ADHD & Strattera- Here's to hope

Here’s to hope…Well we started week 4 on Thursday. We were scheduled for our weekly weigh in with the doc on Fri. which meant a call Thursday night from the teacher (who has been a wonderful assesor) she said she is socially unaccepted in the class right very quick to argue etc. her scholastics have not been improving and not that she she suggests what we should or should not do but if we were keeping her on Strattera for scholastics reasons is wasn’t working….Ah what a disappointment and we have noticed her irratibility at home as well and the tiredness never wore off she was asleep by 5 we had to wake her for dinner and then she was out again by 8:30. So once yet again this does not appear to be the drug for us… We have tried Adderral worked great severe weight loss concerta made her cry at the drop of a dime strattera once didn’t notice any differnce (didn’t try long enough) back to Adderral weight loss 5lbs one week off that for good Strattera 3 3/4 weeks off that now trying Ritilan LA Seems to be working i have to speak with the teacher my daughter says she is paying attention and completing her class work she is eating and the homework is completed without stress. It is yet to be seen without comment from teacher keep you fingers crossed for her. She is so into the assessing of her treatment and trying so hard such a willing participatnt i don’t want to break her spirit. Also when we started drug treatment 7 months ago she weighed 97 pounds she now weighs 79 pounds so we are on the verge of giving up all meds to get her weight back up. Any suggestions?

We had to stop the strattera after three night of no sleep, which is the exact oppisite of most of the stituations in here, but he was able to functiona and became organized and cleaned his room, it was a miracle, We have recently went to a lower dosage of 18 instead of the 25, he also takes lamiqtal and eskalithe, and he now takes Strattera in the morning instead of at night. Adderall nearly did him in, years of being thin with a terrible 4:00 syndrom of crashing, Concerta made him go into a mania, So it is very rare for us to ever try a new drug. When I saw him on the strattera I was shocked, pleased and amazed. He has two slight tics, the eskalithe (lithium) made him gain allot of weight, so our hope is for an evening out of symptoms for him. He is a great kid, (14 180 lbs. 5 ft 8) football player, warm hearted, but needs to jump on his trampoline about 3 hours ever night, we live in Michigan and he would do this in 0 degrees even. Its a sensory issues I quess. He is popular, but friendship are almost too much for him, preferring sports, trampoline and cartoons (anime). He feels allot of pressure in frienships and life. God bless us all, heres to hope 2nd night now and he has slept!!!!

We have our next visit to the dr. tomorrow. My son has lost another 3 pounds since our last appt. We have been trying to get by with the Stratera and the short acting ritalin (the ritalin la is soooo expensive!) and it doesn’t seem to work well. He still needs the LA, he has been over emotional, frustrated and gets down right irate!!!! Does this rollercoaster ever end??? Is there any such thing as the perfect medication for this issue??? Yes, he is sleeping better. Is still able to focus in school and improving daily, but then there is the downside….I feel like he is a timebomb and you never know what is going to set him off. Not that he is violent, but I can never seem to do anything right! I have to admit I am exhausted!!! Emotionally and physically….
Thanks for letting me vent!!! It is greatly appreciated!!!
Good luck to all,
Mary

I have experienced severe side effects from Straterra. I highly recommend not giving this medication to your sons. Especially older boys. I wouldn’t give this medication to my worst enemy . Please don’t do this to your sons.

I’m gonna be starting Stratera tomorrow, my son is 6 yrs old and we just found out he haves ADHD. I just feel so guilty I didn;t do anything about it last year when the teachers suspected something was wrong My husband and myself refused to put him on medications so we let it pass by until he’s check up a few weeks ago his doctor noticed last years assement from the kingergarden and reading teacher. We just did it again this year with his first grade teachers and it was the same, So I was in Denial. Know I think, and put one and one together that explained all his behavior and I had very little tolerance with him, I wouldn’t hit him, but I had no patience with him. Reading this today has really really been helpful diffrent opinions from mothers and to know that there is so much support outhere. I’m new to this so I get all the input from all of you wonderful people on how to deal with an ADHD child.

Why would you say that? You can’t make a statemnet like that without explanation. My 10 year old son is doing wonderful on it.

This stuff is working so good!!! His report card was up, he got more A’s!!! His teacher is so impressed with how well his writting has improved and he actually sits still witout fidgeting!!! The doctor is waiting until our next appointment to decide on if we should go up, he wants a full 4 weeks on it first!!

