Any Experiences with Strattera for ADHD?
Hi BPN community! After pursuing a broad array of alternative treatments, we're now researching medication for our 8 year old son's ADHD. I would love to hear from the BPN community - if your child has taken Strattera, have there been side effects? Did it seem to have a positive impact? Any advice or input from those who have experience with Strattera would be welcome. Thank you!
Jul 2, 2021
Parent Replies
My son was diagnosed with severe inattentive ADD in the 3rd grade and is now an older teen. We have tried multiple medications including Strattera, various brands of Ritalin, and Adderall. Many parents of older ADHD kids will tell you that meds are very individual, every kid is different, and it can take a while to find the right med at the right dose. And be ready to change every few years: what works in the 3rd grade may no longer work in middle school. That said, Strattera had zero benefit for my son. We tried it for a while in high school and then switched to Adderall, which does work. My advice is to work with a psychiatrist or knowledgeable MD, such as a developmental pediatrician, try what they recommend, and be ready to switch as needed. You will know right away if it works for your kid. You'll see immediate results. Good luck!
Hi, my son is an infant so we don't know if he has ADHD yet, but I take Strattera and it's been extremely useful for both ADHD and anxiety. Strattera is non-addictive and not an amphetamine, which is a great benefit. I know your son is only 8 but I know that in college friends who took adderall or ridalin would be hounded by other students during finals to sell them their meds. Strattera doesn't have the same effects as those stimulants.
My son tried Strattera when he was about 10. It did not work for him. It made his blood pressure low, he was close to fainting a few times. He looked and acted lethargic. It was scary and I felt bad. We put him on Adderall instead and never looked back.
Our son switched to Strattera because it had less impact on his appetite. It worked fine for a while, but we felt like it's effectiveness wore off after a few months. We've switched back to the stimulant based medication.
Our 14 yr old has been taking ADHD medication since he was 6. We have worked with several doctors, all of whom have said Strattera is ineffective and worse, takes a long time before you know (and because it takes so long and people want so much for it to work, that they ascribe benefits that don't exist to outsiders, eg. teacher, etc). One of the benefits of trying regular stimulent medication is you know within hours if it is working, and it's out of one's system quickly. It's not permanent, doesn't build up, easily changed or discontinued. Good luck.
My son was diagnosed with ADD very early on. We tried everything (with the exception of Wellbutrin - a blood pressure medication being used "off label" for ADD at the time) including Straterra. It seemed clear to us that the stimulant-based meds were not helping. Evaluating the impacts of Strattera on a young child is VERY difficult. We ended up keeping him on it for years because we thought it might be helping. When we switched doctors, his new doctor wanted to try taking him off everything. The meltdowns (crying) my son was experiencing at school (this was middle school by then) magically disappeared as soon as he went off the Strattera - never to return. Needless to say - we felt terrible, and my son has a lasting aversion to ADD meds. I know we are in the minority here, but I think it's worth saying that there are some kids who simply do not benefit from ADD meds at all. And it's tough to gather reliable data from an 8-year old or even teachers, who are looking for signs of improvement during a medication trial. Good luck to you and your son.
My son tried both Vyvanse and Strattera as a teenager to control ADD symptoms. He was diagnosed much younger, and we held off on medications for a number of reasons. You didn't ask about Vyvanse, but I'll say for my son it was a disaster. He was able to sustain focus quite well for the first time ever which motivated me to tolerate his increased agitated behaviors toward me, and him to hide significant weight loss which left him medically unstable and constant picking at his skin which lead to scarring. He did not experience any benefit from the Strattera, perhaps because he was not on it long enough for it to take full effect as it caused very uncomfortable gastero-intestinal distress. He gave up trying ADD medications after that.
In retrospect, I regret the doctors did not suggest medicating anxiety as an underlaying concern that either presented as, or amplified, the ADD.