Just starting strattera

You to ADHD.com Member forums under medications. Alot other moms who’s kids are on Strattera have posted there. Also look under posts by Millermom (Rebelmom here), she is very knowledgeable on Strattera.

It’s only natural to be concerned about starting any new medication. My son and I went from Aderall and Adderall XR respectivley to Sttaterra with excellent results. There was no problem quitting Adderall. You’re effectively unmedicated or minimally medicated until the Straterra has had a change to build to an effective dose. That takes about 3-4 weeks. We’ve both had excellent results. There were some posts a week or so ago by rebelmom that had a wealth of information on Straterra.

Hello,

We also went from Adderall XR to Strattera and my son will be 12 in August. We had good results from Adderall but he would never eat and had a hard time sleeping. Those side effects were gone with Strattera and he was tired for about the first 3 days — but the good results we were having with Adderall also disappeared. My son’s grades continuously dropped for two grading periods and he finally asked to be put on his old meds (Adderall) for the last grading period of school. Improvements were immediate back on Adderall and it looks like he’ll make merit roll for his final report card.

Good luck.
Debi

My son is almost eight and has been on meds for three years. We did the ritialin, the adderal, and then concerta, that is wonderful. Then I read about the strattera, it being a non stimulate. I was excited, though it does effect the brain the same way as a stimulate. It does take several weeks to start, we noticed no improvement after three weeks. My son though, the first two days, did nothing but puke, and cry from a stomach ache. after that he had to eat quite a bit to not get a stomach ache, severly, after two weeks of my son hurting, on the third weekend, he lay on the bathroom floor, crying and hurting. beleiving that he was not going to live, after the pain. concerta has done wonders, after a while that things go good, we wanted to try something else, though not realizing how good the other was, untill we went back to old behavior. our doctor said that the children she has treated with strattera have had stomach pains. good luck, let me know

My son is six years old and has been on several different meds since he started taking them back in August of 2002. Started with Concerta, he couldn’t fall asleep, swithed to Medidate, OK results but no appetite. He was extremely emotional. Since the next jumb for Medidate was too much we switched again. Then we tried Adderal XR, and again his behavior was not greatly improved. He was asked to leave his daycare/kindergarten program. He would have uncontrolled out burst of angry and he would not be able to calm himself. We enrolled in the public kindergarten and I hired someone to watch him after school. I was called to school on two occasions to come pick up my son for his behavior, threw a chair, kicked the teacher, hit another child… The end of January 2003 his med doctor suggested Stratterra. The first week was almost unbearable. I talked to his doctor about putting him on Klonadine with the Stratterra. On February 4th I had to pick my son up at school after less then 1/2 hour. However, that was the last day like that. He finally settled down and things have been going better. His emotional outburst no longer happen. We got through the rest of the school year without any other incidents. And his teacher said that he was getting better at calming himself and knowing when he needed extra time away from the other kids.

Things had not always been great with the in home sitter, but there were alot of other factors.

But now he started going to the local Boys/Girls Club for the summer and things have started up again. He has been suspended twice in the first week and a half. I am hoping that it is related to this being a new place and that there is not alot of structure.

What makes all of this difficult is that 90% of the time my son is very calm and happy and loving. But when he is over stimulted or frustrated he reacts without thinking. And mostly these things happen when he is with other kids his age. Rarely do I see the things that happen. I often feel like I have two kids. One who is calm and loving the other mean and cruel. One of the behaviors that happens when he loses control is he bites who ever is closest when he is angry.

Sorry this is such a long post, but it is my first. Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful.

With school ending and summer starting and all routines changing, even unmeddicated kids are losing it. My son is also on Strattera and I was worried it stopped working, but on closer observation it is still working. It sounds like it is just an adjustment thing. The thing I like about Strattera is it allows room for kis to be themselves. They get affected by things just like other kids. I guess this can cause for a bad experience in some kids. It sounds like maybe more than ADD at play here. Does he have sensory integration issues, or anxiety, depression?

I’d look into the possiblity of other disorders, as rebelmom said.

My son sounds just like yours. Great, loving, kind, MOST of the time but wild some of it…mostly when around other children his age or older. I picked him up from school more times than I care to count and he was kicked out of the summer YMCA program his first year there. It took several doctors before one picked up that it was maybe anxiety disorder which, in hindsight, did fit.