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Post by Jorgy on Nov 7, 2003 10:58:30 GMT -5
Last night I went to a meeting about ADHD put on bey Shire Pharmacuticals. The make Adderall XR. In these kind of meetings the pharmacutical companies wine and dine MDs and nurses to hopefully sell thier product. They bring in experts to lecture and answer questions. This is why meds are soooo very expensive. Last night Dr Thomas Tsao, a psychiatrist and researcher from Virginia Beach was the speaker. He researches stimulant drugs and mood altering drugs used to treat pediatric ADHD and accompaning diagnosises. I spoke to him after the meeting telling him of my concerns from a parents point of view about the side effects of Adderall. He stated that he, as a doctor, indorses Adderall but uses all the different meds. He agnowledged the problems with Adderall. What I was most impressed with was his reccomendations of the use of antidepressants when using high doses of stims. These antidepressants "boost" the effectiveness of the stims. He mentioned Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin and a drug I have never seen mentioned as an antidepressant for ADHD use, Remeron. He said they are seeing fantastic results when using it with Adderall. I have seem this med very effectivly used in the adult population for depression so was suprised it could be used in pediatrics for ADHD. Another thing he mentioned was that he has researched ADHD meds for 35 yrs and has used them in his practice for that long. He has seen NO evidence of kidney, liver or cardiac damage caused by these meds. Very encouraging for a parent like me. He said these drugs are very well researched. The one thing he said about Stratterra is that they are seeing a decline in the use of it due to the severe gastric problems associated with it and the long time span for it to take effect. I was very impressed. Sue
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Post by Dad2Brooke on Nov 7, 2003 13:02:05 GMT -5
The one thing he said about Stratterra is that they are seeing a decline in the use of it due to the severe gastric problems associated with it and the long time span for it to take effect. Brooke just started Strattera today. I was told about the long time span. What about the gastric side effects? Did he mention anything specific? Great post BTW ;D |
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Post by AnneM on Nov 7, 2003 13:05:49 GMT -5
Wow Sue - thanks for sharing this! This is really interesting. I personally in particular found the recommendation of taking an antidepressant with the stims particularly of interest as it supported my son's own treatment (he takes Concerta with St. Johns Wort) -& since the antidepressant (SJW) was added last Xmas it has made all the difference!
... and also VERY encouraging to see that in all those years this gentleman has seen NO signs of kidney, cardiac etc,etc, problems ..... Daniel Amen says EXACTLY the same thing and I think this is really significant in showing us how safe these meds are.
Thanks Sue!!
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Post by LaurieL on Nov 7, 2003 13:30:22 GMT -5
We have added remeron back into the mix with my son. He takes strattera as well as 5mg of adderall. The doctor felt that remeron would be beneficial to kind of take the edge off. My son has some obsessive tendancies and plus has become rather a smart mouth. He feels remeron is rather benign and we are hoping that this will be the right mix. Plus it helps with the eating piece as my son is very skinny. I am glad the doctor you went to hear thinks it is a good choice.
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Post by Jorgy on Nov 7, 2003 13:44:21 GMT -5
Ralph, the gastric side effects are severe and projective vomiting. This med has twice the risk of this than the stims. On the old site I did note many parents were having this problem. He also mentioned and I did not know this but Stratterra is a form of Prozac without the floride componant that is found in Prozac. Prozac also takes about 4-3 weeks to see any changes in the individual and about 6 weeks to see the full effect which is I believe the same as Stratterra. I find this interesting as I am on the generic form of Prozac and it works well for my depression. In fact when talking about meds, Jake's doc asked me how Prozac worked for me. I now see he was analysing the possible outcome for Jake using the med. Unfortunantly our insurance didn't cover Stratterra at that time so we went to Concerta and Wellbutrin instead. I am staying with that combo for now as why fix what ain't broke. Good luck with the Srattera. Sue
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