Strattera

This is not a product placement, I promise. I don't do those. I've just been thinking a lot about taking Strattera.

I started Strattera on Wednesday. It's a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor and is the only non-stimulant medication approved for ADD/ADHD (other non-stimulant drugs are prescribed off label). Over the past 9 years, I have worked my way through all the different permutations of Ritalin (ritalin, metadate, concerta), Adderal and Dexedrine. None have worked particularly well for me; I'm very sensitive. For adderal, most people use 20 or 30 mg over the course of a day; I use 2.5 mg - 5 mg over a day.

All of them make it difficult for me to socialize and talk to people. I feel on edge. Adderal, which has worked the best of all of them, makes me very short tempered and irritable. Dexedrine makes me this bizarre combination of spacy and overly focused and alert. Ritalin made me overly focused and alert.

Strattera so far seems like a miracle. I can sleep and eat on it. I'm not overly irritable (yet). This morning on my way in to school, I remembered to bring in a dermatology book for a friend to look at and my check for the Nursing Honor Society. Two days ago, as I was walking through the kitchen, I stopped and put away some glasses and tidied. Small things, but things that I would never have remembered or noticed to do.

Most people start at 40 mg for a while and then go up to 80, but because I've been so sensitive to the other medications, I was hesitant to do it. We decided to start at 25 mg for 5 days and then go up to 25 mg twice a day.

The geriatric psych drug axiom is to "start low, go slow." It's an axiom that I was eager to follow for this particular drug, although I am at the other end of the age spectrum. One of my friends was on it, and it gave her terrible mood swings-- she ended up throwing things at her gf during a fight. She's now on Adderal without that problem. Other horror stories are easily available on the net, so I've been hesitant. It's also a relatively new drug. The FDA approved it at the end of 2002. I like waiting several years before I put a new medication in my body, then it has a good chance to get recalled before I take it. So it is a little early for me to take it, but I think that I have exhausted the stimulant options and I really would like to have a little extra help.

Today was the first day I took 50 mg. I'm hoping that I won't start experiencing any of the serious side effects. It makes me nervous. As I'm seeing some beneficial effects now at 25 and minimal side effects, should I really go up? I did go up, but am not sure I feel like it was a great idea. Guess I'll find out.