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Post by AmyJean on Jan 24, 2005 10:37:04 GMT -5
Beverly-
My son tried Strattera last summer. We tried for 9 weeks total, and it was a nightmare.
My son was moody, extremely irritable, defiant, and just plain unstable. His psychiatrist brought up the possibility of bi-polar disorder during this time. While I was very worried about the possibility, I refused to accept that theory since it seemed to me the medication was a more likely cause of the behavior.
He has been off Strattera now since last September. All signs of bi-polar disorder have diappeared. He is doing wonderfully on Adderal XR and has no mood issues anymore. He is happy and stable.
Please consider our experinece as you decide what to do for your son. Good luck.
Amy
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Post by Beverly on Jan 24, 2005 10:54:14 GMT -5
Thanks. I have been convinced since day one that the Stratttera that he started in February 2003 was the cause of the behavior that started in April 2003. Instead I get another dx, that does make perfect sense, but a complete refusal to take him off the meds. When we were in there last week, I tried to argue the point that an NRI and an SSRI together were not advisable. He told me that I was wrong and Strattera was not a norepinephrine reuotake inhibitor. I really thought I was going loopy trying to find other plausible explanations. This morning I went online and discovered that I am RIGHT. I would just take him off of it but I am afraid of side effects. I am trying to pull my thoughts together before I call because I do not want to sound loopier than I am right now.
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Post by AmyJean on Jan 24, 2005 11:03:58 GMT -5
One more comment. My son's psychiatrist, from day one, has been totally responsive to my concerns and wishes. If I said I did not want my son to start or continue on a particular medication (which I have done) - for whatever reason- he would listen to me and discuss other options immediately.
I know I am lucky to live in an area with an abundance of doctors, and you might not be so lucky. But perhaps if you tried, you could find another doctor willing to manage your son while he comes off the medications over an appropriate time period.
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Post by Mayleng on Jan 24, 2005 12:52:53 GMT -5
Beverly, find another psych. This one is just incompetent. Also if you were going to take him off the strattera, do it slowly ramp it down a little at a time, maybe reduce it every couple of days. I did not ramp down with my child, I just stopped completely (which they say you can do), but he was not on any other meds (SSRI) then, he had been on strattera for more than 9 months by then. You should printout the Ely Lilly stuff - especially the ones for Doctor's prescribing info and give it to the psych so he/she may educate himself and DO NOT HARM.
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Post by Beverly on Jan 24, 2005 13:40:23 GMT -5
The pediatrician wants nothing to do with taking him off of the stuff because he is not familiar with the Depakote and Zoloft combination with everything else. I am concerned that another psych won't want to take him off of it because it then looks like he is disagreeing with the first psych (something they don't seem to like to do). I am also concerned that everyone is going to decide that I just don't like the whole bipolar diagnosis and am grasping at straws, which I guess could be the case. The whole reason for the addition of the Strattera and the decreasing of the Adderall XR was weight gain...well it's been 11 months now and he has only gained 2 pounds!! Adding to that, he missed his night meds one night a couple of weeks ago (my fault and his) and he was agressive and what I can only describe as psychotic since he claims things happened that didn't. The psych tells me that missing one dose would not cause that kind of behavior (missed half his daily dose of Depakote and his entire daily doses of both Zoloft and Allegra) so what caused it then?
I know, the entire answer is to pressure this psych to test my theory and essentially take him off everything over a period of time, or find another psych that will.
The support I am getting here has been very helpful though I know you only see my side of the picture and not the whole picture (the psych's side).
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Post by Mayleng on Jan 24, 2005 14:02:04 GMT -5
Beverly, if the psych does not even know that strattera is a NRI, and goes ahead and prescribeds such strong medication, what does that tell you. I see it from both sides. If the combo of meds is not working and causing problems, then common sense says to find out what is causing the problem and/or change meds.
By the way, I hope he is checking your son's liver every few months because he is on two meds that could cause liver damage - Depakote and Strattera.
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Post by angel on Jan 24, 2005 14:20:57 GMT -5
I switched dr.s and it was the best thing that we ever did. The new dr. did not give us any problem about switching. He was supportive of our decision and thought that we had gone through unneccessary pain. I would not stick with a dr. that you do not feel is appropriate, for whatever reason. I waited too long, because of the same reasons that you are stating.
angel
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Post by Beverly on Jan 24, 2005 18:59:25 GMT -5
Mayleng-the psych did run a liver study in October along with a Depakote level. Everything was fine. Thanks again for all of the supprt. I am a single mom and the ex is useless, someone to sound off on is a good thing.
