How did you first respond to Strattera???

[kelseyk]

I have been taking Ritalin for about a year, but now I am going to college and participating in a varsity sport at my university. The NCAA bans Ritalin because it contains certain substances, unless your doctor can show other non banned medications don't work for you so she switched me to Straterra
Today I took my starting dose (40 mg first three days, 80 after that) and I have reacted strangely to it. I was sweating like crazy for half an hour and I have been dizzy upon getting up. Most worrisome to me is that I've been experiencing this euphoria for the past hour, like some sort of high.
Is this normal? Has anyone experienced this before? Will it go away? I don't feel any sort of concentration I just feel foggy.

[madadder]

I would sweat a lot during the first week. I still sweat more than usual but it has subsided some. I'm in my 3rd week now. Getting out of bed I would not have my balance about me. So walking to the bathroom im leaning forward about to fall while grabbing on to things. It's still like that in the morning. For 2 days I experienced an extreme fog within the first week. It was bad. I'm so glad that's over. Im still on 40mg I move up to 80 after a month. This is my first med for add and it has helped my focus, but not working memory that I can tell.

[alan1]

What follows is a somwhat edited version of my diary notes from when I started Strattera.

Day 1 - Strattera 40 mg. VERY sleepy. by early evening could hardly keep my eyes open.

Day 4 - Difficulty sleeping all neight, burning on urination, no benefit to ADHD at all.

Day 6 - Nausea, still burning on urination and no discernible benefit.

Day 14 - increased to 80 mg. Less GI upset now but still having insomnia. Finding it very hard to get motivated to do anything.

Week 5 Motivation – getting significantly better. Able to focus a little bit better. Self control – still forget and get into arguments instead of discussion. Sleep - now getting up to 6 1/2 hours.

Week 6 Still have insomnia. Burning on urination gone but hard to initiate urination. Self control and focus modestly better but needs to be much better than this. The terrific ability to focus for prolonged periods of time like I was able to on the methylphenidate is still not there but I do not feel caffeinated like I did on the stimulants either.


Week 7 Seems to be kicking in. Have felt very motivated. Better self control in social situations though not as good as I would like. Urinary tract probs. remain and have therefore refrained from increasing the dosage just yet as per psych. Insomnia is somewhat better. Still wake up in the middle of the night but can usually fall back to sleep later.

Week 9 Increased dose to 90 mg. Transient testicular pain and mild pain with urination. Have felt very motivated. Insomnia still a problem. Focus hard to measure when I’m very tired but still pretty productive at work.

Week 11 Clearly have improved focus on the medication now. Routinely can stay on track with studying for 15 – 20 minutes (lasted on 3 minutes before) Urinary issues still the primary problem along with middle night insomnia. Seem to have better self control in social situations too.

Week 12 Difficulty with urination is worse again as is middle night insomnia. Did not take any today as insomnia was too much the past few nights and I really need some sleep. Felt some loss of concentration today and less motivated especially by the end of the day. In procrastination mode right now and really need to use my clock to keep doing things.


Week 13 This is being composed at 2 AM after just 2 hrs. of sleep. Middle of the night insomnia is pretty regular now. The medication keeps me moving during the day but sleep issues are still a big problem. Hopefully they will dissipate now as they did after a few weeks on lower doses. >>

Week 14 Took it back down to 80mg last week as the side effects were not tolerable. The urination problem and lack of sleep in particular were problematic. Night after night with just a couple of hours of sleep made getting through the day a challenge. Focus now is still not optimal by a long shot but I am definitely better than off medication. Self-control too is better though less than optimal. I’m wondering if adding back a low dose stimulant would be helpful.

Month 16 - Methylphenidate 7.5 mg twice daily was added about 2 months ago and this has helped improve focus. The headaches and sleep issue are long gone. There is still a bit of urinary issue but this is only mildly annoying at this point.

It would be nice if self control in social situations was much better than it is but it is much better today than without the medication. Little things used to get me angry all the time before. The feeling would just escalate. I almost forget what it was like to go through the day angry at everything. It took going through my old diary notes to remind me.

Strattera was by far the most difficult medication to get used to. Some of those sleepless weeks were miserable. Insomnia, headahes, GI upset, urination issues, testicular pain. But the medication clearly helps and the side effects have either all gone away or are much less in degree now to where they are not significant. Had I quit it too soon I would never have found that out so I'm glad I stuck with it. So be patient. Very patient.

[MrDavidAlan]

So, this is what I have to look forward too...

Like, I started this morning, In all fairness, I do need to disclose that I worked overnights all week and I am adjusting to the "night" schedule (as I work nights this week, as opposed to overnights), I also have a few mornings in there.

Today, I felt like ****, I felt dizzy, and I more tired than I normally do during my switch days. However, I couldn't sleep for more than 30 min at a time.

I have no motivation to do anything, but thats apart of my shift change, and obviously I have not been on the medication long enough for any of that.

I must say though, I have had a quiet mental day. However, again, I suspect that is from never really waking up totally either, and not really sleeping. Oh, and lots of yawns...