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Post by NativeLI on Nov 22, 2003 19:31:28 GMT -5
Going from 25 to 40 mg of strattera can be tough...I tried that and my son was sick for about 4-5 hours after taking that high of a dose. I went back to 25 and now am trying 30 mgs. (three 10mg pills). Be careful if you give it to her and you have somewhere to go!
btw - my son is 8 and is 53 pounds.
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Post by LitlBaa on Nov 24, 2003 1:10:33 GMT -5
How is Brooke doing on 40 mg?
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Post by Dad2Brooke on Nov 24, 2003 10:22:35 GMT -5
LitlBaa, yesterday was her first 40 dose. She seemed to do well and had no complaints of headache or stomachache.
We went to the mall and she was fairly well behaved.
She played with some kids in the cul-de-sac and was able to follow the rules I had set and nobody had any problems. (Not sure if this is a result of Strattera or the fact that I have been constantly reminding her of the Golden rule.)
Last night, she wanted to go to bed by 7:30, and we kept her up until 8:30 (her bedtime is 9). This morning she was up at 6:15am. (usually 6:45).
This is unusual for Brooke, but the interesting thing is that it started Friday night at Grandma's(8:00) (and prior to the med increase) Saturday night was 8:30, and then she got the first 40mg dose Sunday morning.
Not sure what is causing this and if it is Strattera, it may be reaction to it in general as her body gets used to it. She started Strattera on Nov 7th.
This morning, the second day of 40, she was acting awfully silly. But my wife was off today and that may be a part of it, in that she wasn't on her normal "me and her" school morning routine.
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Post by Dad2Brooke on Nov 25, 2003 23:21:08 GMT -5
Brooke is doing better in school according to her teacher. I see an improvement not only in the work that comes home from school, but also in her homework. She doesn't seem to be obsessing as much either. I haven't had to tell her "no" more than twice to any one thing since the increase. The only thing that I have noticed, and I mentioned it in my last post, is the fact that she is a lot more tired earlier in the evening. Tonight she was doing homework at 7:30 with her head on the table. She was asleep on the sofa by 8:20 and I had to carry her to bed at 9pm.  This has been ongoing since last Friday night. Is this normal for Strat? Anyone else experience this? |
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Post by LitlBaa on Nov 26, 2003 1:08:58 GMT -5
Katie did the same thing, it lasted about three weeks and then it evened out.
Sounds like Brooke's doing well...I'm so glad for both of you!
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Post by Dad2Brooke on Nov 26, 2003 9:18:20 GMT -5
Katie did the same thing, it lasted about three weeks and then it evened out.
Sounds like Brooke's doing well...I'm so glad for both of you! Thanks for the feedback Mary. You get so hypersensitive when you put your child on medicine. Every little thing causes you to wonder what is causing it. Glad to know that the sleep is normal. We will just go with the flow and keep an eye on it. Thanks, |
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Post by Dad2Brooke on Nov 30, 2003 9:51:00 GMT -5
UPDATEWell the last few mornings have been a little rough. Brooke has moved from doing one thing to another very rapidly. She spends maybe 5 - 10 minutes on each activity. She gets her meds around 7am and by midmorning she has settled down considerably. The sleep disruption continues and yesterday she got up at 4:45am  . This morning it was a much more reasonable 6:45. She also has taken naps the last couple of days, something she hasn't done since she was 3. Another thing that she complained of the past weekend was "smokey eyes." From talking to her this is blurred vision and maybe a little double vision. She says that she has a headache or will feel a little dizzy when it happens. It goes away pretty quickly and it happened twice on Saturday.
In the past, she has complained of it on other meds, and we took her to the eye doc, only to find nothing.
Has anyone experience this?
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Post by AustinsMom on Nov 30, 2003 21:40:58 GMT -5
We definitely had the sleep interruption problem on Strattera. Even once we stopped the medication, we had to take steps to work on getting back into a good sleep cycle. We used essential oils (orange) at bedtime for relaxation, and then later added some melatonin...3 mg. It helped tremendously. We are close to back to usual sleep cycle without waking in the middle of thenight or early in the morning.
But as to the eye problem, Austin didn't complain of that. The headaches and stomachaches, yes. But he did tell me his eyes felt tired alot. And all of these complaints have virtually disappeared after we have been off for a few weeks.
As I have said in earlier posts, we stopped because we realized that Austin's anger/rage was a result of his Strattera. So although we loved it at first, we have been very pleased to see those symptoms leave after we have stopped. It could be the dose needs to be decreased if you were doing well on a lower dose and have just increased...just something to think about. GOOD LUCK. I know what a torture it is to try to make the right decision about meds.
