Hiya

I am on my 4th week of Stattera.

For 2 weeks I was on 40mg. Now I am on 50mg. Due to go to 60mg next week.

Last week I was told to go for an ECG, just to check heart was ok with Strattera. My resting heartbeat was 100.

I was told to have it checked one week later. It was also said it was unlikely to be the Strattera causing this :S

So had heart rate measured again yesterday - resting rate is 100 bpm still. The nurse who took it, and the local doctor advised against going to 60mg for the time being and to drop it to 40mg. I still have to speak to my psych who prescribes it.

So I have a bit of a dilemma.

The drug really helps with my adhd. vs. My heart rate is overwhelming me whenever I move about.

I am really quite gutted and am going to ask to go down to 40mg as I cant live with the overwhelming feeling.

Although part of me is thinking stick it out - this side effect might pass.

However its keeping me from doing most things and just feels wrong.

What would you do? Stick it out, go up to 60mg or put your foot down and say you want to go back to 40mg?

Thanks for reading : )

Edit. BTW .. First thing in the morning, before taking, the rate is about 70 and at night as it wears off it rests at about 80.
I know this drug is supposed to be more of a constant thing but I do feel it kick it and wear off throughout the day. But most of the day when I am awake its 100.

I would think that is a pretty high resting rate. I would follow the local doctors advice and between the two of them, and hopefully come up with a solution or a different drug to try.

Am going to go to 40mg and see if it calms down :)

Let us know how that works, good luck

My resting heart rate is normally 60, but on a high dose of stimulants (dexamphetamine) it goes to 100. It's weird that it overwhelms you. 100 is a fairly 'normal' heart rate (but it is above average, so if you're obese, there's your problem). Hope you work it out.

You could try an NDRI. Strattera is only an NRI. Basically my thinking is an NDRI would give you all the benefits of an NRI (and then some) but with less of the physical stimulation. Based on the assumption an NDRI like dexamphetamine produces less noradrenaline than Strattera (which produces only noradrenaline).

'Course, if you're taking an NRI because you can't handle NDRI's (addiction, Tourette's, etc), then that's a difficult situation.

I've also heard Strattera takes a longer time to adjust to than NDRI's like amphetamine - not uncommon for the period to be a week or two. Maybe it is that will peter out.

Just some thoughts. As always consult your doctor before your make an important decision about your health.

Hey! I have always had a resting pulse in the 95-105 range. When I was put on Adderall it went up to 130. I was put on Toprol to slow my heartbeat. The funny thing is..it lowered my anxiety so much!

I still would ask your Dr (obviously ;)) but maybe since you know the strattera 60 is working, you could see if you could add a small dose of something like Toprol.

I am interested to hear what happens because my doc said that if my rate didn't go down he wanted to try Strattera!

Good Luck! :)

My resting heart rate is normally 60, but on a high dose of stimulants (dexamphetamine) it goes to 100. It's weird that it overwhelms you. 100 is a fairly 'normal' heart rate (but it is above average, so if you're obese, there's your problem). Hope you work it out.

You could try an NDRI. Strattera is only an NRI. Basically my thinking is an NDRI would give you all the benefits of an NRI (and then some) but with less of the physical stimulation. Based on the assumption an NDRI like dexamphetamine produces less noradrenaline than Strattera (which produces only noradrenaline).

'Course, if you're taking an NRI because you can't handle NDRI's (addiction, Tourette's, etc), then that's a difficult situation.

I've also heard Strattera takes a longer time to adjust to than NDRI's like amphetamine - not uncommon for the period to be a week or two. Maybe it is that will peter out.

Just some thoughts. As always consult your doctor before your make an important decision about your health.

Fuse, can you tell me about NRIs and NDRIs?

Hiya

Thanks for all your input. I have been back on 40mg for 4 days now, resting heartbeat has dropped to a much more respectable 60bpm. Phewww.

Am still feeling the positive effects of the medication too which is great.

Next till I visit my doc I might discuss taking it down bit by bit to get the perfect dose size, although this feels pretty ok.

: )

Hiya

Thanks for all your input. I have been back on 40mg for 4 days now, resting heartbeat has dropped to a much more respectable 60bpm. Phewww.

Am still feeling the positive effects of the medication too which is great.

Next till I visit my doc I might discuss taking it down bit by bit to get the perfect dose size, although this feels pretty ok.

: )

Glad things are improving. I have read the therapeutic dose may take a week or so to get to where it needs to be when starting. Not sure how long it takes the levels to drop and still have the therapeutic effects.

Well 40mg is just not working for me. I have started to get all my old symtoms back - gutted.

However I just got a new prescription for 46mg and see if that extra 6mgs can do the trick.

It might be that I can tolerate 50mg now and I moved up too fast. I will let you know how I get on : )

I had the same problem with Strattera. It was making my heart rate hover around 95-100bpm all the time. It was really bothering me also, and it was making me worn out about once a week, exhausted. I found out that Advair, which I am taking for asthma has a component, Salmeterol, which is a stimulant, and that when I combine it with Strattera, I get an even more elevated heart-rate. It's even listed as a moderate drug-drug interaction. I'm fortunate enough to be able to get off my asthma medication without problems, so that has brough my heart rate down. Also, I dropped to 10mg a day of Strattera. Strange, but this is enough to help me. I'm going to be adding a second 10mg in the afternoon. I can only hope that my body will not get too accoustomed to a low dose and I won't build up a tolerance. I want to stay on this medicine for life.