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Re: Desipramine vs Strattera for adult ADD. » SLS

Posted by TriedEveryDrug on November 30, 2009, at 12:37:30

In reply to Desipramine vs Strattera for adult ADD., posted by SLS on January 20, 2009, at 13:04:28

> Desipramine has become a forgotten drug when it comes to treating adult ADD. It has repeatedly demonstrated efficacy. However, I am curious as to what differences there are between desipramine and Strattera (atomoxetine) as treatments for ADD. Are they equal in the numbers of people they help? Is the magnitude of improvement the same with both drugs? Even though both drugs are very selective NE reuptake inhibitors, Strattera may be more selective for the areas in the prefrontal cortex associated with ADD.
>
> Has anyone with ADD tried both desipramine and Strattera in order to compare the differences?
>
>
> - Scott


I realize this is an old thread, but I thought I would throw in my anecdotes because I have had a lot of experience with desipramine.

I was first prescribed desipramine in college. I complained of depression, though ADD probably was my real problem. I could not afford prozac, so the school shrink gave me desipramine.

Literally overnight I went from a lazy, inattentive, failing student to getting As in my calculus classes. For me, for some reason, desipramine seems to improve my math abilities.

I also stopped making stupid mistakes on tests, like not noticing one of the choices in a multiple choice test. Anyway, it literally saved me from failing out of college.

I stopped taking it for reasons I cannot remember. Maybe the RX ran out. The only side effect I remember back then was it made food taste funny.


Later, after working for several years and trying everything for ADD (most things making me worse), I tried desipramine again.

25mg at night. Bam! My work improved immensely and out of the blue I decided to take some pre-med classes. I got an A in general chemistry at Berkeley, which was not an easy class!

Problems though: this time it made me VERY depressed. Life felt BLEAK. I stayed on it for 3 months though, to get through my class. It also made me VERY quick to anger, and hateful. Very weird. I kept fantasizing about mass murder, especially on the highway. (Just fantasizing, nothing more) Not good.

I tried strattera a couple of times. Usually I had to give up within a week because of the insomnia. It would wake me up at 3am. wide awake. Then I would get more and more frazzled until I could not take being on it.

I suspect strattera might work for me, if I could get past like the first month or so.

But for my ADD, desipramine was the only thing that really worked. And it works very well. Unfortunately it makes me a depressed, angry a**hole.

Sorry for the long rambling post. BTW, I'm currently trying lexapro + strattera. I may try lexapro + desipramine if this goes nowhere.

 

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