Does anyone seem to think it wears of before the end of the day. I noticed last Saturday & Sunday that he got more restless around 3:00 pm.

Serena

My 12 year old son just started strattera 3 days ago. he is taking 40 mg now, and will start on 60 mg tomorrow. He was sleepy for one day. slept for hours. now he is more hyper which i hope will go away. at least he does not seem so depressed as he seemed to be on addreall. His appitite is great, and he is not sick to his stomache which was another side effect of adderall he had before. I am willing to put up with the hyper for a few days if it goes away. its better than having him mope around the house.

Ok I really think that we need to do 2 times a day, he will not stay on task this evening, anyone else doing 2 times a day??

Please elaborate. What kind of side effects and why specifically do you say older boys should not take?

I think the stratterra may not work as well as adderral for the hyperactive and if you recently took him off it he may be having a rebound effect. Give the stratterra time. It has worked wonders for my son.

My son started strattera around 3 weeks ago at 18 for 3 days and then 25. He was on it for a week and then they moved him up to 36 and then 40. That’s all his weight would tolerate.Everyday we were waiting for something to happen, the only difference was his sleeping habits and his irrability.He would now tell us when he was tired which was a nice change, but he used to be a very nice 9 year old with ants in his pants who now changed to a very mean nasty child. All along the school has been amazing, in trying to keep him focused and behave accordingly. My doctor was in contact with all school personal that worked with Max. But today, after having another bad day at school we spoke to the doctor again[who has been soooo great], we mutually decided to stop the strattera altogether and let it leave his system for a few days and the go back to ritalin. I really wished this had a different ending..

Dear Max’s Mom,

I understand and sympathize with your concerns. We too have tried several drugs and would like nothing more then to send our daughter to school everyday without drugs. It is a horific thought that everyday my daughter takes a medication like ritalin. We are going to try BeCalm as soon as i receive it. We have great hopes as always. But when then leaves i am sure it must get harder. Chin up. Here’s to a GOOD DAY

My son just began Strattera, he has been on meds since he was 6 years old. My son has chronic adhd and never stops or sleeps. He is now turning 12 and is also going through puberty. Although I have always been deligent about getting him help he was suspended about 3 months ago. Since that time I have been switching meds alot, I needed something that really helped him to slow down and think, but at the same time he was already severely sleep deprived. Well i did begin the weening process off of concerta and I am not sure what the future will hold, but this morning my child was taking a lower dose of his old medicine concerta and the new Strattera and he was calm, quite and happy. I do have to admit, that I don’t think I have ever seen this in him although he has been on several medications. I have my fingers crossed and I will let you know how he’s doing.

I agree, you have to explain why you feel that it is dangerous, the statement that it is dangerous is unfair to all of us who have struggled to make our children’s lives better.

For the first time ever I actually have hope, to see my son calm and not racing about like a chicken with his head cut off was a glimmer for me. My son is 11 and has been on everything, nothing ever managed to slow him down, he is unbelievably hyper. He is always in trouble for reacting and not thinking, making noises, everything that seems to be inappropriate, he does. However, he is not the least bit violent, extremely hyper and compulsive. I had him on an extremely high dose of concerta when the doctor said lets try Strattera I had never heard of it. It is amazing, he actually spoke this morning, calm, no yelling, and kissed me to go to school. I really feel like I may have some hope for his future. I have my fingers crossed. julie wrote:
>
> Sleepiness seems common the first couple days from the posts
> I’ve read. My son slept more in the first 2 days, but it
> went away after that—he is on Day 10. My son’s appettite
> improved the first day and he is still eating more than he
> did. His abiltity to focus has been increasing day by day—
> now about 75% of what he had on Adderall. It’s still too
> soon to say whether this will work the way we hope it will,
> but I’m willing to give this a fair trial based on what I’ve
> seen so far.

Concerta is a controlled substance and my doctor suggested slow wheening.

Dear Star,

Thanx so much for your kind thoughts. Today he did take anything, and him and I took the day off. We vegged out and then caught an afternoon movie. He tried so hard to sit still for it, but had some problems. Even so we made the best of the day. Tommorow we will be home again, and will see the doctor late in the afternoon. Wish us luck.

