I haven't taken a lot of medicines in the past besides allergy medicine, so I'm struck by how different everyone's experiences are with various drugs.
I was on Strattera 80 mgs a day, but I seemed to get all the side effects and little relief from the racing mind. I especially got the urinary side effects as I guess it effects the smooth muscle cells that line the bladder and blood vessels.
My doctor switched me to Adderall. I'm on 20mg bid, and I notice a big difference. The effects are all in my head, and good ones, so far. I'm less irritable with my wife and kids. I'm more willing to stick with something and not get frustrated by the everyday obstacles in life that used to stop my progess and infuriate me.
My mind is clearer, Thank God.
Fortunately, I've had no adverse side effects yet other than loss of appetite (Which for me is not adverse), but I know a lot of people have trouble with efficacy/side effects of all the drugs.
Why such variability among people?
People have different reactions to different medications because their bodies just react differently to them. In my opinion, that is what makes the coping process so difficult. It's hard trying to toy around with different meds to find which is the right one to take. Some people need to take different types of meds together to be level through out the day.