Does strattera cause less anxiety than stimulants, or is this just the pharm company talking? Any personal experiences.:)

I don't have any personal experiences but I am wondering if you are now considering giving up on the Ritalin? How is the anxiety NZ? I remembered :)

Very good, you do have a good memory. When I take it I do feel a little anxious, i hate that feeling. However, the coffee and nicotine probably doesn't help either. LOL

Seriously, I probably should drop the coffee and chew.

I don't know about anxiety, but it calmed my temper.

Very good, you do have a good memory. When I take it I do feel a little anxious, i hate that feeling. However, the coffee and nicotine probably doesn't help either. LOL

Seriously, I probably should drop the coffee and chew.I got jittery drinking coffee with methylphenidate too! I practically gave up coffee after Concerta! Maybe that is a big part of the problem?

ritalin, coffee and nicotine that's three stimulants, probably not good ha.

I know a lot of people claim nicotine calms them down, but if you throw it on top of ritalin i's not so sure.

I smoke much less when medicated, perhaps you are stacking too many stimulants. Something to think about...I really hate knowing this is causing you anxiety dude!

I really need to quit the nicotine and coffee, only then will I really get a good measure of what the medicine is doing. To many variables, need to eliminate a few.:confused:

Thanks for the input.:)

Any time, wish I could be more helpful than I have been though...

Not only is strattera less likely to cause anxiety, I would say it can almost calm anxiety. I used to be so overstimulated at the end of the day of work I would have to come home and vegetate doing something mindless. (And I actually like my work and coworkers-- just every day was a drain.) Now I come home without that tight feeling in my throat and unsettled feeling through my chest and stomach. I'm much more relaxed in the afternoons and it makes me want to go out and enjoy myself more in the evenings instead of hiding in the house recovering.

Some might argue in the beginning the unsteadiness you go through when you're adjusting to strattera is like anxiety. I encourage everyone to try and ride it out though. That lasted a really short time with me and since then strattera has always been calming.

Not only is strattera less likely to cause anxiety, I would say it can almost calm anxiety.I'll relate this. Strattera helps me maintain focus right through things that would normally pique my anxiety buttons on a daily basis. Things like making eye contact with people while talking to them, I used to hate that but now am fully able to focus through it despite feeling the buttons being hit. Also writing, I used to have anxiety over writing things in a "retarded" sounding way but now I just write and the words flow freely. My writing got better because of being able to not care if something sounded stupid or not, I felt more freedom and so my writing somehow flourished, just as an example. Oh and sex. I'm well more able to focus on things like sex.

I've been on Strattera for a week. It INSTANTLY made me feel generally better. I stopped Adderall because it made me nervous, agitated and tweaked out. I seem to have ADD w/ anxiety. I now feel more calm and normal than ever...but so far it's only mildly helped me to be on-task. So for me, it's done more for anxiety than for the primary ADD symptoms.

Strattera made my anxiety and irritability worse.. but then again I do also have BPD that has anger/irritation attached to it so that may be why it doesn't help me. However, since adding Tenex (mostly to control the high bp caused by the Strattera) That has calmed my anxiety, impulsive bahaviors and irritability a lot. IF I can just get used to the Tenex (on day 4 today) It's causing dizziness and makes me sleepy. Pretty much wipes out all of the Strattera benefits as I can't focus on anything unless I add a small dose of a stimulant Metadate CD 10mg, then I'm as I would like to call 'normal' and productive.

I can't and won't keep taking the Metadate CD though until I see my Dr again on the 25th. My daughter had a full bottle 10mgs (minus the 4 pills she took) before she had a reaction to it and had to be switched to short acting Ritalin 5mg. Yesterday I was so out of sorts with the Tenex/Strattera and HAD to get some work done for a client that I tried 2 of them 20mgs and in 30 minutes I felt calm, yet functional and focused. A very productive day. But.. like I said, I can't and won't do that again without it being my own script.

