Strattera Side Effects

[r0x0rAt0r]

I started taking Strattera on roughly a month and a week ago. I am on 80mg in the morning... I weigh 200 lbs and am male. It was the same day I quit smoking (success sofar!) From day one, I noticed changes... not many good (let me know if this is normal, please) I became incredibly tired - mostly in the mid-morning through the afternoon. This did not stop as time progressed, and seemed to get worse. I began to fall asleep in class, even driving to work, and just today, I drove to Columbus from Cincinnati and almost died literally 4 or more times due to instantly and uncontrollably falling asleep at the wheel. Also lethargic That's effect # 1.

#2. Cottonmouth. When I wake up, my mouth is so dry and funny-tasting that I almost throw up daily... and it does not get better as the day progresses. It's really quite bad...

#3 - Sexual side effects - I do not have a problem getting an erection, but am unable now to retqain it longer than 5-10 minutes tops, when I could for much longer before. It just goes soft for no reason and will not gain bloodflow for minutes. This is obvioulsy very frustrating in bed, and that causes more issues...

As of right now, I have not really noticed any true concentration increases, and the side effects WAY outweigh any good the drug does for me. I an discontinuing the use tomorrow morning...

Here's my main question... When I stop, will these side effects go away, and how long tuntil they do?? My main concern is the inability to maintain an erection. and the falling asleep at the wheel I am 18 years old, and this is killing me. I just want it to go away! Please let me know if you have any input!

[Yeah]

I smoked for 14 years and when I stoped had the same issues with beeing extremly tired.
Nikotin increases your bloodpressure and pushes in some more ways (including that more Dopamin is produced), so it's not surprising that when you stop, you will feel tired. This shouldn't last long and will definetly go away.
But that's for the smoking, I have no idea about how strattera might affect you, so you should definetly talk with your Therapist about this.
Does he know you stopped smoking?

[Gregster]

I would definately talk to my Doctor if I were you. The side effects you mention - particularly the falling asleep while driving - would seem to be good reasons to stop taking the drug.
It's generally a good idea to slowly reduce the dose over a week or two rather than quit "cold turkey" but this depends on the side effects. There are other things to try as well - if the drug makes you sleepy during the day when you take it in the morning, you could switch to taking it at night or taking it in two doses rather than one - these are things I would ask my Dr about.
With regards to how fast the side effects will last - I'm no expert but I would expect that they would go away in a day or two. The half life of Strattera in the human body is 5 hours so there is very little left 24 hrs later and by day 2 it should be gone. Your sleep patterns make take a little while to get back to normal, if they were affected by the Strattera.
Regards,
Greg