Experiences with Strattera?

Had an appointment with my psychiatrist today, and I'm gonna try Strattera for my ADHD since the stimulant-type meds I've taken in the past (adderall and methylphenidate) have caused some anxiety and insomnia problems. Has anyone on the forum tried strattera in the past or is using it now? Were there any standout effects? How did it feel different than taking stimulants, if you also used those? Was it effective? Just looking for any anecdata anyone feels like sharing before I go grab my prescription tomorrow :)

 

I'll add my two cents, although I was taking it for an unusual and non traditional reason - OCD. Other things hadn't worked, but Strattera seemed to help (in combination with therapy), with minimal side effects. My appetite went down slightly, but other than that it mostly allowed me to sort of...choose my focus, rather than having my attention and focus controlled by obsessions and compulsions.

 

Thanks! That's basically the effect I'm hoping it'll have with my adhd, too. Took my first dose today and apart from some brief nausea it seems to be working well!

 

I just took my first half dose of Strattera tonight, and was considering posting about it, cool! My nurse said the stimulant and non stimulant ones have basically the same side effects and are considered about equally likely to work, but if I went with this one I'd be able to get refills if I lost my bottle and would be way less likely to become addicted.

I'm a little bummed that I have to wait two weeks to see if I can magically concentrate for longer than half an hour without fidgeting, tho.

How has it been working for you so far, OP?

 

*comes back to this post two months later whoops*

I thought it wasn't working for a while, but then I accidentally skipped taking it for 3 days in a row and by the end of that time my head felt like it was filled with powerballs with the gravity turned off, so I'm pretty sure it actually is having a positive effect. Not sure if it's doing the total cure thing like @seebs said but my head definitely feels a lot less kinetic these days. My psychiatrist has increased my dose to 100mg to try and get a decisive verdict on whether it's helping significantly enough to settle on it as My ADHD Med for keeps.

As for side effects, there was the nausea initially + after a dosage increase and for about a month and a half it made me feel vaguely queasy all day, but then I guess my body finished adjusting, and now there's no queasiness or nausea at all. Temporary nausea was mentioned as one of the most common side effects, and I'm glad it did end up being temporary. There also seems to be another effect, though I'm not 100% sure if it's the Strattera's fault, but Strattera seems to interact weirdly with caffeine. When I drink coffee in the morning, it does the opposite of what coffee is supposed to do. I get knocked on my ass, spend about an hour feeling like a wet noodle... and then that wears off, and the caffeine kicks in and starts waking me up like it usually does, and things proceed as normal. I never noticed that happening before I went on Strattera, so I think they're related, but I'm not sure.

@LilacMercenary I know this reply is two months late and so possibly no longer relevant, but from what I experienced two weeks wouldn't be enough to tell if it's helping. My psych said it would take 4- 5 weeks to reach effective levels, and it took more like 6 for me. Did it end up working out for you, though?

Oh, also, here's a thing I learned the other day and found interesting: Strattera is a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. It basically keeps adrenaline, the stress hormone, in your system for longer. I wouldn't have thought the problem was that I wasn't stressed enough, but it makes sense - adrenaline is what makes you act in stressful situations, instead of sitting around thinking about how stressful they are. So if I'm getting this right, the end effect of this med is to help you break through the inertia part of executive dysfunction. I thought that was cool.