I find it very calming. I've always had anxiety problems, but Strattera's completely removed all my feelings of anxiety. It leaves me very chilled out, but unfortunately it's an unpleasant, depressed, tired sort of chill-out, where I feel completely drained of energy and motivation and hate every moment of it. Everything becomes a horrible chore in that state, and I can't find interest in anything. I'm looking forward to coming off it.

Man, PeterMac...

When I read your last post, I thought "wow, PeterMac is about to say ONE good thing about Strattera, maybe there is still hope!" hehe. Well, from my perspective, if Strattera has been a completely negative experience for you, I'd say it's one of two things:

1. Maybe the negativity you feel about it breeds more negativity and as you curse Strattera it simply blocks your capacity to feel any positive difference it causes. Maybe flipping the coin and asking yourself 'what symptoms did Strattera fix' might enhance your experience with it.

OR:

2. It's the wrong drug for you.

Either way, if you're looking forward to coming off it and you don't feel any positive aspect to it, then get thee to a doctor ASAP and get off it sooner than later :) Good luck with that, and keep us posted.

To answer the question, I find that Strattera has IMMENSELY reduced my anxiety / panic. I would often get anxious for absolutely no reasons. Like, no stresses, no bad thoughts, nothing imminent or stressful, yet I would get a total physical reaction like panic / anxiety, but with no bad thoughts attached to it. SOOoo weird. Anyway, Strattera has singlehandedly wiped that aspect of me, and I'm very happy about that.

I've had a similar experience. I noticed an immediate calming of my anxiety. I felt like I could keep up with the world around me. I also noticed feeling comfortable talking and listening to others. I DO notice however that if I have a little caffeine - panic city! I completely avoid caffeine now.

Man, PeterMac...

When I read your last post, I thought "wow, PeterMac is about to say ONE good thing about Strattera, maybe there is still hope!" hehe. Well, from my perspective, if Strattera has been a completely negative experience for you, I'd say it's one of two things:

1. Maybe the negativity you feel about it breeds more negativity and as you curse Strattera it simply blocks your capacity to feel any positive difference it causes. Maybe flipping the coin and asking yourself 'what symptoms did Strattera fix' might enhance your experience with it.

OR:

2. It's the wrong drug for you.

Either way, if you're looking forward to coming off it and you don't feel any positive aspect to it, then get thee to a doctor ASAP and get off it sooner than later :) Good luck with that, and keep us posted.

To answer the question, I find that Strattera has IMMENSELY reduced my anxiety / panic. I would often get anxious for absolutely no reasons. Like, no stresses, no bad thoughts, nothing imminent or stressful, yet I would get a total physical reaction like panic / anxiety, but with no bad thoughts attached to it. SOOoo weird. Anyway, Strattera has singlehandedly wiped that aspect of me, and I'm very happy about that.Yes, it could be a nocebo effect I'm getting, just as you could be getting a placebo effect. While both effects can be quite powerful, I'm skeptical that the more physical side-effects I'm getting, like painful constipation and dry eyes that require the frequent application of eyedrops, are the result of my misgivings about this drug, and I suspect that the mental side-effects of fatigue, apathy etc are similarly pharmacalogically based, and I'd be quite surprised if the euphoria you're experiencing is a placebo effect, rather than a pharmacalogical one.

As for what it fixed, the anxiety for a start, by making me apathetic so that I don't care enough about anything to be anxious about it, and it improved my sexual response, which has always been rather frustratingly numb.

Option 2 is the one I'm going for; I think it's simply the wrong drug for me, and I'm looking forward to coming off it when I see my psychiatrist in a couple of days. Unfortunately, there's only 2 other ADHD drugs available in this country, so I'll be out of luck if neither of them prove suitable. That's part of why I'm still taking Strattera; the options are so limited that I had to make sure it really wasn't going to work, and the other part of it is so that the psychiatrist can assess my state on it first-hand.

It nice that you found something that works for you though. You seem really happy with it. Hopefully I'll find something that works for me.

