apologies if this has been asked.

when my doctor and i were deciding on a treatment plan, he mentioned that strattera was an actual fix, that my dopamine levels would permanently move to normal. but as i have been reading this forum, it seems to be implied, consistently, that ADHD is incurable.

what am i missing? i may have misheard him. my attention issues are magnified as i try to stay on track with speech.

edit: according to wikipedia, strattera only affects norepinephrine?

thanks,
zach.

Well most doctors are "amphetamine phobic" which means the people who actually can be rx'd stimulant meds are on way too low of a dose and they are on either Adderall XR or Concerta, due to their "lessened abuse potential" and yes I believe that Long acting meds are the easy wasy out (the "once daily" dream) and they arent as effective alone but I have to reflect on the history of ADHD and in 1937 there was an accident of some sort which allowed hyperactive boys to consume Dexedrine or Benzedrine, I believe and so far statistically, all I have seen as far as clinical trials are centered around "abuse liability in stimulant dependent adults" and most of the time they get the 2 week rx deal and the rest of the "junkie-phobe" treatment. I was a benzodiazepine addict due to my "poof" diagnosis of anxiety disorder and I take the same schedule of Dexedrine and have been from ritalin to methamphetamine on the prescribed med scale and Dexedrine is considered one with the highest abuse potential... but the reality is that people's brains are different and strattera made me nuts... I remember the "non stimulant Strattera" commercials and thinking "there is a god" in 3 days I was so manic I felt like "god"... Amphetamines make me want to sleep... Being an addict in recovery shouldn't be a factor (i.e. lack of control over impulses) when the underlying problem isn't any drug

Strattera is an NRI, theres absolutely no dopamine action.

Print out some material and call him on his bluff.

I think D.B. Cooper is wrong. Here's a quote from the Strattera website:

http://www.strattera.com/hcp/how_strattera_works.jsp

"Effects of atomoxetine in rat brain neurotransmission
In rat studies, the extracellular concentrations of norepinephrine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were increased by atomoxetine. Atomoxetine increased dopamine to about the same magnitude in the PFC. However, atomoxetine did not increase dopamine (DA) in the DA & DA transporter rich subcortical areas (nucleus accumbens and striatum)."

Scientists don't understand everything about how Strattera works. But they do know Strattera increases usable dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) --an area that is supposed to be important for attention and executive function, and the most important for ADHD. Strattera also increases usable norepinephrine levels in the PFC. (The confusing part is that Strattera is a reuptake inhibitor. It keeps norepinephrine and dopamine from getting taken into the cells, leaving them in the space between the cells where they are useful for helping transmit signals between cells.) The theory is that in the PFC, the same pathways that move dopamine move norepinephrine. So with Strattera, the PFC gets more of both to use. The other parts of the brain don't share this feature, they have specific transporters for each neurotransmitter. And the fact that the PFC is special is good, because higher dopamine levels in the other parts of the brain (the quote above mentions the nucleus accumbens and striatum) result in euphoria and can cause addiction. Cocaine is a good example of this. Lesson learned: Strattera affects dopamine in SOME PARTS of the brain.

As far as your doc's claim that Strattera will fix things for good, that's not backed up in the research. Once you stop taking the drug, norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake in the PFC will probably go back to the ADHD state you were in before. I have seen speculation about how long it will take, but I don't think anyone really thinks the effect is permanent or Strattera is a cure.