Carole {Max’s Mom}

Dear Carole,

My sincere regards. I truly know the rewards and stress and guilt you feel when you “take the day off” meds. It is just horrible that we even have to consider that. That our children get to have a day off drugs. It breaks my heart. I am waiting impatiently for my order of BeCalm to arrive. All natural so worth a try. I figure if I am willing to introduce stimulants, controlled substances daily into my daughter why not try this. I will certainly let you know how we make out. I wish many “GOOD DAYS”, and for those that aren’t so good i wish you patience and a big heart for our children try so hard. I think that is what hurts even more that our children our “trying” in my daughters words to “be normal” it makes my eyes fill everytime she says that. The Dr. asked her how her meds made her feel and she said “special” and the dr. cocked her head and said special why special? And my daughter said….Because they make me feel normal” I tell you Carole. my heart just tore a littel and every time i think of her saying that it rips a little more. But most of all it gives me the strength to continue to support her and search for alternative more natural healthy ways to treat this…Have a great day…both you and your son..

My 12 yr old son has never been diagnosed with ADHD. But was given Strattera for depression. Also because he’s been having problems, socially at school. He gets very angry when teased and cries everyday at school. The teachers tell me that my son usually has the first word. My son will say that he never starts. Anyway today is the 3rd day my son is on Strattera. For the last 2 days he’s been sleeping till 11:00 AM missed school. I am hoping that tomorrow he is not sleepy. He also sweats and feels cold.
Please help with any imput.

Minn

Hang in there as the symptoms you are describing are the side effects my son felt too in the first three weeks. They seem to go away after that and the benefit of Strattera seems positive. This, too, is our first shot at any kind of medication and so far so good.

Dear Julie
Thank you for talking to me. Now my son tells me he feel dizzy and has been since lunch time. I’m always afraid of side effects. Three weeks seem so far away. My son won’t last a week on Strattera. He’s been sensitive to some other med.’s I feel for your son.Those 3 weeks had to be very hard on him , also on and your family.

Minn

Dear Star,
Today we went back to the doctor and we are going back on ritalin tommorow. Once we find out how long it takes to go through his system,we might try some long lasting. Hoping this will bring my little boy back. He really wants to be the same as everyone and so do I. Please keep me informed on th BeCalm meds and let me know if itsworth getting. Thanx so much for being here, it really means alot.
To great tommorows.
Carole

Again, dizziness is what we experienced too. Our long story is that the first day he slept 15 hours, that was a Thursday so we stuck with it through the weekend and he still experienced sleepiness but not as extreme as that first day. Called the Dr and he said take it at night but after talking with the pharmicist that didn’t make sense so a week into it we switched to the morning and experienced the upset stomach, some dizziness, some chills but I was around to monitor it through the weekend. We have found if he eats breakfast with the medicine he does fine. We are officially at a month and things seem to be alright now. He does, on occasion, complain of dizziness and seems tired off and on but have not seen a real consistent pattern. I monitor everything carefully because this is our first experience with medecine of any sort. I do find that it wears off around dinner time and at times in the evening he becomes somewhat moody but as far as during the day it has helped him with his impulsivity and attention span quite well. I say hang in there and give it a try. Commit to four weeks and of course keep your Dr informed of everything! Hang in there!

Wanda,
Welcome to the club!!! It is a hard decision to think you need to medicate your child in order to help them. Believe me I understand exactly what you are going through, as do alot of the others who come to this board. My son is 8, is on a few different meds and there have been sooo many positive improvements!! You do have to take the good with the bad as in the sleepiness, sleeplessness, weight loss and others. I went through tutoring, vision therapy, and then finally took him to the dr. myself because nothing else was getting him where he needed to be.

He has blossomed in school this quarter!!! He has gone up 3 reading levels and soon will be tested on the 4th. His focus is so much better. He works so hard. And we make sure we give HIM the credit…NOT the meds, they help (like his glasses) but they couldn’t work without his hard work. He isn’t ashamed that he takes medicine and we don’t hide it. There is no reason for him to feel that it is a big secret and the more other people know the more they understand that it isn’t that these are bad kids or we are parents that can’t control our kids (that was always my favorite!). We are just doing the best we can with special circumstances. Hang in there!!! We are all here for each other for the good days and the bad…Take care.
Mary