I maybe should have not drank caffiene this morning...I usually don't have anxiety, but at a job interview this morning I was all but in panic mode.

I could feel my legs shaking and I was doing everything I could not to studder. =(

I know I got the job, but I HATED that feeling. It took all I had to keep from shaking so bad. (I have doubled up on my strattera taking 40 mgs int he morning and 40 mgs at night) Which is working like a charm for me if I can stay off the caffiene.

PeterMac has said this before I think and I'll elaborate - Strattera doesn't necessarily 'calm you down' as much as it makes you feel COMPLETELY apathetic.

In other words, the reason your anxiety goes away is because you really stop caring about nearly everything. I just felt dull most of the time I was on it.

Granted, it worked - it made more less 'hazy' and absentminded and more focuses, but it certainly was no miracle drug.

The way I see it, compared to stimulants is this:

Adderall (XR)
Pros - It only lasts for about 8 hours, It makes me feel more 'outgoing' and more focused

Cons - Appetite supression, heart rate fluctuation/'tweaking' feeling sometimes, crashing at the end of the day

Strattera
Pros - woke up feeling refreshed in the mornings, was able to pay attention in class, it is effective 24-7, Easy come down - no 'crash', generally more 'mild' effect and not as intense as stimulants - it felt like it was 'working in the background' most of the time

Cons - Urological stuff to boot (erectile disfunction, urinary flow, etc.), increased sense of apathy (i.e. everything became dull, no motivation, etc.), insomnia occasionally, excessive sweating

But, but, but, it's nice to stop caring about everything when you care way too much about stuff. The smallest things used to take me over the edge and put me in a panic state.

e.g. Let's say I just learned that my car is due for an oil change.

Unmedicated:
"oh no, I'm due but can't go tomorrow or the day after. I'll have to find someone to pick me up. What if I can't get a ride and I miss that meeting? Crap, maybe I should go next week, but I have a roadtrip this weekend and will put 1000 miles on it. NOOOOoo my warranty will be voided! They're going to say I don't take good care of my car! I'm going to have to prove to them that I do. So that means I'll have to fetch my old car care receipts. Where are those anyway? Some of them are in the glove box, some in my filing cabinet, some in the letter tray and some god knows where. How will I ever be able to sell my car without proof of maintenance? Did I just lose thousands in resale value? F*** if only I could just be more organized! It's not hard, what the hell is wrong with me. <hyperventilate, headache, panic>"

On Strattera:
Okay, oil change tomorrow morning and I'll just get to work late. <calm>


I'd rather not care. Caring sucks.

I think it's a matter of personal preference. I have a friend who really loves valium, since it stops her caring about things, and lets her be numb and chilled out, but I just get a bit tired and feel a bit crappy when I take it, and then get frustrated that I can't do the things I want to do because I'm too tired. I often feel like my life is going down the tube, and on Strattera it unsettles me that I don't care. It's a bit like having a broken leg while doped up on morphine; I know that something's very wrong and should be dealt with on an intellectual level, but my hindbrain hasn't caught on and keeps telling me to chill out and take a nap.

The friend who likes valium was also on dextroamphetamine for a while, but eventually she decided she prefered to be dopey and unstimulated and didn't renew her prescription when she moved. I'm very much the opposite; I'm always struggling to overcome fatigue and apathy, and much prefer to be alert and busy with things.

Did the doc prescribe stims? Sounds like you'd benefit with those. Sucks that you're in the UK though.

Oh wait, you didn't go yet. I hope you get stims.

I'll know in a few hours; I'm hoping for a stim, but I'll see what happens. It is rather sucky that there's so little choice here; I was talking to a friend who has Reynauld's syndrome, and she was saying she couldn't get any of the modern drugs to treat it here; just very old ones with horrible side-effect profiles. Apparently there's a lot of red tape and legal obstacles to off-licence prescribing here, and the NHS is quite conservative about adopting new drugs because of the cost. I don't know how much better things are with private care. It's surprising that they have Strattera; it's both new and about 10 times more expensive than dextroamphetamine.

