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against_the_clock
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20 Jan 2011, 2:56 am

Strattera has been the subject of a few threads from at least four years ago:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt615.html
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt10368.html

And has been mentioned positively in my helpful medications thread
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt146683.html

I have AS and ADD (diagnosed) and I have been on Strattera for four days (in addition to Clonidine which I started earlier) and so far I have experienced:
Anxiety,
Less sleep,
Increased blood pressure,
Faster heart rate,
More trouble finding things I just put down (I guess short term memory).

However all these side effects are decreasing in severity the longer I take it (except for no noticeable difference with short term memory issues which could be from lack of sleep)

I was wondering if there are other people who have taken this and what your experiences are, long term and short term. Please post, and I will post back here in about a month or so with my final assessment of it. Thanks.



ElfMusic
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20 Jan 2011, 5:11 am

Strattera, unlike stimulant drugs, takes weeks (I would estimate about six in my case) before it really works the best. Usually a physician will start you out at half the recommended for your size and increase it every couple of weeks until you reach the full dose.

It has definitely helped me in terms of sensory processing, and somewhat with mood regulation. Two examples are that driving is much easier for me now, and I can follow faster stimuli like hockey games and keep track of what's happening on the screen.

Some of the side effects I had when I was first starting out included increased sleeping with vivid, odd dreams, and I noticed temperature changes more (I wear pants and long sleeves year round, and am not usually bothered by anything above freezing, and might not notice until someone asks me "aren't you hot/cold?")

One thing I wish someone had told me ahead of time is that it's a good idea to increase the usual amount of fiber as you adjust to Strattera. Prunes are your friend.

If you haven't started to feel improvements a month into it, it might not work for you. I hadn't experienced increased blood pressure, and you should be careful about that. Probably wait until you know your bp is back to normal to go to the next dosage level . Strattera is the only psych med I have been on, so I can't say how it really compares to other meds.



pensieve
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20 Jan 2011, 5:22 am

But it's not supposed to raise your heartbeat!

6 weeks? Cor blimey! (apologies to any UK forumers).

I can't take Ritalin or Adderal because they raise my heartbeat. Strattera was my only hope.

Hopefully your symptoms will decrease as you get used to it.

Ritalin makes me drowsy, sore in the neck and arms/legs, shaky, emotionally dead inside oh then I get some focus.


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TechnicalPacifist
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20 Jan 2011, 5:38 am

I'm pretty sure that's what I'm using ( :lol: I'm not good with names )

I have ADHD/AS as well, and for me there's been zero negative effects. I've become less anxious, calmer and better at concentrating since I got started, which was 'bout half a year ago.



against_the_clock
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20 Jan 2011, 8:32 am

Oh forgot to mention please post your conditions and other medications that you are taking along with strattera as well.

I know this still won't make it scientific but it just gives me comfort to hear other personal (anecdotal) stories from people and I think others will feel the same who read this thread in the future.



pgd
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20 Jan 2011, 10:06 am

against_the_clock wrote:
Strattera has been the subject of a few threads from at least four years ago:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt615.html
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt10368.html

And has been mentioned positively in my helpful medications thread
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt146683.html

I have AS and ADD (diagnosed) and I have been on Strattera for four days (in addition to Clonidine which I started earlier) and so far I have experienced:
Anxiety,
Less sleep,
Increased blood pressure,
Faster heart rate,
More trouble finding things I just put down (I guess short term memory).

However all these side effects are decreasing in severity the longer I take it (except for no noticeable difference with short term memory issues which could be from lack of sleep)

I was wondering if there are other people who have taken this and what your experiences are, long term and short term. Please post, and I will post back here in about a month or so with my final assessment of it. Thanks.


