Any Strattera Updates?

Hi, I’m trying to find info on Strattera too. My son (9) was just diagnosed with ADD, inattentive type. Developmental pediatrician wants to try Ritalin, but my son has pre-existing issues with renal hypertension. His kidney specialist suggested Strattera since it is not a stimulant per se. Developmental pediatrician rebutted with it being so new and also has possible vascular side effects. Has anyone used it with for a child with renal hypertension?

Any info or experience would be appreciated.

Laurie

My child does not take Strattera, but I saw on another board that there is a yahoo group that will discuss Strattera experiences:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/strattera/

Andrea

My son, age 10, started the starter pack on Fri, 1/31/03. The starter pack for him was 25 mg. of Strattera and 20 mg. of Adderall (down from 40 mg./day) for 4 days. Well, it turned out to be quite a difficult transition. He was very hyper and talked very fast. He was irritable, tearful, and inattentive. Difficult to know if it was Adderall withdrawal or he will be one of those kids who become hypomanic on a norepinephrine. re-uptake drug like Strattera. On Tues., 2/4/03, he dropped the Adderall altogether and started 45 mg. of Strattera. He has been on the full dosage for his weight for a total of 4 days as of today. He is still a bit hyper, makes more animal noises and is more goofy, and his attentiveness is not as good as on the Adderall. What is positive is that he now has a normal appetite (this very thin boy has already put on 5 pds.), and his sleep onset problem is about 60% better. I intend to give the Strattera a total of three weeks on the full dosage before making a decision about continuing it. I’ll also see what his teacher says. I’ll keep the Board updated as to his progress.

There are a number of folks using strattera on the ADDed support bulletin board. Both kids and adults. Many are reporting good affects, a couple have not found success with it, however, no side affects reported thus far.
Amy

I appreciate your observations, and I am following this thread closely to learn all I can from others. When you mentioned the ADD board, were you talking about this Board or an another one? If a different one, could I get the internet address from you?

I should note that I am a psychologist who works in a mental health clinic which is part of a hospital. My clinic has several thousand patients on these re-uptake drugs, which Strattera is one. All of these drugs have the potential for side-effects, and a significant number of our patients do develop side-effects. Recently, Yale University published a study of all of their inpatient psychiatric admission diagnosis for covering a two year year. Close to 8% of all admissions were due to manic and/or psychotic symptoms secondary to taking one of the re-uptake drugs. Different research also shows sexual dysfunction in adult men is another common side-effect—not of much concern to those of us with 10-year old boys!

I don’t say this to cause undue concern or to undermind Strattera. Afterall, I am trying it on my son! It is just important to keep in mind that re-uptake drugs are powerful and can cause side-effects. From reviewing the Strattera research (sample size= 5,000), they report several common side-effects early in the dosing, e.g. nausea, sleep problems, etc.) as well as others across time that were less common but still occurred.

I hope the Strattera works for my son, but I am also keeping a close eye on the process.

If you go to the msn browser and put in ADDed support, you should be able to find it. It is an msn group. Honestly I am not nearly as computer savvy as I should be considering all the time I spend on it.
Amy

It has increased my son’s blood pressure somewhat…his was usually on the low side and now it is 130/86…but I don’t think Strattera would be good for someone who already has hypertension…

My son will not take stimulants any more because they decrease his appetite severely and because of the rebound effect. I gave him Strattera for a total of two days and he said it made him very very sleepy and it also impacted his appetite. He will not take another pill.

…the sleepiness seems to wear off over time…My oldest son has been able to control his impulsive spending and he is doing much better in college, he is able to focus and stay on task……This is an absolute miracle, because he wants to get into medical school and he was on academic probabtion due to his ADHD…This kid is brilliant he is just ADHD…He told me…I am not sure if it is the meds but I am afraid to not take them

I agree. Two days isn’t enough of a trial on Strtaterra to know if the side effects will go away. My son was very sleepy the first couple days, but that was much better by day 3. He is on day 4 with the low dose and looking forward to increasing it tomorrow. He was fine when he got up this morning, except that he is still highly distractible, but that would be true if he were at a dose of Adderall that was too low. He says that is how it feels today, that it’s like Adderall at about one-third his usual dose. I’m told that it takes about three weeks to build to a therapeutic level. The doctor will work with us then to adjust the dose then, if it’s needed. It’s way too soon to say if this will work or how much he will need.

How about the lack of appetite-does that go away as well? That appears to bother my son the most.

My son’s sleepiness went away on the 10th day of the trial. He had a good appetite from the beginning on Strattera. It was on Adderall that he had both lack of appetite and sleep onset problems.

Thus far, his attentiveness is about 80% of what it was with Adderall. I notice more ADHD symptoms in the evening. I intend to do at least a 1 month trial before deciding.

my sons eat like horses so the lack of appetite isn’t a problem….give it some time and let us know how it goes..

My son was on Adderall and had had appetite problems in the past, but is eating better and put on some weight. He is still slender and eats very little, but now he looks healthy (we watch what he eats to make sure that it’s both high nutrition and calorie dense). Since he has been on Straterra (5th day today), his appetite has improved some—perhaps the improvement is due to him not taking Adderall. Maybe Staterra suppresses the appetite less than Adderall, which is why it looks like an improvement to me. I don’t know, and I don’t know if his appetite will continue to be better now that he is now taking the target dose for his weight. He just took the first pill of that this AM.

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