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Post by melmoel on Jan 25, 2005 12:24:10 GMT -5
Beverly, I would actually think it's a lot more likely that Zoloft is causing the problems than Strattera. NRIs in general are much less likely to precipitate bipolar symptoms than SSRIs are. Some kids can't take zoloft even with a mood stabilizer like depakote. I'd recommend trying the www.bpkids.org message boards -- they have a ton of info on bipolar disorder and medications. I agree w/ Mayleng -- I'd find another psych. Good luck! Melissa
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Post by sarah64 on Jan 25, 2005 16:58:04 GMT -5
Just my 2c's worth, my son was on Strattera for just over a year and was extremely moody and irritable for most of that, just in different degrees. We put some of it down to him turning 13. It did help in quite a lot of ways but the moods were unbearable for him as well as us. He's been off now since June 2005 and is doing better, no more mega moods. Be careful if you decide to take him off the med, some people have had extreme success with just going cold turkey, we tried it under the docs recomendation (if I remember correctly which I may not...) and the poor child fell apart, he was seeing and hearing things that weren't there, totally paranoid and beyond emotional, he was a wreck. We kept on with the cold turkey thinking it couldn't last too long but it lasted a few weeks.
Good luck, mine is finally off everything which is something I never thought I'd say. He may end up on an anti-anxiety med soon, I think he'd benefit but am loath to put him back on meds. Socially he still does very poorly but then he did on meds too.
Good luck again, this is a great place for support without judgement.
Sarah
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Post by tampagirl on Apr 25, 2005 21:05:14 GMT -5
I have a question. My daughter has started on Straterra (again!). We have been giving it at night as recommended on this sight. She did 4 days at 18 and is on day 2 of 25. We'll stay here for a total of 7 days and then go up to 35 (25 + 10 together). I have 2 questions: 1) when do we change to morning dosing; and 2) when we change do we give her the evening dose and then turn around and give her the morning dose when she wakes up or do we skip a day and then start in the morning? Thanks. Ann
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Post by Mayleng on Apr 26, 2005 6:41:38 GMT -5
You can convert her to morning dosing after she is "stable" on the target dose (ie. no side effects especially stomach pains or tiredness). I would convert after being on target for about a week. If you see side effects, change back to night dosing.
The Day before you convert to morning dosing, give the strattera to her at an earlier time ie. maybe 3 or 4 pm. Then give her the morning dose the next day.
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Post by brazos on Apr 30, 2005 9:49:19 GMT -5
Well to make a long story short on Wednesday night all heck broke loose at my house and I had a kid with a cut on his head from a rock. Seems the older two were mad about the cancer and the youngest thought it was a free for all. So I had to TD to the Doctor on Thursday, he is fine but the Dr and I tried to figure out how to increase TD's meds without paying an extra co pay on it.
The Doctor feels he needs more meds and so we thought if he wrote a script for 60 plus 40 and he needed 100 per day it would be covered, no such luck. So I called the HMO provider she got a prescription expert on and he could write a script for 25 times 4, which would be one copay.
So I will get that done on Monday, and take Hard Head for an increase also!
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Post by redfaun on May 3, 2005 19:40:52 GMT -5
I am new to the site. I am so happy that I found you. Reading the info on Strattera has been wonderful. My son just turned 7 (50 lbs) started on 10mg of Strattera about 6 weeks ago and had a significant improvement the following 3 weeks. So, when we went in for a checkup, the doctor decided not to boost the dosage (since he was doing well). A week later, his ability to sit still (hyperactivity) has come back. We gave it a week to see if it was just a couple of bad days but my husband and I now agree that he needs to have his dosage moved up. We made an appointment with his doctor for tomorrow. Before reading your info, I was grateful that the doctor has been taking a conservative stance with the dosage but now I think he was taking it a bit too slow. Thanks for opening my eyes. I was so scared that the Straterra was not working anymore and now I see that it's just a matter of upping the dosage. I am excited for my son. He deserves the best I can give him because he is such a neat kids.
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Post by Mayleng on May 3, 2005 20:39:25 GMT -5
redfaun and good luck with the strattera
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Post by redfaun on May 11, 2005 22:45:40 GMT -5
I read the info on another posting about not taking oj or the juices w/stimulates. Does that also hold true for strattera since it's not a stimulate?
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Post by Mayleng on May 12, 2005 6:47:58 GMT -5
There is no info saying not to take it with OJ. But I always prefer to give meds with water just to be safe.
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Post by redfaun on May 13, 2005 12:43:58 GMT -5
Yes, I also have my son take the med w/water (he's a huge water drinker). However, it's very common to have fresh squeezed orange juice available in my home and I just want to feel ok with him having some fresh oj w/breakfast.