For what its worth, I started splitting the dose in two about a week ago - doc doesn't know yet ;) . I take 40mg in the morning and 20mg in the evening. I noticed that taking an entire 60mg dose at once made me feel wierd - apathetic, doped up...etc. Splitting the dose smoothed things out a bunch and made the side effects almost unnoticable.

Do you have 40's and 20's or do you open the capsule?

I just have 40s - I take one in the morning and open one and empty it halfway in the evening. Once the side effects dwindle I will go to 40mg in the morning and 40mg in the evening - mostly so I don't have to open the capsul. I hear direct contact with Atomoxetine is bad for the eyes and esophagus.

The biggest difference I noticed was the consistancy of how I felt. Things felt smooth all day and whats strange is how much better I would stay asleep. On the 60s, I would start to feel the anxiety building by the afternoon. I would get shakey like I had nothing to eat all day. About 3AM every morning I would wake up with my heart racing and I couldn't go back to sleep. About an hour or so after taking it, I would feel really dopey for a couple of hours. I talked to my doc and he recommended to go back to 40mg which worked well, but I could tell that the effects were dwinding.

I figure I must metabolize this stuff quickly.

k, I was gonna say that the litterature says not to open up strattera capsules and to not touch the powder. Best be careful about that.

It's always funny looking at the material datasheets for things like this. Here's some stuff on Strattera (atomoxetine HCl):



<table bgcolor="#ffffa2" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="3">Emergency Overview</td> <td align="center" width="25%">http://ehs.lilly.com/msds/nfpa/nfpa310.gif

</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="4">Emergency Overview Effective Date: 04-Apr-2001

</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="4">
Lilly Laboratory Labeling Codes:</td></tr> <tr> <td width="25%">Health 3</td><td width="25%">Fire 1</td><td width="25%">Reactivity 0</td><td width="25%"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">
Primary Physical and Health Hazards: Not hazardous if intact. Corrosive (eyes). Nervous System and Heart Effects. </td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">
Caution Statement: Intact Atomoxetine Hydrochloride Tablets and Capsules are not considered to be a health hazard. The contents of Atomoxetine Hydrochloride Tablets and Capsules may cause burns or permanent tissue damage to the eyes. Effects of exposure may include tremors, nervousness, anxiety, nausea, headache, change in blood pressure, and increased heart rate.

</td></tr></tbody></table> Routes of Entry: Inhalation and skin contact.

Effects of Overexposure: Tablets and capsules are intended for human consumption under guidance of a physician. Based on animal/clinical data, atomoxetine hydrochloride may be harmful if ingested, may be fatal if inhaled, may cause burns or permanent tissue damage to the eyes, and is not expected to be irritating to the skin. Effects of overexposure to atomoxetine hydrochloride may include gastrointestinal effects (nausea, vomiting), fatigue, decreased appetite, dizziness, mood swings, insomnia, and increased blood pressure and heart rate. Rare cases of liver toxicity have been reported. Animal studies with atomoxetine hydrochloride have reported liver effects, dilated pupils, and tremors.



Section 4 - First Aid Measures
Eyes: Hold eyelids open and flush with a steady, gentle stream of water for 15 minutes. See an ophthalmologist (eye doctor) or other physician immediately. Immediate rinsing may prevent permanent damage.

Skin: Remove contaminated clothing and clean before reuse. Wash all exposed areas of skin with plenty of soap and water. Get medical attention if irritation develops.

Inhalation: Move individual to fresh air. Get medical attention if breathing difficulty occurs. If not breathing, provide artificial respiration assistance (mouth-to-mouth) and call a physician immediately.

Ingestion: Do not induce vomiting. Call a physician or poison control center. If available, administer activated charcoal (6-8 heaping teaspoons) with two to three glasses of water. Do not give anything by mouth to an unconscious person. Immediately transport to a medical care facility and see a physician.

