Weaning off Strattera

[Nancy]

Called the dr today and asked about weaning off strattera. I was once hopeful that this medication would help her impulsiveness and focus but I'm wondering now if it doesn't contribute to her aggression. Although she has always had an ager problem so I know this medication didn't cause it, I'm wondering if now that she is older it doesn't contribute to her aggressiveness where without the medication possibly she could control her anger better.

I'm just hoping for an answer.

Nancy

 

[Fran]

All you can do is try her off of it.
Somedays I wonder if difficult child could be weaned off of some of his medications. It's just a mother's fanciful thinking but you keep hoping that whatever is causing the behavior will be gone.
If she isn't better then it's probably not working for her much.

 

[AllStressedOut]

Straterra caused my sweet, happy go lucky middle difficult child to become aggressive and angry. He had a very short fuse and would raise his voice at anyone who even slightly annoyed him.

I hope taking her off helps! We wheaned him off after a year and have yet to go back on it.

 

[busywend]

Nancy, I think it is worth a shot.

 

[Indianamomof4]

I weaned mine off quickly.

I gave it to him every other day for a week and now he's off. I have already seen a decrease in aggression and "excessive" behavior, if that makes sense.

 

[Nancy]

How much was he on Indianamom? Mine is on 60 mg AM and 25 mg PM. I stopped the 25 mg and I am doing that for a week and then I'm going to go down to 50 mg for a week and then 25. Your difficult child didn't have any unpleasant side effects? How long was he on it?

Nancy

 

[smallworld]

Nancy, didn't your psychiatrist give you a weaning schedule? Ours always does when my kids are going off a medication.

 

[Indianamomof4]

He was on 25mg only... maybe that's why it wasn't so bad to just get him off quickly. Again, I'm not seeing the aggression still. He gets angry, but nothing like he was even 10 days ago.

 

[Indianamomof4]

Oh, duh, he was on it for 8 months. No side effects that I've seen since not taking it, besides increased hyperactivity. That doesn't surprise me.

 

[Nancy]

Thanks Indianamom, she's been of her pm dose for a week now and she says she can sleep much better. I was getting concerned because she would be up until 2-3 in the morning on school nights. Time will tell whether her disposition changes although she seems better this week.


Smallworld, I'm sure he will when we see him but that isn't until two more months. He said we could eliminate the pm dose if we saw no improvement and I'm not weaning off entirely until we see him. But he charges $200 an hour which we have to pay a nd I'm not making a seperate trip for that right now. She is not compliant with her medications and often skips days and I see no benefit on her focus at school so it's time we try something else. In another year and a half she will not take any medications because she'll be 18 and on her own anyway.

Nancy

 

[TrishaBC]

My difficult child was terrible on Strattera as well. Aggressive and emotional, the poor guy was mess. Our P-doctor had us wean him off in three weeks, that seemed to work good fot him.