---

Assorted thoughts about Strattera. Historically, the single classification of medicines used to treat ADHD is the central nervous system stimulants - alerting agents (such as coffee, caffeine compounds, Ritalin, Dexedrine, Adderall and so on)(no cures). These stimulants are closely tied to temporarily changes in the ability to pay attention, focus, and concentrate (no cures). These medicines work very quickly (often the same day they are tried). Strattera is a non-stimulant and a fairly new drug which is described as taking weeks to work (if it ever does). There cases where Strattera appears to work in some way for a number of weeks/whatever, then all of a sudden some unusual side-effects start which, in some cases, lead to the gradual withdrawal and discontinuation of the medicine. Strattera is not associated with improvements in the ability to pay attention which are associated with the other medicines mentioned above so it is not viewed as being the first choice for persons who have paying attention difficulties (my understanding)/the other drugs mentioned above are the first choice drugs to try. Again, that's my understanding. It's very clear that a lot of doctors are more comfortable prescribing Strattera since there is less paperwork involved (Strattera is not considered a controlled drug). The easiest medicinal approach to manage is monotherapy (one medicine only). Two or more medicines at one time is polytherapy and it becomes more difficult to figure out what is going on/what one medicine is doing/what the other medicine is doing/drug interactions/side-effects and so on. Using a written drug diary from day one is a way to very slowly figure out what is going on/what is working and what is not working. Drugs which are said to take weeks to work (if they do) can be very difficult to evaluate since so much of the outcome is based upon a promise so to speak on day one which implies some sort of guaranteed improvement in a month or so/whatever. Sometimes a benefit can be seen in a month or so later, sometimes not, but it seems to be a kind of murky process. Regarding ADHD (paying attention challenges, processing challenges, memory challenges), two books to consider reading are the How To (understand) Hyperactivity book (1981) about ADHD Inattentive by C. Thomas Wild and A Remarkable Medicine Has Been Overlooked book by Jack Dreyfus. Words: sustained attention, paying attention, attention span, inattention, alertness, unalertness, attentiveness, arousal, wakefulness, distractible, focus, concentration, memory, processing, coffee, caffeine, Tirend, NoDoz, Bonine, Dilantin, modern nutrition, hidden food additives, central auditory processing disorder, dyspraxia, and so on. The two books mentioned (Dreyfus, Wild) can provide insights into symptoms of ADHD here and there (no cures at all). Other words: cognition, perception, sleep challenges like sleep apnea, petit/absence/TLE/complex partial, brain injuries, sports concussions, neurotransmitters, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, reticular formaton of the brainstem, surrounding areas, midbrain and frontal tracts, feedback to cerebellum, 12 pairs - cranial nerves, Awakenings (movie), Parkinson's, etc. Finding the right medicine for neurological challenges such as the many epilepsies and the four ADHDs (2011) is kind of a crap shoot. It can take weeks, months, even years to find the right med (aka an effective medicine) in some cases.



pgd
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20 Jan 2011, 10:51 am

ElfMusic wrote:
Strattera, unlike stimulant drugs, takes weeks (I would estimate about six in my case) before it really works the best. Usually a physician will start you out at half the recommended for your size and increase it every couple of weeks until you reach the full dose.

It has definitely helped me in terms of sensory processing, and somewhat with mood regulation. Two examples are that driving is much easier for me now, and I can follow faster stimuli like hockey games and keep track of what's happening on the screen.

Some of the side effects I had when I was first starting out included increased sleeping with vivid, odd dreams, and I noticed temperature changes more (I wear pants and long sleeves year round, and am not usually bothered by anything above freezing, and might not notice until someone asks me "aren't you hot/cold?")

One thing I wish someone had told me ahead of time is that it's a good idea to increase the usual amount of fiber as you adjust to Strattera. Prunes are your friend.

If you haven't started to feel improvements a month into it, it might not work for you. I hadn't experienced increased blood pressure, and you should be careful about that. Probably wait until you know your bp is back to normal to go to the next dosage level . Strattera is the only psych med I have been on, so I can't say how it really compares to other meds.


----

ElfMusic posted above: It has definitely helped me in terms of sensory processing, and somewhat with mood regulation. Two examples are that driving is much easier for me now, and I can follow faster stimuli like hockey games and keep track of what's happening on the screen. --- ElfMusic - This kind of temporarily improved visual tracking (not a cure)(following a bouncing ball above the words to a song on a movie screen or the arc of a football/the path of a baseball)(sustained attention/more accurate perception of motion) is also described in the How To (understand) Hyperactivity book (1981) about ADHD Inattentive by C. Thomas Wild; the temporary improved visual tracking is due (per the How To book) to FDA approved medicines (Tirend, NoDoz, Bonine). Wild reported that the Bonine would temporarily improve his ability to sail a sailboat on San Francisco Bay (aka temporary improvement in sensory integration). The How To book can provide insights here and there to the large area of ADHD: paying attention - processing - memory challenges (not a cure).



eatingcereal
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20 Jan 2011, 11:28 am