Dear Carole,
Good luck with the Ritalin. We just started back on that too. We are taking 20mg LA. It seems to work up until or right after lunch. My daughter is not hyper well not any more then any other 10 year old. (this was confirmed when i took her and two of her friends to the shore last weekend for three days, they were are behaving exactly the same i mean energy complaining fiesty) As difficult as they were it was enlightening to me to see that she realy is “normal” and can maintain focus to play games, watch movies, play video games and dolls and such with her friends. So we are blessed there. We have made the choice not to give her meds on the weekends or holidays. We do have to be aware that we have to tolerate her little quirks…i.e. the tight clothes and she is somewhat argumentative. I sometimes find her her mind thoughts funny… I would never tell her that. I think we parents of ADD ADHD children are sometimes tough on them ourselves now by that i mean we in our hearts and minds don’t allow them to have an off day without monitoring and judging it now i realize that it is the monitoring that gets us through all this medicine adjustments and all. but we become micro sensative almost to a fault. Including myself. We too need to work on balancing. in return that too will strengthen our children. My nieces and my older daughter 23 were not afflective with this horrible set back but i can tell you they do and did have some days that they put us through the ringer and we never evaluated them so closely. I truly don’t mean to offend anyone i am just trying to train my self to be less sensative to things that are simply what a 10 year old does. And that is hard because we are always putting these children under the scope….those are my thoughts for the day. Have a great on all…..

http://addhelpsite.com/testimonials.htm

Dear Star,
Well day one back on ritalin, there is a g-d up above. Now granted, Max only had a half a day due to conferences ,but that was a very good start. I took another day so I was able to take him and pick in up from school. When he got home he started his HW and worked on a writing assignment for around 11/2 hours. This was truly a Kodak moment. The flip side is that in 3-4 days from now ‘Im sure he will lose whatever little weight he has gained the past month. For now, that is the least of it.
Keep your fingers crossed.

Carole

I really loved reading you message, I even called my husband in to read it. My 8 years old has been on dexadrine for two years. I work fine to start with but has progessively less affective. We saw the doctor today and he prescribed strattera. I actually have hope that this is going to work. Thanks, Kim

WELL MY 8 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER IS NOW ON 40 MG. SHE TAKES IT AT NIGHT. SHE GOES TO SLEEP AND TALKS IN HER SLEEP ALL NIGHT LONG. SITTING UP MANY, MANY TIMES AND GETTING UP TO GO TO THE BATHROOM TWICE A NIGHT. SHE NEVER DID THAT BEFORE. SOMETIMES I THINK SHE IS MORE TIRED WHEN SHE WAKES UP THAN WHEN SHE WENT TO SLEEP. ALSO SHE IS ALMOST NO BETTER IN SCHOOL THAN WHEN SHE WAS NOT ON ANY MEDS. SHE IS BOUNCING WHEN SHE GETS HOME. NOW THERE ARE NO MOOD SWINGS, BUT HER GRADES WENT DOWN THIS SEMESTER. I HATE TO TELL EVERYBODY THIS BUT SHE HAS ASKED ME TO GO BACK ON CONCERTA. BUT OH THOSE MOOD SWINGS. WELL ANY RECOMENDATIONS LET ME KNOW. THANKS YOU GUYS CAROL.

My son is 27 yrs old. He was JUST diagnosed with ADHD after YEARS
of my trying to get someone to listen to me. He was hyper when he was little up through teen years. In his teens he became depressed. He is very bright but
dropped out of high school. He has had several jobs but after initial excitement
he gets “tired” of them and quits. He is sad, lonely and frustrated. ANyway
finally we are moving in the right direction (I HOPE) We are exploring
the information of different meds…this board was very enlightening for me but also overwelming. Where do we start? My son is also very allergic to milk and
when I checked the ingredients of most of the meds they contain LACTOSE.
He had an anaphylactic reaction to milk as child and has never had it since or anything containing it so we are VERY leary of these meds. Can anyone give me some advice? Also do most of you see neurologists pyschiatrists for your meds and med follow up? I have six children of which he is the oldest and now realize that I have ADHD and all of my children or at least 5 have it. BUT now it all makes sense. My son is so happy that he has a “label” for his feelings but I am worried that meds will not work…HELP Thanks to you all and my prayers are with you.It has been a rough time but I hope we are seeing the
light at the end of the tunnel

I received a call from my daughter’s school yesterday. She is 5 years old and in kindergarten. She has been suspended for the second time this year for hitting a teacher! I was so mad at the school when I went there. I told them I did not know what to do with the child. I have disclipined her, took away privileges, stripped her room of all toys, paddled her, and have even put her on medication. The rest was up to them as far as getting her into special education classes for behavior management. I have been to meeting after meeting and she has even seen the school psycologist and I wanted to know what the status of the classes was! I was told they would check into it for me and that my child has already been pushed up on the list from other children that have been waiting over a year.

