my Dr. and they said stop taking it and made an appt for a week later. Within 36 hours of stopping the Stratera the pain was gone. Been on Adderall XR ever since with no problems except it takes me forever to pee....lol[/QUOTE]

Same thing happened to me except mine went away, still takes forever to pee
I had really rough nausea for a month which is about how long it took to get it in my system. If I am out in the heat I get nausea and feel faint. Strattera unfortunately does not help my focus any. It is however the best antianxiety drug I have had. Now I need to find something to help my focus.

BTW I take 40mg in the morning and 80mg at night when I go to bed. The effect seems better that way.

[QUOTE=ADHDMD]I'd like to know what doses of Strattera people take.  I take 160mg and probably have about 95% of my ADHD symptoms that are relieved.  I have significant constipation, dry mouth and mild-moderate sexual side effects though.  But most importantly I can think and read!  My life is sooo much better now.  BTW, Strattera will be coming out with an 80 mg capsule in the fall, my drug rep also said that the FDA is approving or has approved a new dosage of 100mg a day.  Doses of 120mg a day are quite common in child psychiatry apparently.[/QUOTE]

That is a huge dose. I would have your liver enzymes check monthly.
Son was on it but no longer was like himself at all. He even thru a chair thru a window cause got mad. He became calmer but slept to much and didn't play except alone. We use vitamins instead.