Hi !
Just to go straight to the point, my doctor is thinking of trying Strattera in me, since it was recently made available as a generic and I tend to have prevailing side effects with stimulant medication (ritalin, Rubifen, elvanse).
I have some questions that would like to hear from people that are/were on this medication to share:
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I understand this is non-stimulating and seems to work akin to an antidepressant. Therefore, do I have to take it every day? Even on days I do not need ? With stimulant medication I only take it when doing theoretical work, and skip it when on the laboratory or other minor tasks and would never take it in days I’m not working, because I can’t just interact with people and gives me a baseline anxiety the whole day.
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What benefits did it gave you ?
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Any prevailing side effects?
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How does it compare with stimulant medication (after taking it for some weeks)?
For a bit of context:
I’ve been diagnosed for about 6 years now, and started with Ritalin XR. However, I could only keep using it for some months since it gave seriously side effects that persisted 3-5 months after stopping it. I later switched to Ritalin IR, which worked for some time and gave me less side effects. But it started to be ineffective after some months.
Then my doctor tried Elvanse (Vyvanse), it worked on keeping me focused, but the anxiety and the huge time frame of action of the drug led to me only taking it once or twice a week.
I’m now back on Ritalin IR, but always feel the anxiety and aversion to interact with people that I always feel with these 3 stimulants.
It works great for some but for me it’s one of the worst drugs I’ve ever tried. I made it a few weeks before I gave up on it. The side effects were terrible, I felt like shit until it cleared my system. I didn’t notice any benefits from it.
You take it every day. It’s a neural reuptake inhibitor, so it needs to build up in your system.
For me, it’s not a fast fix like a stimulant would be. It just takes the edge off of my symptoms, make them easier to manage, and makes it easier to do stuff. In fact, the biggest thing I’ve noticed is the effect it has on executive dysfunction.
Atomoxetine (straterra) is a slow burn. It takes at least a few weeks to start noticing any effects. I haven’t noticed any side effects, other than some trouble sleeping the first week when I first started taking it; but that was because my insurance wouldn’t approve me for a lower dosage to have a more graceful “ramp up” period.
I tried Strattera to avoid side effects from Adderall, but Strattera made me throw up whenever my heart rate got too high. I had to give it up, not to mention it didn’t really feel like it was helping me focus. I now take very small doses of stimulant medication, 5 XR and 5 IR each day.
Straterra didn’t do anything for me. Had no effect on my ADHD. Didn’t have many side effects other than no dreams, which I only noticed after I stopped taking it.
I’m currently taking Vyvanse and it’s starting to lose its efficacy. At first it gave me anxiety and other side effects but they all leveled out.
Yeah the Vyvanse side effects wore off for me too, but so did it’s efficacy over time even though I rarely take it every day. I did take it daily for a couple months recently though.
You could also take L-Tyrosine on days off to replenish your dopamine levels
I went through a month’s supply of strattera before switching to adderall. I also only took it on “need to be productive” days, which may have been the wrong approach. I was reluctant to take it otherwise because of the side effects. I felt like it did help me focus on tasks, but the benefit was essentially offset by the drowsiness it caused making it something of a wash for my productivity. I work at home so I would end up needing to take a nap most days I took it. Sleeping became very refreshing though, which was a silver lining.
Other symptoms were a pounding head, a decrease in appetite, and an increase in anxious thoughts. None of the symptoms were intense except drowsiness, and all of them mellowed out after a few weeks.
Adderall works a lot better for me now and has fewer side effects. But I’ve seen others in the community really appreciate what straterra has done for them, so it seems to vary a lot from person to person. Despite my disappointment with it, it may be worth trying if stimulants aren’t working well for you. My doctor recommended it initially because it was working well for some of her other patients.
Accountability time: No “maybe” about it… You didn’t follow the instructions and then you say it didn’t work for you. Well of course not. You never gave it a chance.
This is like buying a nailgun and then ignoring all safety warnings, you use it like a hammer and accidentally shoot your kneecap with it. So you call it defective and return it to the store, telling everyone hammers work better for you. Okay, maybe that’s a strained analogy.
I was using it almost daily from the start and felt worse for it, so I started dreading taking it and quickly preferred no medication. I eventually finished it off and instead of getting a refill, I switched to something that worked great from the start and was cheaper.
I’m not saying it’s not a good medication, I even recommend it, but if it requires a strict schedule and that much of a miserable buildup just to still be worse than an alternative it’s simply not the right one for me.
I’ve been taking this (Atomoxetine) for at least 15 years. The biggest side effects for me are: Intense, but quick nausea about 3 hours after ingestion. It helps to take it with food. Lowered sex drive. Drowsiness.
I take it daily and its been the best drug for me, despite the side effects.
Does the drowsiness and lowered sex drive persist during the whole day ?
