Strattera feedback

Bugsy

New Member
My son has a diagnosis of mood disorder and thankfully he has been the most stable mood wise for 2 months. No rages, no meltdowns and handles discipline. Yeah----But it is more and more clear that his diagnosis now is comorbid with ADHD. Trying to deal with the hyperactivity and impulsiveness has been difficult. We are so thankful that he has not been violent and now we feel like we will become violent if he does not settle down.
Over the course of 3 years we have tried a host of stimulants (nightmare), tenex (made his mood worse), clonodine (reved him up like the energizer bunny) and now we will try Strattera.

I would appreciate any experience feedback on strattera.

Thanks,
bugsy's mom
 

crazymama30

Active Member
My son has the same problem, and cannot tolerate stims. We have tried (I think) almost every stimulant known to man and the side effects are too much to tolerate. We tried Strattera, and it did nothing, so I hope that it does well for your son. We also tried wellbutrin and saw nothing. this is a tough battle, and I have decided I would rather have a happy hyper boy.
 

Sheilz

New Member
My difficult child is 8 and we have been on strattera since his initial diagnosis of ADHD and ODD about 1 1/2 years ago. It's worked great! Based on the childs weight, difficult child takes it 2x a day and it stays in his system the whole time. It definitely works well for him and his attention/hyperactivity both in and out of the classroom has improved tenfold.

It did not give us great improvement on his impulsiveness and "tantrums." That is under control with his mood stabilizer.

Good luck!
 

Alisonlg

New Member
We saw a slight improvement on Strattera with M...but M doesn't outwardly present as an ADHD case...his biggest problem is anger, rages, irritability (which are all apparently masking anxiety). So, to say we saw an improvement in ADHD symptoms, I can't say. While M is highly distractable, nosey, disorganized, etc., we didn't see any change in those behaviors/characteristics. What we did see was that his rages were shorter in duration and more redirectable...but we also introduced the Strattera around the same time as Seroquel, so it's tough to say Strattera made the sole difference.

Good luck!
 

Nancy

Well-Known Member
Your son sounds a lot like my difficult child. She has also been diagnosed with ODD and mood disorder. The strattera helped a great deal to curb the impulsiveness that was getting her in a lot of trouble. Lamictal was added for mood and her rages greatly improved. Those two medications have worked better than any other for her.

You didn't ask dose by she is on 85 mg daily, 60 in the am and 25 in the pm.

Nancy
 

Janna

New Member
Is your difficult child still on the Lithium and Seroquel? Or is one/both gone?

Dylan can't handle any ADHD medications period. I know some kids that can, and I know some kids that can't. I forget what the class of drug is that Strattera is, our psychiatrist compared it to Wellbutrin, which is actually a depression medication, and had Dylan drooling and zombified LOL! The Strattera, for him, did nothing other than (big surprise) stimulate him.

I wish you luck. We have given up on trying to help the ADHD at this point. His mood stability is more important. He did very well on Lithium/Abilify (Seroquel, same type medication), and we again, tried Concerta after such a long time of good results, and it went to he*l.

I wish you alot of luck, but offer this; if the Strattera doesn't help, if you continue down a road of no luck with ADHD medications, try interventions in school instead. The atypical antipsychotics should help some with the impulsivity/hyperactivity, and if the Lithium is helping with the raging/mania, you're doing well. There is a good chance you won't fix all the symptoms, so add some things in to help difficult child. Maybe an emotional support type classroom. An aide. Support. An IEP. A 504 plan. Find out what's available. Don't beat yourself up trying to find a way to fix the ADHD. Your difficult child has mood problems. Those are way more important.
 

mattsmum

New Member
My difficult child was originally diagnosed with ADHD and was on Strattera and Concerta. After his additional diagnosis of Bipolar in June, the Strattera was dropped and Depakote was added.

Although he DEFINITELY needs something for his ADHD, I asked today if we could try the Strattera instead of the Concerta because the Concerta is a stimulant and can aggravate Bipolar symptoms. So, we are going to try the Strattera. One definate plus to the Strattera is that it builds up in their systems and works around-the-clock...whereas Concerta wears off.

The reason the Psychiatrists originally did not want him on the Strattera AND Depakote is that they can both impair liver function in some patients. The blood tests they do to monitor the Depakote checks for liver function.
 

Sara PA

New Member
Strattera is an SNRI antidepressant and has the same warnings about use by people with bipolar disorder as any other antidepressant. Well, actually it's slightly different... From the Strattera prescribing information:

Families and caregivers of pediatric patients being treated with STRATTERA should be alerted about the need to monitor patients for the emergence of agitation, irritability, unusual changes in behavior, and the other symptoms described above, as well as the emergence of suicidality, and to report such symptoms immediately to healthcare providers. Such monitoring should include daily observation by families and caregivers.

Screening Patients for Bipolar Disorder. In general, particular care should be taken in treating ADHD in patients with comorbid bipolar disorder because of concern for possible induction of a mixed/manic episode in patients at risk for bipolar disorder. Whether any of the symptoms described above represent such a conversion is unknown. However, prior to initiating treatment with STRATTERA, patients with comorbid depressive symptoms should be adequately screened to determine if they are at risk for bipolar disorder; such screening should include a detailed psychiatric history, including a family history of suicide, bipolar disorder, and depression.
 

Bugsy

New Member
Thank you for the feedback.

My son is still on lithium and seroquel. Once we finally got to lithium we found some stability. The hope was with a stable mood maybe some of the adhd symptoms would be helped, but it really has not helped that part.

The problem is much more at home than at school. Even though he did well enough in kindergarten I met with the teachers a lot to brainstorm ways to help him such as preteach him some skills. He goes to a small private school and he is in the regular ed program but they have a small but excellent special needs program. It is mostly for autistic children though.

Home life is the HUGE problem. He can not do anything by himself and even when we try to engage him in an activity it is very hard. He literally spends the day driving us crazy. I have never seen a child that can not play at all by themself. I have been a teacher, consultant and an advocate for special needs for almost 20 years (wow I am getting old) and even some of the most ADHD kids I have had were able to engage in tv, computers, game boys---SOMETHING at some point but not my son.
We started the day with him crawling under my bed at 7:30 while I was in the bathroom and popping out when I came out to be silly. The whole day he spends driving us nuts, needing attention, buzzing about. Every once in a while he will sit and watch a bit of tv.

Well, we started strattera (10mg in the am) this morning. We have had such bad luck with medications that I try not to get my hopes up. I read a tremendous amount and believe that it can take a while to see an effect and that he really needs to get to an appropriate dosage for his weight (68lbs). Right now we hope for no bad reaction like mania.

Any additional thoughts, feedback and prayers welcomed,
bugsy's mom
 

mrscatinthehat

Seussical
I hope it works for you as it does for some. We had a horrible exprience with it with difficult child 2. He was actually more hyper on it and behaviors got worse. Good luck..

Beth
 
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