Strattera is an NRI. In the past I have taken Effexor, which is an SNRI that did wonders for my attention, concentration, and processing speed. Unfortunately, it came with negative side effects that I couldn't bear any longer. I've been trying to get on Strattera for a number of weeks now, but it looks like I'll finally have the opportunity to give it a try within the month. If interested, I can post week-by-week results in this or another thread.



devark
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20 Jan 2011, 11:31 am

Took it for a week and couldn't tolerate the side effects. Headaches, hot and cold (like my body couldn't control its temp), tingling all over my body, anxiety, sleeping problems, sexual dysfunction, real strange thoughts that didn't make sense (so thought disorder I guess?), and ringing in my ears.

I was started on 40mg, which is probably to high, but these side effects were no joke, they made me miserable and when I told my doctor about them she told me to stop right away.

::edit::

I have AS and ADD diagnosed, I also have quite a few symptoms of focal seizures and PTSD


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eatingcereal
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20 Jan 2011, 12:10 pm

devark wrote:
Took it for a week and couldn't tolerate the side effects. Headaches, hot and cold (like my body couldn't control its temp), tingling all over my body, anxiety, sleeping problems, sexual dysfunction, real strange thoughts that didn't make sense (so thought disorder I guess?), and ringing in my ears.

I was started on 40mg, which is probably to high, but these side effects were no joke, they made me miserable and when I told my doctor about them she told me to stop right away.

::edit::

I have AS and ADD diagnosed, I also have quite a few symptoms of focal seizures and PTSD

40mg was too high to start with. Many of the side effects you mentioned wear off not long after the first week. It sounds like your doctor made a hasty decision to pull you off the meds before they even had the chance to take full effect, but then again you should have likely started at a lower dose. I'm no doctor, but I've had a lot of experience with these types of medications.



against_the_clock
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20 Jan 2011, 12:52 pm

If anyone could post their week by week effects in this thread it would be great. I may stop taking strattera because although my rapid heart beat has started to subside somewhat, now I have this weird feeling in my heart beat.



against_the_clock
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21 Jan 2011, 9:11 am

Ok today is the best day so far. I feel almost totally normal, just a little jittery, my heart is doing almost no weird things, and my blood pressure is back down around 125/80 and I slept for 8 hours last night (where before I was getting 3 or 4). I've been on Strattera for a total of 6 days, (where I missed one day because I felt like I couldn't stand it anymore). It has been a ride and it was difficult to focus or remember things in school with this craziness going on, but now it has stabilized. My blood pressure is still not to where it was on Clonidine only (the top number was 110) and I may take a look into taking more Clonidine if it doesn't go back down. I love the feeling of having perfect blood pressure especially when I used to have a top number (systolic) of 135 or 140. I'll make anouther post at the next major change I experience.

update: Oh I should mention that so far it appears to be helping my touretts, as I only experience outburst in the morning before it kicks in and a little at night after it wears off. This is slightly odd though because I thought the main effects of the medication are very long lasting, i.e. the build up of dopamine in the pre-frontal cortex.



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21 Jan 2011, 6:25 pm

eatingcereal wrote:
devark wrote:
Took it for a week and couldn't tolerate the side effects. Headaches, hot and cold (like my body couldn't control its temp), tingling all over my body, anxiety, sleeping problems, sexual dysfunction, real strange thoughts that didn't make sense (so thought disorder I guess?), and ringing in my ears.

I was started on 40mg, which is probably to high, but these side effects were no joke, they made me miserable and when I told my doctor about them she told me to stop right away.

::edit::

I have AS and ADD diagnosed, I also have quite a few symptoms of focal seizures and PTSD

40mg was too high to start with. Many of the side effects you mentioned wear off not long after the first week. It sounds like your doctor made a hasty decision to pull you off the meds before they even had the chance to take full effect, but then again you should have likely started at a lower dose. I'm no doctor, but I've had a lot of experience with these types of medications.


Yeah...my early side effects were shaking, anxiety, a burning in the throat.

My long term side affects are hair loss, rapid heart beat, myoclonic and TLE seizures (includes paranoia and hallucinations), migraines, facial tics.

This was Ritalin however but still sometimes people just need to know when to stop taking it. Also, they mentioned they have focal seizures so it's not a good thing to be on medication that raises your heart beat when you have that. They also got tingling in their body which is what I get before a seizure.


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