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Post by tampagirl on May 16, 2005 8:23:12 GMT -5
My daughter has been at her target dose of 40 mg for one week (she weighs 50 lbs). Its my understanding from reading the posts that we should give it 4 weeks at target dose to see the full effects. Is that correct? Her impulsiveness was almost immediately under control from 2 weeks after starting Straterra. However, her attention is nonexistent. Is that unusual? Thanks. Ann
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Post by Mayleng on May 16, 2005 8:39:59 GMT -5
It does take 4 to 6 weeks on Target dose to see consistent results. However, my son was on strattera for 9 months, and while it did help his attention it was not enough for school work in his case. The attention was improvment was about 70% whilst it is about 90% on stimulants.
So give it time.
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Post by tampagirl on May 16, 2005 9:05:35 GMT -5
Thanks Mayleng. I'm trying to be patient. Its a shame that she had so many side effects with the stimulants because they were wonderful as far as the attention went. Ann
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Post by Eliserose on May 16, 2005 14:40:14 GMT -5
Hi, My 8 yo dd tried Straterra last summer because we wanted to try something that wouldnt supress her appetite so much. We gave it a good 8 weeks but found that for us it never helped with attention. It did work well for her mood, made her much nicer to live with and it helped somewhat in taking the edge off of her hyperactivity. We finally went back to the stims but we are considering a trial with stims and strattera together. It seems that a lot of folks have success with both together. Good luck to you. I hope you find sucess with Strat!
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Post by tampagirl on May 22, 2005 16:50:21 GMT -5
I wanted to get back with an update. My dd has been on 40mg of Straterra (she weighs 50 lbs) for two weeks now. The last two days she seems to have taken a couple of steps back. The attention still seems to be nonexistent, but her moodiness and impulsiveness which was under control seems to have started to rear their ugly head. Its almost like the rebound she had on stimulants. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should we decrease her dose or increase it or just stay the course? Thanks. Ann
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Post by Mayleng on May 22, 2005 17:17:15 GMT -5
What is her target range - Minimum and Maximum target dose?
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Post by tampagirl on May 22, 2005 17:36:35 GMT -5
Mayleng -
Her target range would be a low of 27 or a high of 40. ann
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Post by Mayleng on May 22, 2005 18:14:48 GMT -5
If you find the the mood issues continue, than try lowering it by 5mgs to 35mgs and see if it helps. You need to "play" within the range to find the right one for her. I am surprised the doctor started at the Highest dose, rather than the minimum target dose and working your way up.
OK, I am not really surprised, they just prescribed what is convenient ie. the dosages comes in 10mgs, 18mgs, 25mgs and 40mgs etc. So they don't think to give dosages that is not in the standard dosages.
Try 35 mgs (one 10mg pill + one 25mg pill) and see if it is better.
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Post by tampagirl on May 22, 2005 21:33:06 GMT -5
That sounds like a good idea. Naturally, she is on vacation until the 31. Oh, well. Ann
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Post by Tater on May 29, 2005 9:06:39 GMT -5
This thread has been my Strattera bible, but now I have a question that I hope someone will have advice on.
My son is 8 and weighs 74 pounds (he was 81 when starting Strattera 4/16/05). He is ADHD combined, has general anxiety disorder, tics and sensory processing difficulties.
We ramped up as recommended and saw a nice improvement when he hit the 25mg. He has had all the possible side effects...most started weaning off except for the headaches and tics (he had not had any tics since last summer while trying Ritilin).
While on the 40mg (low target dose), we weren't seeing much benefit...in fact he was much more weepy than before. After being on the 40mg for about 5-6 weeks he started getting very irritible, defiant and just plain nasty. For 3 days straight he hit kids at school that he was angry with. He hasn't done this for a VERY long time. He even said that he was feeling very angry all the time.
Common sense tells me NOT to up his dose if he is this nasty at 40mg. Any advice?
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Post by Mayleng on May 29, 2005 10:29:24 GMT -5
Tater, you need to find the right dosage for him, 40mgs is his minimum and 60mgs is his highest. On too low a dose he can get mood issues (anger, irritation etc) as well as on too high a dose. Try increasing by 5mgs at a time to see which is the right dose for him. You have between 40mgs to 60mgs to fine tune and get the right dose for him.
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Post by Tater on May 29, 2005 10:39:24 GMT -5
Thanks for your reply Mayleng.
As you can imagine, I'm scared to death to increase the dose. He had this same reaction when on Effexor last year. While reading through this thread I find that both Strattera and Effexor are SNRIs.
I decided to pull out my Dr Amen recommendations that I got in 2003...it was one of those on-line survey things. On there I find that my son seems to have an excess of Norepinephrine based on the information I gave.
With that in mind, wouldn't a SNRI be bad for him?
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