Stratera | ADHD Information

Hi there, my step-son has been on ADHD med for four months now. He started (and continues to be on) Adderall, then added the Stratera 2 months ago. The doctor and I agreed to take him off the Stratera yesterday because we believed the Adderall was cancelling out the Stratera. I didn't see any difference from when he wasnt taking, compared to the past two months. The doctor (a specialist with ADHD and she has adult ADD) said every child she put on Stratera had the same results, which was no results and actually a reversal of progress. The Adderall is helping him with focus at school, before the meds he was making all F's, now he is almost straight A's. He also suffers from depression (runs in mother's side of family), so he is being treated for that also.

I believe (and our docter agreed) that Stratera is being marketed as a "non stimulate" ADHD med because of all the hype over stimulates, such as Riddlen. I know it sounds ironic, ADHD=hyperactive/no-control kids (most cases) so why give a stimulate? Here is my theory: Before the meds: scattered thinking, restlessness, NO FOCUS on anything. With stimulate: Orderly way of thinking, extremely focused, finishes tasks at hand.

Hope this helps,

Lisa

I just have a question-

My 6-year-old son has been diagnosed with ADHD. He is not taking any medicine yet, he will be after his Dr. appt. I am just wondering about some of the symptoms and if the medicine will help them.

He is having problems getting along with his friends, not listening to me AT ALL, VERY defiant, gets in trouble at school. I was just wondering if your son/daughter had some of these problems, and if the medicine helped!!

My 13 year old daughter was diagnosed with ADHD at the end of October. By mid-November she was on Strattera. Both her father and I and her teachers have noticed a tremendous improvement in attitude and behavior. From her last marking period she brought her Science grade from an E to a B+ and in Math, where her grades have been E's,she got an A- on her final exam!! She suffered minor (very minor) nausea for about two days after she started taking the Stattera, but has had NO side effects since then. [QUOTE=msdd1288]

My son has been on Strattera for about a year now..he is 8 and has been diagnosed with ADHD...and was on Concerta and Ritalin...we didn't care for Ritalin (complete loss of appetite)..Concerta was better..but then again it is a narcotic....we decided to switch to Strattera and have been happy with it every since...no side effects here..Hope that helps..

Mike

[/QUOTE]

narcotic is a very broad term that can include just about any psychoactive drug. Concerta is no different chemically than Ritalin, both are Methylphenidate but Concerta is in a time release packaging. And functionally (physiologically), Ritalin and adderall are pretty similar as well. They are stimulants that increase dopamine in the synapse of several brain regions.

Having said that, my son responds very well to Concerta and I would hesitate to take him off of it, at least during the school year.

mack012298 -

from my experience - my daughter didn't have any attention problems that were beyond a normal child. But she is hyper per say and impulsive. Which means figits all the time, stands up at school always, talks excessively (all the time), interupts, argumentative and oppositional. This has always been her, it didn't just start one day. Like I stated in my earlier post, she is now on Strattera and it is helping! Hope this helps.

[QUOTE=mack012298]

I just have a question-

My 6-year-old son has been diagnosed with ADHD. He is not taking any medicine yet, he will be after his Dr. appt. I am just wondering about some of the symptoms and if the medicine will help them.

[/QUOTE]

Hi My son Lloyd now almost 7 was diagnosed with adha at age 2.

I fought medication untill April of 2003. We put him on 36mg of concerta but he lost to much weight. We now have him on 25mg of stattera after a month he is still doing well in school and is eating again.

Diana

Mike

My daughter 8 started w/Concerta 3 months - took her off cause of side effects. Has been on Strattera for 1 week now - all seems to be going okay. Will keep you posted.My son has been on Adderall for a few months and we are having some break throughs with it and our doctor wans to put him on this new Stratera non stimulant medication. Has anyone had any experience with it or know much about it? How has/hasn't it been working for you? I have read a little ablout it on the internet and I have mixed feelings about switching him.UPDATE, as stated in a previous post my daughter started Strattera 1/9/04 - it is still working well. It is so refreshing to still see her beautiful personality, but composed and under her own control. The only thing I have noticed is that she does need to rest around 4pm for an hour (either lay down & do nothing or take a nap if she falls asleep). If she doesn't do this then she does become moody in the evening. But she sleeps well at night, eats well and NO headaches.

