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Re: promises, promises

Posted by Nachoman on August 11, 2003, at 21:03:16

In reply to Re: promises, promises, posted by Lis on August 8, 2003, at 22:23:56

> Lots of people are telling me to be patient with
> Strattera, and it's probably good advise. I'm
> worried about struggling through school when I
> start in September, though. There's quite a bit
> of pressure to find a medicine that works ASAP.
>
> If there's anyone out there who has the
> inattentive type of ADD - feeling spacey,
> disorganized, and tired all the time. I'd like
> to hear what medicine, if any, is working for
> you.

**** REPLY ****

I was diagnosed with ADD just over a year ago -- I believe the inattentive type.

I started on Adderall 20mg and the improvement was dramatic and immediate. Literally the day I started taking it I was able to focus on one thing for a long period of time. Actually, it was a little scary how focused I was -- I've never before been so productive. I also stopped drinking alcohol (used to have 1 or 2 drinks/day), stopped drinking coffee (4-5 cups/day) and stopped smoking (only ~5/day) -- all cold-turkey. I just didn't crave them anymore. Now instead of going out for a smoke and pacing to help think through a problem, I could just think about it at my desk and get things done.

The next 6 months were great. I was taking 10mg in the morning and 10mg at noon. The problem was that it wore off by 5pm or so, and so I was back to my regular ADD-self (sans the cravings) by the time I got home from work. I didn't *feel* a difference -- I just had a hard time concentrating again.

I then switched to Adderall XR 20mg (10 in the morning, 10 at noon) in an attempt to extend the effects into the evening. It generally worked, but overall I didn't notice as much of an improvement as with the regular Adderall. It was a little frustrating, so even though I didn't like the idea of it, I started to think about asking my doc if I could increase the dose to 30mg.

Before I did, however, my doc told me about Strattera. I did a bunch of research on it, including reading through all the posts in this thread (thank you everyone) and it sounded great. I started with a sample pack (25mg for 4 days, then 40mg for a week, then 80mg) while continuing to take Adderall XR, 10mg only.

It's been about 2 months with Strattera 80mg (once in morning) and over a month since I stopped Adderall altogether.

As far as I can tell, the Strattera is having no (or very little) positive effect on me. I'm back to my old-self, constantly flipping between various things and never really concentrating on one thing at a time. There are some times when it feels like my ADD symptoms are lessened, but it usually only lasts for a couple of hours. The good majority of the time, I feel like it's doing almost nothing for me. The one exception is that I don't feel incredibly tired in the afternoon like I used to before I started Adderall.

I had some side effects when I first started (insomnia, dry-mouth/eyes, itchy scalp) but those were short-lived and are pretty much gone now. I still have two side effects: no appetite and a sexual side effect, but I'm willing to live with those to see if Strattera can work for me eventually.

It's quite frustrating having to deal with my ADD symptoms after knowing what it's like without them, but I really want to give Strattera a chance. I've heard that in some cases it can take 3 or more months for it to really take effect. I'm also going to ask my doc if I can increase the dose to 100 or 120. I don't weigh a lot, but I have a very high metabolism, so perhaps my effective dose is higher than the average. I'm willing to give Strattera up to 3 months before I decide to go back to Adderall.

Anyways, I just wanted to share my experience with you. The quick fix for me was Adderall -- I'm hoping Strattera can work just as well, but it sure is taking a lot longer, if it ends up working at all.


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poster:Nachoman thread:133458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030807/msgs/250130.html