Stratera thoughts

[strat_user]

I'm a 36 year old male who was diagnosed with ADD roughly 4 months ago. My problems included forgetfulness, being scatterbrained, procrastination, being late to things frequently, and major disorganization. As an adult, I never experienced the hyper-activity, but I just may not have noticed. I was started on Stratera at 25 mg. This is the first time I've taken meds. At first it seemed like a whole new world was opening up to me. I seemed to have a new desire to be organized and to start and finish things. My memory also improved. I moved on to 50 mg per day, then 75 mg on to my current 100 mg per day. I'm 6-5, and weigh approx. 270, so my doctor thought the high dose would work due to my size. We just kept increasing because I kept telling the doctor that I was having small improvements, but wasn't where I wanted to be.

My observations:
- started out great. now don't nearly have as many "good" days
- I seem emotionless at times. I have a hard time feeling happy. My wife
tells me that I seem flat all of the time.
- When I do get emotional, it's anger. I blow up.
- My focus seems introverted. I dwell more on my thoughts than what I'm
doing. I focus more on the things I feel that are "bad".
- Many times I feel unmotivated. I spent the whole weekend laying around and napping more than usual.
- I feel sluggish at times like I'm walking in cement
- I have occasional body tingles
Side effects:
- Have a tired spell about mid-day. I take my meds in the morning.
- seem to focus more on non-important things
Sexual side effects:
- none of the "out of sinc" orgasms/ejaculation
- do have a more trouble gaining/maintaining erection
- more intense orgasm, less intense ejaculation, some times there is pain following orgasm/ejaculation
- do not have urinary discomfort others have listed

I go back to the doctor this week and am planning on discussing trying something else or at the very least cutting back from 100 mg. per day. Has anyone else developed similar problems as you've increased the daily dosage?

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience.

[liquidchakra]

I am on 40 mg, and have been for two months now. I've noticed that the medication doesn't seem to be as forceful as it had been in the past, but it still works, and I know that If I go off of it, I'll go right back to the way I was. Even at this minimal level, the benifits are still great.

I still have the out of synch issues and the difficulty with keeping it up after a bit of use, but I've found that even one drink really helps this out alot. It seems counterproductive, but it does work for me.

[Vinfiniti]

I'm a 29 yo male who was recently diagnosed with ADD and I also started Stratera as my first medication in response to it. After 3 months and upping the dosage to 100mg from 40mg I also have stopped. I was/am suffering from the same sweet of ailments as you describe, forgetfullness, inablility to get things started, procrastination...I dont even want to go there.

The Stratera was working great for me so I thought, the first month was just as you described, a whole new world was available to me and I was ready for the challenge, but after 3 months, I was still forgetting to take the meds occasionally and the "good days" were just about used up.

I now attribute the great beginning to a combination of therapy and the diagnoses, the realization that there might be a bit of life that I am missing and my eagerness to get involved in it. The strattera was helping I think, but not enough.

At any rate, I stopped cold turkey, gave myself 30 days and I just took my first 18mg dose of Concerta. Let's see how this does.

I am unsure of exactly what ails me or what I need, but I figure 3 months on this and if Im not happy, then it will be 3 months on Aderall and then maybe Ridalin....I'll let you know how it goes.

V

[strat_user]

I'm going to the doctor today to get off Stratera and try to find something better for me. I've just been feeling too lousey lately. I find myself being more depressed if I do something wrong. I tend to dwell on the worst case scenario for a long time. Plus I feel unmotivated pretty much all the time. If I didn't have a job to go to every morning, I think I would have a hard time getting out of bed. Weekends are a ***** that way. All I seem to want to do is sleep. I'll post my results.

[Yggdrasil]

25 year old male, just started Strattera. working up to 75 mg/day. Day 1 was 25 Day 2 (today) was 50. Minimal side effects - slight drowsiness paired with a weird immediate alertness when I choose to stop drowsing- also maybe a tad of flatulence but hey coulda been the cabbage.
I am already on 18mg concerta 4 tabs/ day (3 morning 1 midday)

too early to tell any results... maybe more focus but i didnt have much work to do today or tasks that would be affected by my ADD. Will keep you all posted on what happens.