I started Strattera three days ago 40 mg a day. Side effects have been noticeable, but manageable. The biggest one is that I wake up in the morning and I'm awake. I'm never able to do that. So far, I'm happy. I have always been all over the place - my house is a wreck because I can't focus or concentrate long enough to get things picked up. I have eighty projects started at once - I need to finish a baby quilt for my sister-in-law's baby shower next weekend, and I've known about it for months. But I've not been able to get myself to sit down and work on it lately. I'm tired, so I'm allowing myself to handle the tiredness (I'm currently looking for a new job, so I can nap in the afternoons).

Tonight, I am incredibly proud of myself. Why? Because I cooked - I made fried green tomatoes, and I cleaned the kitchen up as I went along. I know it sounds like such a tiny thing, but it's true. It's a huge deal for me. I cleaned the counters and the stove as I went along, put everything away. My kitchen is neat. Go figure. My husband's noticed that I'm calmer and I don't jump all around from subject to subject. That's a huge deal right there.

So this is a roundabout way of me asking about creativity. I'm just wondering. I'm a writer. Again, I have unfinished projects. I've been hoping that getting focused will help me finish my novel. But I'm also worried that I'll lose my creativity. I can live with a lot of things, but I don't know if I can live without that. I like feeling calmer and smoother - I like feeling like I'm focused enough to handle life, but I don't know if I'm going to lose my creative streak.

How did you find it? Did you lose your creative streak, or did the Strattera help you maintain it while being more focused on your work?

Thanks!:)

Amanda

But I'm also worried that I'll lose my creativity. I can live with a lot of things, but I don't know if I can live without that.
Why would you worry about that? That doesn't happen.

Creativity doesn't mean shi.... uh, it doesn't mean much without the ability to take those ideas and turn them into something tangable. Strattera gave me that ability.

Why would you worry about that? That doesn't happen.

Creativity doesn't mean shi.... uh, it doesn't mean much without the ability to take those ideas and turn them into something tangable. Strattera gave me that ability.
Because I don't know if it's a side effect. I've been doing a lot of reading, but haven't found much about that.

I'm hoping that remaining focused will allow me to work a little faster and not leave things unfinished, but if my creativity's gone, that ability, to quote you :D , doesn't mean sh**.

I can produce, it just takes a VERY long time to do so. Hell, if I can produce quicker, this could end up being good all the way around.

Amanda

Because I don't know if it's a side effect.

Nope. You'll still be you, just better.

Nope. You'll still be you, just better.
That's about a 300% improvement right there.

Heck, as long as I can remember where I put my keys, that's 100% improvement.

Amanda

Well then, welcome to the club! Hopefully membership will be worth what you paid for it.

Dosent hurt mine. If my meds ever did I would stop, quit my job and be secure in the knowledge that I can do something that no one in the world can do.(that goes for everybody who is creative, no one can do what you do and the persuite of truth thru art is more important than anything in this world)

Regarding meds and creativity, there is an excellent book that disucsses how meds can effect, for good and bad, a writer's (and other's) creative output.

It's called The Midnight Disease : The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain by Alice Weaver Flaherty. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author-exact=Alice%20Weaver%20Flaherty/002-2851031-0883228)

It gets fairly detailed about areas of the brain. So far, I've found it a fascinating read.

Hope that helps,
John

The Midnight Disease : The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain by Alice Weaver Flaherty.

It gets fairly detailed about areas of the brain. So far, I've found it a fascinating read.

The following is an excerpt from a reader's review of this book on Amazon:

Hypergraphia, about which I knew nothing prior to reading this book, is the medical term for an over-powering desire to write. Writing, Dr. Flaherty tell us, is the domain of the cerebral cortex, but the desire to write is the domain of the limbic system -- the hypothalamus and the structures of the temporal lobe. It is altered temporal lobe activity that is associated with creativity. On the other hand, frontal lobe processes are involved in writer's block.


I haven't read the book, but I may have to try to find it! Sounds so interesting!

There is always debate whether ADHD contributes to or detracts from an individual's overall creativity. I personally think it detracts from creativity overall. That's why I was intrigued by the reviewer's mention that "frontal lobe processes are involved in writer's block" since I understand that ADHD is a dysfunction of the frontal lobe.

Has anyone read this book?

I'm less imaginative on Strattera and imagination really boosts my creativity. But, all the ideas I'd ever get would come out of context, be cool to toy with the idea for a while and be forgotten soon enough. With the meds I can take the idea and run with it.

As for music creativity... that's gone downhill since medicating. I think anyway, but I'm not completely sure yet that the meds are to blame.

I'm a writer. Again, I have unfinished projects. I've been hoping that getting focused will help me finish my novel. But I'm also worried that I'll lose my creativity.


I'm a writer as well, and have found that meds (when they are working -- another issue...sigh) help enormously. Not every step in the writing process requires creativity, and some aspects are downright tedious (copy editing, proof-reading). Unmedicated, as soon as I hit a chore that bores me, I put it aside, and WEEKS can go by before anything gets done. Meds help with that. They also help me get the household stuff done and out of the way, so I'm not sitting trying to write, distracted by thinking about all the other things I need to get done.

I haven't noticed that they interfere with the more creative parts, but if you find they do -- there is no rule that says you have to take them every day. Take an "idea generating" break for a few days, then go back on them so you can put all those great ideas to more efficient use!

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Oops. Just noticed that I replied to Amanda, who first posted this in '05, and appears to be long gone.


Oh, well. I think it's an interesting thread, and deserves to be revived. (Thanks, ProcrastN8R!)
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yep, I agree. It's a balance between creativity and horsepower. Luckily we can control it by popping a pill or not. :)

I'm a closet musician/guitarist. I notice on Strattera I have a better ability to stay with a creative vein and actually finish without it sounding like it was composed on a dart board. My music is more logical - if that makes sense. I will say that the first few weeks on meds, my mind felt like it was in slowmotion and I worried that the creative juices would dry up; felt like work to write music. Once my brain settled out (about a month into the med) I felt like my music flowed so much better than before. Probably because the med takes away the zillion distractions.

For what its worth. :)

Is anyone more the visual artist - photographer, painter, etc? I'm a photographer and have also been concerned about my creativity & out-of-the-box idea-making taking a downward turn. I can see how Strattera would help finish the tedious part of the art world, but what has been your personal experiences with the actual idea creating part? Anyone?