Notes to Physician:
Atomoxetine - An airway should be established. Monitoring of cardiac and vital signs is recommended, along with appropriate symptomatic and supportive measures. Gastric lavage may be indicated if performed soon after ingestion. Because atomoxetine is highly protein-bound, dialysis is not likely to be useful in the treatment of overdose.

I'll know in a few hours; I'm hoping for a stim, but I'll see what happens. It is rather sucky that there's so little choice here; I was talking to a friend who has Reynauld's syndrome, and she was saying she couldn't get any of the modern drugs to treat it here; just very old ones with horrible side-effect profiles. Apparently there's a lot of red tape and legal obstacles to off-licence prescribing here, and the NHS is quite conservative about adopting new drugs because of the cost. I don't know how much better things are with private care. It's surprising that they have Strattera; it's both new and about 10 times more expensive than dextroamphetamine.
Man, that's an insightful post. As much as people in the US complain about not having 'universal gov't health care', one of the pluses to having a free market system is that it isn't so...limited.

I mean, I can go in to a doctor and get any kind of medicine I want practically (as the FDA has only rejected maybe one or two ADD medicines that are available elsewhere - i.e. we got Strattera but not Reboxetine/Edronax).

I hope you can get some Adderall or some other amphetamine Peter! It's going to seem like night and day compared to that Strattera you're taking;)

Sadly, we don't have Adderall here. The only things we have are Strattera, methyphenidate and dextroamphetamine. The NHS uses generics wherever possible, to keep the cost down, and manufactures some of it's own drugs. Bupropion (Wellbutrin) is available, but it's only licensed for smoking cessation, though that's not an absolute barrier to use in ADHD. The NHS has prescription charges too, so it's not entirely free; each item costs a flat fee of £6.65 ($12-13), although there are exemptions for young students, unemployed, pensioners, people with certain severe illnesses etc.

I did get dextroamphetamine though, which I'm pleased about, but the dose is pretty low; just 10mg.

Sadly, we don't have Adderall here. The only things we have are Strattera, methyphenidate and dextroamphetamine. The NHS uses generics wherever possible, to keep the cost down, and manufactures some of it's own drugs. Bupropion (Wellbutrin) is available, but it's only licensed for smoking cessation, though that's not an absolute barrier to use in ADHD. The NHS has prescription charges too, so it's not entirely free; each item costs a flat fee of £6.65 ($12-13), although there are exemptions for young students, unemployed, pensioners, people with certain severe illnesses etc.

I did get dextroamphetamine though, which I'm pleased about, but the dose is pretty low; just 10mg.
You need to immigrate over here to the states! That's one thing people would like to see here - immigrants that can actually speak English:rolleyes:.

Like me!

We're more common than you'd think. We blend in so well you have no clue we're immigrants.

Like me!

We're more common than you'd think. We blend in so well you have no clue we're immigrants.Oh I know how common you are, I was just remarking on the fact that there are so many immigrants now whom instead of taking the time to learn English like everyone else who has ever come to live here - they actually feel like we should cater to them and learn Spanish:eyebrow:.

Now, I have no problem with Spanish per se, porque yo puedo hablar espanol. But I think if you go to a new country you need to assimilate - learn the language, the culture, etc.:D

Absolutely I agree 100%.

I live in a city (pop. 150,000) with 70% hispanic (not counting the illegal ones), so spanish obviously has a huge influence. I went to Target or Home Depot (I forget which), asked a question and the employee did not know english and could not communicate with me! I was furious. I managed with my broken Spanish, but wow... not only are they not making an effort to learn english, but apparently our own companies are not even making an effort to hire people who speak english.

I found that to be offensive.

I like Sweden's immigration model. You have to spend 1 year in one of several immigration centers (you can't choose which) spread all over the country. You must attend and pass Swedish and culture/history courses. You are tested after one year. If you don't fit in, you're kicked out. Pretty extreme, but I like it :) Plus, it spreads out immigrants all over the country so that they blend in rather than creating self-sustained pockets where their own culture and language can survive.

Assimilation is necessary.