It just gets so frustrating at times. There are less than six weeks left to the end of the school year and I want her to get into these classes so that she can bring up her conduct before school ends. She has made “U’s” in conduct all year. My daugher is now being introduced to Boot Camp child style. For now on it is “No Sir, Yes Sir, No Mam, Yes Mam” to all adults. I think it hurt her most when we made her pack up all her toys and move them to the extra bedroom. We are starting back to square one on this but she is going to respect adults especially her teachers.

My daughter is an only child and she can be so sweet when she wants to. She is also very strong willed and wants to buck authority when told what to do. To get her to do something you have to convince her it was her idea. This method is not going to work when she’s an adult and her boss tells her what to do, so we need to change that now.

I also have trouble getting her to take the pill. Why in heaven’s name don’t they put it in liquid form? I have to almost force it down her every morning and she gags when she swallows it. I don’t like Straterra because you can’t give them a break on the weekends or school holidays since it is a time release drug. She has been on it over 12 weeks and she still has good weeks and bad. I DO like Straterra because it is not a controlled substance like Adderall or Ritalin. The only thing is that with Adderall or Ritalin I hear you can see immediate results and with Staraterra you have to wait four to six weeks. My daughter is only on 25 mg and I don’t think this is high enough. I am going to take her back to the doctor and see what she says. It hasn’t been tested on children under age six so I am weary about uping her dosage.

If I can finally get her into special education classes at school for behavior modication, I plan to finally wean her off the drug.

I’m sorry I rattled on for so long, but thanks for letting me vent!

Wendy, First let me say hang in there. I know you are being pulled to your last straw… Have you explered The 504 plan. This may help your daughter in the mean time. I would also strongly reccommend getting your doctors involved. Special Education is a fundamental right Federally funded. Your school should not a have a so called waiting list. That is appalling. Good luck

Wendy,

I am so sorry to hear how hard of a time you are having. But I have to say that even when it gets bad here I have never had my son hit his teacher or any other adult. I think that maybe you should try and find a Psychiatry that she can talk to, my friend did that with her boy that acted out like your daughter is and it has helped him a lot. The Psy. sees him weekly and he regulates all his meds. He has gone from getting suspended in Kindergarten to a wonderful 4th grader, she also uses Guitar lessons with him, when he acts up she doesn’t let him go. I am lucky that my son doesn’t get in trouble for attitude, he gets in trouble for lying all the time. He will do whatever someone tells him no matter if he knows it is wrong and lie to get out of it. Like he got in trouble for breaking his pencil and instead of showing me his friend told him to sign my name and he did. He got to have all recesses and lunch in the office for three weeks. We told him that he should never do anything that he thinks has even a hint of wrong in it, but he will to impress his friends. Plus if Dad is gone he will not listen to me!!! I get so frustrated! He was a very awsome child before he went to Kind., in PreSchool they called him their angle!! How can a child change so much??? I am going on & on so I shall go.

Wendy, find someone for her to talk to, I have found out that the schools take forever if you wait on them, you have to take action outside of there. Also my friend has something called an IEP, I think that’s it, and the school has to follow it. Also I think suspending a child is wrong, to me it gives into them, I think our principal puts them in the office all day instead. I think if my son was suspended he would care less, he’d do it more often so that he could get out of school. Maybe not though after I had fun with him all day!!

Oh yeah we do a bootcamp thing with him, my hubby is ex-military and so he does drill when he does things wrong, I got tired spanking him, plus it hurt my hand. He has to hold his legs in the air, or arms out to the side, jumping jacks, that kind of thing.

Serena

Thanks for the advice. I had to explore and find out exactly what the 504 plan was and it told me about my rights as a parent with a child diagnosed with ADHD.