Here are some historical discussions of

atomoxetine/Strattera in its developmental stages:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=99039&mess ageid=1023990608&lp=1024158989

(fall 2002)

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=99039&mess ageid=1030467614&lp=1031157848

(August 2002 (started by parent fron England whose child was in atomoxetine trials)

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=99039&mess ageid=1023808631&lp=1023900320

(June 2002)

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=99039&mess ageid=1021723806&lp=1021724030

(May 2002)

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=99039&mess ageid=1022700317&lp=1023733226

(May 2002 (2)

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=99039&mess ageid=1002394270&lp=1002394270

(October 2001 (Eli Lilly's tough quarterly report)

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=99039&mess ageid=991927468&lp=993585190

June 2001 (Desipramine vs. Atomoxetine vs. Stimulant Meds

http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=99039&mess ageid=991406540&lp=991682381

June 2001 (Eli Lilly's New Drug: Returning to the First Questions)

We had to take my child off the Strattera. Her symptoms became worse than when she is not taking anything at all. She had extreme violent mood swings. She got involved in a fist fight while on Strattera(had been on it for several months). We were getting calls from school on a weekly basis due to attitude problems, not turning in assignments, etc. She started having vision problems as well while taking it. We started doing research on the drug and found out that emotional mood swings was a huge problems for some kids taking the drug. We took her off and she is doing much better now on the Adderall. One of my husband's employee's child also has ADHD and has been taking Strattera with the same results and will be removing the child from Strattera this week. Your child's symptoms maybe fine now, our daughter did well at first, but keep a very close eye on him after he has been on it for a few months.

I'm an adult and tried Stratera for adult ADD but had to stop using it because it made me feel psychotic, depressed and totally anti-social. The side effects were terrible. I hope you consider alternatives before putting a child on something this potent and dangerous in my opinion.

These posts have been helpful. We are on day 7 with Stratera and all seems well. But I don't think we have had enough time to really see any results. Right now he has a mild case of nausea, but that is it. (however earlier today he was out sleigh riding).

I was very concerned about side effects, but the brochure in the packages shows only about 10-20% of kids in the study got any side effects. My doctor told me to just get through ten days, if they have any side effects they will go away by then or this isn't the medicine for him.

My son was on ritalin for about 8 months. I wanted more results so I asked the pediatrician to switch medications and he suggested strattera. First of all, the ritalin was stopped so that we could monitor the results more accurately. It is possible to add back the stimulant if necessary. In our case, once the straterrs took effect, the difference was astounding. My son is better at home, school, and public places. I can offer nothing but praise for straterra. The pediatrician has also indicated that similar results were noticed with his other patients taking straterra.

As for stimulant medication for ADHD, I was given a wonderful explanation. Think of there being a switch in the brain to turn attention on and off. The switch doesn't always work for those with ADHD. Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, they are all stimulating the switch not the person.

My 11 year old son has been living with ADHD for 5 years. He has been on Rittalin, Concerta, Adderall XR, and now Strattera. His appetite is much better on the Strattera and I think that he is much more "even". We no longer have the break through issues we had before. He is however experiencing side effects. The medicine does effect his stomach so we will be giving it to him in the evening now instead of the morning. Also, he is experiencing mood swings, but is also pre-puberity as well. I will be meeting with the pediatrician soon to adjust the dose, the recommendation is to split the daily dose into two smaller doses which may help him. Overall, we are pleased with the new Strattera. I guess what people need to remember is that not every medicaiton works well for every child. You need to keep trying untill you find the one that is right. Hope this helps. HI ,STRATTERA, WAS GREAT AS FAR AS THE SIDE AFFECTS,MY SON TAKES IT AT NIGHT IT WORKS BETTER ,GIVEN AT NIGHT HE SEEMS TO EAT BETTER AND SLEEPS BETTER,BUT IT DIDNT DO ANYTHING AS FAR AS HIM STAYING ON TASK AT SCHOOL,SO THEY NOW HAVE HIM ON CONCERTA DURING THE DAY AT SCHOOL AN STRATTRA AT NIGHT,THE BEHAVIOR HAS NOT IMPROVED STILL A CHALLANGE BUT WE ARE TAKING IT STEP BY STEP ,THANK YOU TO EVERY ONE FOR THE SUPPORT THIS IS GREAT THE HAVE OTHERS OUT THERE TO TALK TO WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR ON THE LAST NERVE LEFT

AND NEED TO TALK NANCY 2nd UPDATE: My daughter started Strattera 1/9/04: Today March 1- she is still doing great on the Strattera. She takes 25mg usually around 6pm. No headaches, she is eating normally, sleeps well - she may get up to get a drink in the middle of the nite but goes right back to bed & sleep, her behavior at school has greatly improved and at home. She has maintained her personality which is great. The only thing that stands out with the Strattera is in the evening around 4pm she really needs to take a nap or she gets really moody and mouthy in the late evening. But we can live with that, its better than dealing with it all day long.

