Started Strattera Yesterday-- Need a Pep Talk

Go to www.ADHD.com medication board, lots of people there are on Stratt and are very knowledgeable. You will get lots of info and support.

I bet his symptoms are very very real, so please cater to them. They can be real stinky! You can expect a myriad of side effects, but hang in there, its all only temporary and will go away. Its well worth it! My son eats sleeps and grows on this stuff! What a concept in an ADD med! Those things alone are very theraputic to ADD.

Heres a list of common side effects and ways to be proactive in preventing them or lessening their severity;

lethargy-give the ramp up period at night/dinner for the first 2-3 weeks. You won’t see effectiveness anyway until then. Then you can move the dose to mornings

Head aches-Give the dose in two smaller doses a few hours apart instead of one big one. This is how the makers did it in the clinical trials, which were very successful, it is also recommended in the script specs.

Stomach ache- Make sure he takes it with a huge meal and top it off with a protein shake. This is advisable, always, not just for the ramp up period.

My son lost a little weight at first but gained it all back and then some in a few months. The biggest reason behind children failing on Strattera is that the parents didn’t do their homework and didn’t stick it out the full 4-6 weeks to see if it works. Know what to expect, know how to prevent the side effects, you’ll be very pleased at the outcome!

I too frequent that web site mom recommended. Here is the link directly to the forums, incase you aren’t good a navigating, (nothing personal mom, you know I love you! I’m just a little thorough crazed this morning…);

http://adhd.com/forumhead.html

Click under medications and read your brains out.

Thanks for the link… I also frequent that site.

Caren, your response was very helpful.

I asked his doctor about giving the dose at night (even printed out the summary of the polls that “rebelmom” did. But, for some reason, he wanted us to go ahead with the morning dose and let him know if there were any side effects.

I also went to the ADHD expert doc on WebMD (although I believe the site is sponsered by Lilly…). Even so, he said that a small percentage of children do have appetite suppression that persists. Thus, I immediately panicked when I saw my son’s appetite as less than normal yesterday.

We are going to hang in there with this, though, and give it at least the four-week trial everyone recommends…

My 6 year old son started Strattera at the end of May. We started at 18 mg in the morning 1 x a day. He did great but when we tried to increase it to 25 mg for better control of the ADD/ADHD he slept for 8 hours a day! I went back to the 18 mg for a few weeks and then tried again to up the dose. It wored but he lost his appetite and woke up a 4 am everyday.

I finally switched Dr.’s - going from a GP to a Ped. and the Ped, switched from the morning dose to an evening dose and I am happy to say he is sleeping thru the night and eating in the day. According to the Ped. Strattera claims that once it builds up in your blood stream it acts like a long acting drug and it will control your symptoms 24 hours a day. So far we are liking the effects of a before bed dose instead of a morning dose.

Dana

My almost 12 yr old began yesterday morning as well. The dr had mentioned a bedtime dose if tiredness occured but ds wanted to take it in the morning as that had been his routine with Adderall(we too are looking for a switch due to weight-he went from 61-71lbs over the summer off meds after being 61lbs for a full year and 1/2)

I homeschool and I noticed a lot of yawns but didnt specifically ask if he was tired. He also took a nap in the afternoon(fell asleep on the couch) and went to bed 15 min early without even my suggestion(I LIKE that part)

So, yes, I do believe he is tired and Id like to move the dose to bedtime

The ped said she has not seen the appetite suppression in her practice with Stratters, but there are still enough examples across the board that warrant it being mentioned in the literature

My guy ate normally yesterday

I am overweight and took Meridia a few years back-I lost over 30 lbs. I dont know if its still available but it was originally designed as an antidepressant. It just didnt do as well as the others anti-ds out there so was not profitable. But it was noted that patients lose weight on it. So the makers marketed it as a weight loss drug. I found it reduced cravings-I was still hungry, but I could eat an apple instead of having to ‘have’ something salty, for example.

Perhaps the appetite suppression Strattera shows is more of that type-cravings, not overall appetite

BTW, meridia is identical to one of meds(cant recall name) given to curb smoking-different color, different name, same drug. They just dont want anyone to know its an antidepressant ;)

marycas, good luck on the Strattera. I hope you get the good results that many of us are getting.

I’m the original poster, and I just wanted to update what’s been going on with us.

My 14 year old, 105 lb. son has been on the Strattera now for about eighteen days, the first four days on 25 mg. and the last ten days on 40 mg.

The appetite problem didn’t last for more than the first day or two, and my son is eating normally now. Because of the sleepiness at school, our ped switched him to taking the dose at bedtime for a few days. Last weekend we switched back to the am dose. He is still a bit sleepy but probably not much more so than he always is, having to be at school by 7:45.

He had one more 40 mg. pill to take from the Strattera sample pack we were given. Yesterday, his ped opted to continue him on two more weeks of the 40 mg. dose rather than up it to the target dose of around 60 mg.

So, although we havent’ seen much in terms of improvement in school, at least he is not having the side effects that he always had with stims. And, at less than three full weeks of trying the Strattera, it is still early days…

[quote=”marycas”]

BTW, meridia is identical to one of meds(cant recall name) given to curb smoking-different color, different name, same drug. They just dont want anyone to know its an antidepressant ;)[/quote]

Actually, Mary,you may be thinking of wellbutrin, and antidepressant and Zyban, which is an antismoking treatment, both of which are the same medicine. The generic name for wellbutrin and zyban is buproprion. Meridia’s generic name is sibutramine. One interesting thing is that adderall was originally sold as a weight loss drug but so few people lost weight on it that they stopped selling it for weight loss.

AC, thanks for the update. It is good to hear that the side effects have disappeared. Hopefully, when he gets to target dose you will start seeing some good results. If he is not on target dose for 4 weeks at least, you will not see much in terms of attention/focus etc. If you start seeing mood problems, it means he has been on too low a dose for too long. So keep and eye on that, so that you can move him to his target dose.

Good luck.

Guest, you are correct! I am mixing up my meds.

Sorry

Thanks Mom :)

By mood problems, can you be more specific? It’s difficult to tell because he’s 14 and a drama king to begin with. How will I know if I’m seeing just typical teenage behavior or something medication induced?

[quote=”AC”]Thanks Mom :)

By mood problems, can you be more specific? It’s difficult to tell because he’s 14 and a drama king to begin with. How will I know if I’m seeing just typical teenage behavior or something medication induced?[/quote]

This is a difficult one to figure out (especially for teenagers). All I can say is, if the moods are not consistent with his nature and if it occured when he started Strat. Too low a dose, a younger child could be whinny, but a teenager would probably be rude, defiant and it might be over very minor things they get upset over etc. On too high a dose, you could get rages. You know your child best, if it doesn’t feel right and seem to be something he cannot control is how I would suspect it is med induced.

By the way AC, you can get lots of info and support on Strattera at www.ADHD.com medication board. Rebelmom and I are over there most often.

Thanks, Mom. I also spend time on the ADD board…