I guess I should of been more specific when I talked about the meetings at my daughters school. They were IEP meetings (Individualized Education Plans). These meetings are just the beginning to the Special Education Classes. Once my daughter has seen the psycologist (whose waiting list was the one my daughter was on), they hold another IEP meeting to discuss the results. The psycologist recommend special education for her and diagnosed her with Aspergers Syndrom which is a cross between ADHD and autism. From there I think we go to SEP (Student Education Plan?) once she is entered into Special Ed. They explained everything had to go through the state and the district and it takes time. She will be able to go directly into it next year in 1st grade but that is not helping me now.

My daughters doctor has got involved. She had to sign a diagnosis stated she had ADHD to get her into the “Other” catergory for special education services. I also found out where I made my mistake on the medication. Last week was Spring Break and since my daughter had no school I let her slack from taking the medication. I put her back on it Sunday, the day before school so that she could get it back into her system. The doctor told me that once they stop taking the drug it takes about 6 days to get back into their system again. She also told me they cannot put it into a liquid form since it is a time release medication and in a liquid form it would not be potent enough.

Serena, thanks for the idea about the Psychiatry. My husband, along with the doctor suggested the very same thing for the behavior management. Her doctor says that Straterra will help with the focus but not the behavior. She needs to deal with a specialist for that. The only reason the school suspended her was because they have a zero tolerance on hitting teachers and that is a big “no no”. We are moving to another school district next year that still believes in paddling at school as an alternative to suspension. The parents have to sign a permission slip at the beginning of the school year and the school has to call you and ask permission again before they actually do it. They actually call it “licks” which I think might help her if someone else disclipines her instead of us.

Wendy, I went to WebMd and read about aspergers, sounds kind of scary to deal with, but at least it isn’t as bad as I thought at first. Our school has what is called the EDL, it’s for children with special needs. When I was in there a while back I noticed a child that would be like yours. He is very smart in Math they said, but they said he had Aspergers & ADHD, so he had to be in a controlled enviroment. She also told me that when he was first in there it was a mess, but the day I saw him he was functioning quit well.

Nebraska doesn’t allow paddling, even by a parent. We are only allowed to spank our children with our hand 4 times and it can not leave a mark. Sometimes I think if he had a good spanking like I did as a child it would help. I also think that if the Principal could do it then he would never follow other kids.

We have also forgotten the meds a couple of times on the weekends and then he takes all week to do better, so I have had to made up a chart for him & I so he doesn’t forget it. I have decided to keep him on it all summer, so that he can get used to taking the pill and then also I may have a better summer with him. I actually dread the days he is out of school right now, I have an inhome daycare with 10 children all day, we do pretty good and can keep the mess picked up, but when he is home it is very bad.

Has anyone ever sent a child to those camps for kids with ADHD? I found one in CO, but it cost $2000 for a week, my hubby says no way, but I thought if it would help I might try, if I can get the money together. The good thing is that next summer they will have summer school here. He is doing really good in school, but he forgets everything in the summer and the first semester is catch up. His teacher is going to let me borrow some books to work with him over the summer!! I just hope I have the time with my daycare.

Serena

My son strated on Strattera about 2 months ago and it has been the greatest medication he had taken in 10 years. HE is so comfortable with it. He has taken Adderall, Ritalin with bad side effects as not wanting to eat, non sleep nights, and just zombied out. With Strattera his grades have gone up already, he does not blurt out in class, and he actually does his chores at home now without being side tracked or arguing with him. I have 2 other children 12 & 16 and now he gets along with them so very well. Josh is 15 now and feels like he is in control of himself for the first time in many many years. In my opinion this is the best medication that thye have come out with for ADHD/ADD in years. It is not a controlled substance which is also great. You can get 3 months of supply and the kids don’t feel bad about having to see a doctor every month. Josh also just takes his in the morning, kids this age know in school that whena another kid goes to the nurse they must be on “hyper” pills, so this is great also. I think everyone should give it a try, as with ALL medications whether for kids or adults, it does not appeal to all. But please give it a chance for your son…..
Carla
[email protected]

I totally agree with Carla, my 7 yr old son started on strattera two weeks ago and I already see a change in everything school, interacting etc. On wednesday he read a book to his classroom and kindergarten kids, his teacher wants to make him student of the month next month. I’m so proud of him. But yes with this medication my son started reading and has greatly improved in all subjects. He has not had any side effects on it so far and I hope it continues. It’s like his little brain is waking up from a deep sleep. He haves questions for everything, I strongly reccomend it. and also please check this website it’s very informative http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~kathskorner/html/ad_index.html.