I LIKED THE STRATTERA ,MY SON GAINED 10 POUNDS AN GREW 1 INCH,AFTER WE TOO HIM OFF THE ADERALL FROM SEPT,TO DECEMBER... AND HE WAS USALLY SLEEPING BY 9PM ON STRATTERA BUT THE SCHOOL DONT LIKE IT HIS BEHIVIOUR AND GRADES...WHAT IS THE WORSE OF 2 EVILS...YOUR KID CAN EAT AND SLEEP AT NIGHT BECAUSE OF THE DRUG THEY ARE ON AND DONT GROW THE WAY THEY SHOULD.... OR THEY... CANT KEEP UP IN SCHOOL NOW MY DR. HAS HIM ON BOTH CONSERTA DURING THE DAY AND STRATTERA AT NIGHT....HE IS BACK TO NOT EATING JUST PICKING.... AND BED TIME IS THERE ONE? I CANT WAIT UNTILL SCHOOL IS OUT I DONT GIVE HIM ANYTHING SO HE CAN CATCH UP....MAKES ME WOUNDER WHAT THEY DID 20 YEARS OR MORE AGO WHEN ADD ADHD WAS UNHEARD OF...IT SCARES ME TO THINK OF WHAT THIS IS GOING TO TURN OUT TO BE FOR HIM WHEN HE IS AN ADULT....OR WILL HE GROW OUT OF THIS...BUT WE LEARN TO TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME....

Hi, Diana-

I understand your frustration. Sometimes it seems that we get mixed messages from the teachers and the school about what is expected of us and our children. My little guy has a summer birthday and is practically a year younger than most of his classmates. Many of his challenges were maturity related. I would have kept him out of school an extra year, but he is 100% on the growth curve for the kids in his classroom, so he would have stood out like a giant ...

I always appreciate it when the teachers focus on what my child knows and what my child needs to learn in very concrete ways. We had a kindergarten teacher who was willing to work with us on incremental goals for learning school rules ... things like keeping chair legs on the floor, raising his hand before speaking, that sort of thing ... were very teachable concepts.

Our school days got much smoother when the lines of communication were opened between us as parents and the teacher. They really need us to do a lot of the teaching. It's not a one-on-one tutorial situation in p.s., and the idea about adhd often from comes from teachers who recognize the impossibility of teaching each child around each child's personality quirks.

Have you done educational testing to see where your child is on the content areas? I think that's a great piece of information to have. For us, knowing we were behind grade level on reading gave us something concrete to focus our energies on, and we did.

Just some thoughts.

Best wishes to you and your child.

-kate

Hi I thought I would update things. Lloyd startde strattera over christmas break and did well or so I thought. Went to his school confrence today and was told that my son has become unmanagble in class . They are wanting to keep him in first grade again next year. When I asked his teacher why the end of the week reports she had been sending home said that he was doing fine she replyed that she did not want to get him in trouble. The special education teacher is out of ideas as to how to get him to his class work 2 weeks ago it was just homework. They seem to think he should be able to control himself needs more disapline at home and is imature.So I guess it is back to concerta at a lower dose hope it works. The school counciler is also going to start working with him. I am considering joining CHADD for help with the teachers I can not do their job and mine too. Thank You for alowing me to vent. DianaMy daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD going on 3 years. We started on Adderall and it didn't last past 2 or 3 in the afternoon even with the increase in the dose. Then we tried concerta and she stopped eatting and she was a bean poll anyway. Now she has been on Strattera for about 1 year and she is doing great she even is in honor classes in the 4th grade. The only side effect I have had is decreased appite for the first week or so now she has gained 15 pounds... the most she has ever gained at one time. My Son tried Strattera but because of his anxiety problem it made hime worse. My doctor stated that if there is depression/anxiety they sometimes can't take it. Anyway I wouldn't change the medication my daughters on for ant thing. Hope this helps. PattyI am on Strattera 40 mg. It helps with concentration but the moods swings are bad. The initial nausea went away and my appetite never changed. I heard that you could take a stimulant with strattera. Strattera makes me tired. Thanks to the person that put the study links there. I am really interested in reading them.One thing that you have to remember is that each person's body chemistry is different and the medications are going to react in a different way. Each of the stimulant medications essentially do the same thing although the same one does not work for everybody. Straterra is the first of its kind. It has worked wonders for my son and a lot of others, but understandable won't work for everybody. If it hasn't worked, don't let that stop you from trying another one of it's kind if more are developed. The results last all day and our evenings are more peaceful. I wish that for every family dealing with ADHD.