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Post by MrsFish on Dec 9, 2003 0:29:40 GMT -5
Glad to see mostly goo things about Strat. My son is to start taking this on Friday along with his Concerta. After a week it is Strat. only. My ped told me to give it to him at night as it will make him sleepy. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
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Post by DanielsMom on Dec 9, 2003 9:36:36 GMT -5
It sounds like your dd is doing great on Strattera. That's great. I had hoped it would work for my son being a non stimulant but...........On Strattera, my son was a nightmare. He had the worst aggression and violent outburst. He normally is not like this. It was scary and I made quite a few trips to the principles office. All of this happened on the first 18mg doses and just got way worse on the 27mg. Needless to say, he is no longer taking that. We are doing natural alternatives with much success. Your daughter has been on long enough that you would have noticed this side effect by now. You are one of the lucky ones that Strattera works for.
NOTE TO ANYONE JUST STARTING STRATTERA:Most doctors will not tell you that severe aggression is a very real possibility on this med. Mine never told me until I was calling her everytime he had a violent outburst. Then I was told of this side effect. ASK QUESTIONS!! And if you do notice it, talk to your doc. ASAP!!
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Post by Dad2Brooke on Dec 9, 2003 14:10:36 GMT -5
MrsFish, keep us posted on how your son does!
Good luck.
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Post by Dad2Brooke on Dec 9, 2003 14:19:04 GMT -5
DanielsMom, I am sorry that your son had a terrible experience with Strattera. As you indicated, it doesn't work for everyone.
I was wondering how much your son weighed. I've read that too high a dose can cause some of the symptons you described. Maybe that was one of the reasons. Strattera is extremely weight dependent. The formula is roughly 1.2mg of Straterra per 2.2 lb of body weight.
Also, is 27 mg right, or is it a typo? I didn't think they made it in that dose. 10, 18, 25, 40, and 60 are the sizes, I thought.
I am glad that the natural alternatives are successful for him. What are you using?
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Post by DanielsMom on Dec 9, 2003 14:44:45 GMT -5
It has been quite a few months since he has been on Strattera but I'm almost positive it was 27mg he was on when we took him off. However, he was on soooo many different meds. that I could be mistaken and it was 25mg. When we took him off all meds. I went through and flushed all of them that we had left over so I can't verify. Sorry.... When my son was taking it he weighed 52 pounds. After all his aggression and outburst  the doctor did finally admit that aggression and violence were a possible side effect no matter how small the dose. We noticed these side effects almost immediately. Sounds like your daughter is doing great. I really hope it works out for you. I know how very stressfull it can be when nothing works. My son is very sensitive to stimulant meds and could not take them. None of the meds worked for him, and there were quite a few, and the had horrible side effects (facial tics, stuttering.....) so then he was given other meds for side effects and they had side effects. Anyway right now he is on Pedia-Calm, which only has 50mg of DMAE, so I am taking him off that and going to give him 250mg of DMAE capsules, which is recommended dosage, and he is currently onFish oil capsules, and vitamin E and of course a very good multi-vitamin/mineral. This is the best he has ever done.  I wish you luck and continued success. I'm very glad to see that it does help some kids.  |
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Post by AustinsMom on Dec 9, 2003 21:40:22 GMT -5
DanielsMom, We had very similar experiences to yours and are also now off of meds, using natural supplements and trying homeopathy. I have been making it a point to try to warn others of the possible aggressive/rage side effects of Strattera too. I'd like to spare others from not recognizing it early, like we didn't. But I'm glad to hear others--like your child Dad2Brooke--are doing well on it. Good luck, but be watchful!:-)
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Post by LucyBell on Dec 10, 2003 14:00:46 GMT -5
My daughter started on Strattera, her first medication, in September. She is 14 and weighs 95 lbs. She started at 25 and slowly moved up to 60 mg once daily. Her physician advised she take at night with food.
I don't have any other medication to gauge against or any alternative treatments, but this is what I have observed with her.
She seems to need less sleep than before. She is kind of wound up at bed time, but gets up easily. Her inattentiveness has improved some, but not as I had hoped. She has recently developed a horrible habit of cracking her knuckles (10 or more times per day). I don't know if this is like a tic that has developed or just nerves from starting high school.
Her side effects from Strattera are nonexisent except for the ones I mention. However, I'm not sure if we could see more improvement on a different med.
She has ADHD Inattentive type, and I am really seeing reprucussions from the ADHD that just cannot be fixed with traditional or alternative methods.
LucyBell
(Melissa)
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