Happy Easter to everyone and GOD BLESS

Wanda

How is your son doing now on this drug? I too have a soon to be 6yr old, that we are considering using medication to address what the School System beleives is ADHD. Granted he has all the classic symptoms. I got a chuckle at your example of dinner time behavior, our son is EXACTLY the same.

Would love to hear how things have gone for you and your son.

My son is 7 and diagnosed with ADHD two years ago since then he has been on only two other medications. Metadate, and Aderal. The first seemed to work very well for awhile and then didn’t seem to do it, switched to aderal and did the complete opposite of what it was supposed to do, and we changed him back. Recently he is refusing to do his work in school, attitude at home not much better. Doctor changed him to Strattera, said that it could and should take three weeks to take full effect. My son has been on this for almost two weeks and I’m amazed how well he is doing.

MY SON IS 7. HE WAS FIRST TOLD HE HAD ADHD WHEN HE WAS 2. HE STARTED TAKING STRATTERA ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO. IT DID CONTROL HIS AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR BUT IT MADE HIM TIRED AS HELL, AND LOSS OF APPETITE. HE GOES TO SCHOOL AND GOES TO THE NURSE’S OFFICE TO TAKE A NAP FOR ATLEAST AN HOUR, HE WILL COME HOME AND GO TO SLEEP. THEN HE WILL GET UP ABOUT 5:00 - 5:30 THEN GO TO BED AT 9:00. HE HAS STOMACH PAINS ( USUALLY IN THE MORNING TIME), WHICH I WOULD GUESS IS FROM THE LOSS OF APPETITE. MY SON USE TO EAT 2 PACKS OF OATMEAL IN THE MORNING, NOW HE WON’T EVEN EAT HALF A PACK. AND WE ALL KNOW HOW SMALL THOSE PACKAGES OF INSTANT OATMEAL ARE. HE STARTED OUT AT 25mg, NOW HE IS UP TO 60mg. HONESTLY, I WOULD NOT RECOMNEND THIS DRUG TO ANYONE.

Henry,

How do doctors diagnose a child with ADHD at age 2? At that age they are learning to explore and are expected to be energetic and hyper. My daughter is 5 years old and has the same kind of appetite as your son. Try different foods for breakfast in the morning, I’ve noticed that kids taste seem to change often. My daughter will eat Fruit Loops cereal, muffins, and doughnuts with powdered sugar or chocolate glaze. Too much sugar? Hey - she’s eating! Seriously, she has been on Straterra about the same amount of time as your son and I finally can see her appetite picking up. She’s just picky with what she will eat. You give her a plate of spaghetti and meatballs and wham - she will finish off the whole plate!

As far as the sleepiness, let your son take an hour nap in the afternoon after school and send him out to play afterwards. The fresh air and sunshine will keep him awake. My daughter wanted to become a T.V. junkie. Maybe you need to get your son in bed earlier if you do this.

Do not give up on Straterra yet. My daughter’s doctor told me it will help her focus more in school but it will not help her behavior. I finally went though all the IEP requirements and they approved her for Special Education classes to help her control her behavior. Straterra is so much better that Ritalin or Adderall since it is not a simulant. Like any other medicines that are taken long term you have to give the body time to adjust. Just do not make the same mistake I made, once your child starts on it, don’t let him stop on the weekends or during holidays from school since this is a time release drug. Once he stops taking it, it will take 4 to 6 days for his body to begin adjusting back to it again if he starts taking it again.

Good luck and keep me posted. Were you the one that wrote earlier and said this drug was dangerous for boys and then didn’t make any further comments?

Help Help Help

Well I have to say I absolutely love this medicine. I have always been against all meds for my son, but I finally tried this and am so happy I did!! He brought home his bi-weekly grade report yesterday and he had 3 A’s and the rest B’, but the other ones were one 1% to 1.4% from an A!!! His Teacher says the change in him is drastic and he is picking everything up now and doesn’t usually need extra explanation!

His appetite did go down a little in the beginning and the doctor says he lost a couple of pounds, but he has gained that back and a couple. As for sleep I have not had that problem with him, he does go directly to sleep at bed time, instead of laying there for an hour.