My son is almost 8 and was determined ADHD almost 2 years ago..He started on Adderall because he refused to swallow a pill and they allowed for the adderall to be opened..he cried at the drop of a hat, finally got him on concerta which he was doing well on for awhile, when we determined it was time to up his dose, we found or felt he was over-medicated so we swithced to Strattera...have to say his appetite was wonderful but again he was crying at the drop of a hat so he is now back on Concerta 36 (the lower amount).

Someone recommended this book title in a thread with its name. here's one of the reivews (I'm reposting it here)

Unraveling The Add/Adhd Fiasco > Customer Review #2:

The CSP non-medication approach to ADD/ADHD

I am a practicing pediatrian with a heavy emphasis on behavioral problems. After reading Dr. Steins former book RITALIN IS NOT THE ANSWER, although skeptical because so much of conventional "wisdom" about managing ADD was challenged, I cautiously began to offer this approach to select parents. The results were impressive in several cases, and this fueled my desire to learn more about Dr. Steins approach. Having now begun to offer the CSP (Skilled Caregivers Program) for any parent who prefers a non-medication method of dealing with ADD/ADHD behaviors, I continue to experience success in a number of cases where previously medication offered the only hope for improvement. The current volume amplifies on what Dr. Stein has previously written, and adds a number of areas to supplement the fundamental behavioral premises and techniques. Having had an opportunity to read the manuscript twice prior to its current availability, I am most impressed and unhestitatingly recommend it for any parent dealing with this issue and for professionals who would like to be able to help parents to manage their childs behavior problems effectively without having to resort to medications.
A chapter on Dr. Steins ideas about why we may be experiencing such an explosion of the behaviors defining what we have labelled as ADD/ADHD is outstanding and thought-provoking. I agree with his overall assessment that this behavioral syndrome likely represents basically a culturally derived phenomenon rather than a biological or neurological one.
The discussion of both the importance of, and how to carry out, positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior is outstanding and provides the book a commendable balance while dealing with oppositional behavior. I encourage fellow professionals who might initially hesitate to consider seriously Dr. Steins conceptualization and recommended approach, to do themselves a favor and read this book.
S. DuBose Ravenel, M.D, F.A.A.P.

http://www.parent-to-be.com/Unraveling_The_AddAdhd_Fiasco_07 40718592.html

my son was on strattera for a while and it was the worst year he has had yet with his add. useless medication. dont waste your timeWe split Zach's dose because it was such a large dose. Mfg. says you shouldn't have to do that, but giving him the whole dose at night wasn't helping him at school.

I would recommend trying the stattera first, if you are going to use meds. IMO, anytime you can use a non-narcotic first, try it.

Mine is on Adderall XR now, but we have used the Strattera and I liked it. He seems to have a high tolerance for meds as I do so the Strattera dosing that was effective was a lot higher than the recommned. He only weighs about 60- 65 lbs and 60mg wasn't enough. It did help, just not to the extent he needs to do well in school. Hope this helps.

I am a 21 year old college student who has been on Stratera ever since it was introduced to the market. I have been very, very pleased with the results. I was on Ritalan or Concerta from age 12-20. Thus far, I have noticed that it feels as though I am a normal person without ADD. On stimulant medications, it felt as though I was always hyped up and jittery (very similar to how cocaine users feel from the literature I have read, which makes sense since Ritalan and Concerta are basically in the same family). Basically, it is a very natural feeling medication. Moreover, it has less impact socially compared to stimulant medications.

One thing I have noticed, however, is that on Ritalan and Concerta I would have a bit extra motivation to get work done. Again, after researching and talking to MDs, this is not very different from how cocaine users feel when using that drug. I would definately recommend anyone who has a child with ADD to stop any stimulent medication and try taking Stratera. It really appears to be a step in the right direction for ADD.
What i want to know is when does everyone give the strattera...ive heard it causes alot of sleepiness so its best to do it at night, but it seems like most ppl give it in the morning.