Henry I think I would have given up on these meds by now, I am glad you have given it time. I think some meds work for some and not others. My son can still eat 3 packages of oatmeal and he has been on it for around 50-60 days.

Well I have to say I still have the not listening to mom problems, but I think all kids are like that. They always listen better when Dad is home.

SMILE!!

Henry, my son has been on strattera for three weeks since then my son does not get detention anymore and he is reading WOW that happened in a matter of three weeks, and yes when he comes home from school he takes half hour nap after that when I get home I talk with him we have dinner and then we start reading books till nine o’clock and then he goes to bed. But yes he seemed tired at the beginning. As far as his appetite is concerned it has not affect him, Thats what I’m scared that if when the time comes to raise his miligrams that might affect him, But I’ll see when we get there. My son it’s a totally diffrent lil boy and I’m going to continue strattera as long as it helps him.

Good luck to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WENDY, NO NO , IT WASN’T ME THAT SAID THIS DRUG WAS DANGEROUS. I HAVEN’T SEEN ANYTHING YET FOR ME TO SAY THAT. I’VE TALKED TO THE DOC ABOUT MY SON’S APPETITE AND STOMACH PAINS. THE DOC THOUGHT THAT MAYBE WE SHOULD GO BACK DOWN TO THE 25mg SINCE HE STARTED GETTING THEM SOON AFTER HE GOT ON THE 40mg. SO, NOW WE ARE BACK TO THE BEGINNING. THIS DRUG DEFINETLY CALMED HIM DOWN IN SCHOOL, BUT IM JUST WORRIED ABOUT HIS APPETITE AND THE STOMACH PAINS. HOPEFULLY THAT WILL ALL CHANGE.

My son is 9 yrs old and has not been on any medication in three years. He had so many complications from Ritalin, Adderal, Imiprimene that I took him off everything. He has done very well until this school year. I am retaining him in third grade again because of his lack of comprehension and attitude about school. The doctors have suggested Straterra, but I have very mixed emotions. Can anybody tell me if it has helped their son with paying attention to the teacher and actually helped them with comprehension. Tyler normally jsut gives you a blank look when you start working with math or social studies homework. He cries continually and calls himself stupid. On the flip side he can read and spell like the wind. I’m not sure which way to go. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Kelly

Wow, your sounds just like my son!! He had a D in Social Studies and Math was a C, almost a D, I put him on Straterra and he now has almost straight A’s, his B’s are at the most 1.4% from an A. We had tried Concerta and Ritalin with no luck, he would lose weight very fast and no improvement. I really did not want to do any meds, but I decided to try this one and am so glad I did!! The teacher says he is very interested in Math now and you can actually look at him and see the desire to learn now!!! His grades in Spelling have always been very high and his reading is a couple of grades higher than he’s in at all times. She also says that he doesn’t fidget as much in class and his homework is way down, he gets it all done in school.

Oh yeah she also said that she will explain something once and he gets it, where as before it would take 2-3 times. So we have seen improvement everywheres. I will warn you though that if he is hard to handle at home now it may not get better!! But I figure at school is awesome and home will take time, it is more of him not listening to Mom, he does way better when Dad is home.

I just got a call from the Principal about my son being 1 of 2 getting a 96% on a huge reading test. The calls about his test are getting more often also.

The only thing I worry about right now is him being so impulsive, it is still hurting some areas, but he has to learn to control that on his own I think.

Try the meds, but remember they will probably take the full 4 to 6 weeks to see the best results, we saw some at 1 week, but at 4 the teacher called and said it was amazing. My son was the first in his school to try the meds and now there are more kids on it. My Doctor also started him at 40 mg, which is rare, he is now on 60 mg.

Serena

We started our daughter on 18mg for 1 week, up to 25 mg at which time, off Concerta completely. I do think that her body had to get use to being off Concerta, especially since the Strattera had not kicked in yet. By the way, she is 8 years old and weights 52 lbs, our biggest reason for trying Strattera and getting her off stimulants.

MINDY DO YOU HAVE AN EMAIL; ADDRESS MIGHT AS WELL PUT HER ON 40 MGS. MY DAUGHTER IS 8 AND SHE ONLY LASTED 2 WEEKS ON 25 MGS. BUT WATCH OUT. THE LONGER SHES ON IT THE MORE SHE DOES NOT WANT TO EAT. MINE IS ALMOST 9 AND SHE JUST GOT TO 60 LBS