Strattera symptoms and conditions

My 17 year old daughter is on Yasmin and has been for over a year. She is taking it to regulate her periods and heavy bleeding. We have not noticed any side effects at all. She has a learning disability and a low IQ. She is also on Buspar for anxiety which she has had long before Yasmin. She is also on Strattera for her ADD. Now, after reading and hearing about all these terrible side effects such as stroke, heart disease, kidney failure, blood clots, etc. I am going to ask our doctor about this. I read one post that said if you were on Yasmin and you had to take Motrin you should have blood tests...what kind if this is true? She just had her wisdom teeth out and has taken plenty of Motrin along with other pain medication. This is just way too scary....scared Mom in SC

My 10 year old son has taken Singulair on and off since he was 5 years old and has been on it for the past 3.5 years. My son at an early age was affected by a bad marriage and then the divorce when he was 5 yrs old. So we always suspected that his behavior issues were caused by this and I had done everything I possibly could to give them the help he needed to get over and through his issues. He was held back his first year of Kindergarden and during his second year midstream he was placed in a special class for behavioral problem children. Nothing ever seemed to help him, everytime we would see some progress and encouragement we were always blind sighted by a behavior that was always worse. Two steps forward and them 5 steps backwards. I always knew that his problems would never get better overnight so I just kept on going. He was diagnosed with ADHD but because he has some ticking issues I had to put him on Strattera which was did not do a thing for him. I always described him as my Dr. Jeckyll/ Mr. Hyde child. He could be really good and sit still and behave but I think he had to try really hard to do so. He eventually was always overpower by the impulse to show negative behaviors. Defiant, extremely impulsive, always negative and completely miserable all the time. He also went through phases of compulsions. There was always a compulsion of the month- germs, bathroom habits, noises, repetitive words. He hated school and always complained of a stomach ache which i thought he was always faking to get out of school. He had confrontations in school everyday for most of the day. I often thought some of this was because of being tired all the time. We had battled over bedtime every single night. He was terrified to go to bed alone, I tried everything to get him to sleep alone. I wore myself out falling asleep next to him, I would then go to my own bed only to be up with him half the night going back and forth. I gave in many a night and slept with him just so we could get a good nights sleep. At age 8.5 I finally got him to go to sleep alone but the lights haf to be on and he has to know that I am still awake before he will fall asleep. He would always say he didn't want to go to sleep because when he does he has bad thoughts about me and people that he loves. He always had an extremely hard time excepting the word "no"- he would flip out and hit his head with whatever was handy, throw things, break things, scream holler etc. It would take hours to get over it. When he did he would be very remorseful and lovable. He was always in turmoil. Finally in February of this year, this graduated to a new level where he would want to just kill himself and would actually go and pull a knife out of the drawer and just shake with anger as he held the knife to his throat. I was terrified although i really didn't think he was going to harm himself he just wanted to scare me. Then at the end of March when i first heard the news about the possible side effects of Singulair, I had only heard about the suicide effect. Oh great just what I needed was this medicine causing him to do that. The doctor was thinking about taking him off if this summer because he wanted to see if he out grew his seasonal allergies so I took him off immediately. Well I had no idea about the other side effects until my son turned into a completely different kid. School noticed a huge difference in him! His grades went up, his is able to control his behavior, he is happy he is NORMAL. I never suspected this drug as the culprit due to the timing of taking it. Our lives have changed completely. When i first found this site, it seemed as though some of the parents were writing about my child. It is amazing. My son still has some old habits to break but overall he is a wonderful and normal 10 year old boy. He did not outgrow his seasonal allergies but Allegra seems to help in through it. I get so angry- his whole early childhood was ruined by this medicine. He is a labled kid in our school system. This whole experience has opened up my eyes. Thank you for letting me share my story.

My 8 year old son was started on Concerta a few months ago, has severe ADHD & Bipolar Disorder Type 2. He has become more agitated, very short fuse with 7 year old brother, hallucinations - visual of a movie thats coming out - kinda like a harry potter but more creepy, but I'm not sure if it is the concerta or the combo w/ his celexa and risperdal. I increased his risperdal from .75 mg to 1 mg, and it seems to help. He has alot of personal things going on also that could be contributing, any ideas if this could be the concerta or the combo? His Dr is having us get an MRI and a Neurophysical exam to rule out anything physical causing the effects, wants to cover all bases before changing meds. Any feedback welcome (he has been on the celexa and risperdal for a few years now and I know they are not the cause, I have extensive experience with these two meds, just not the concerta) We have also tried Strattera, but it made him too sleepy as it is a non stimulant. Thank you

My son was prescribed Strattera for ADD. 25 mg for three days,
but when the dosage increased to 40 mgs, it was a nightmare.

This was the worst medicine I have ever had my 12 yr old son take. He lost his appetite, had insomnia for several weeks and behaved like he was in a stupor when he was awake.
I would NEVER EVER have him take this drug again and I do not
recommend it to anyone else.

Strattera was terrible. I do not recommend this drug or any other drug that just came out. Adderall and Ritalin and such might be more likely for abuse but those have been around for years and years and at least you know the worst that you can happen to you.

Strattera made me depressed and tired. Made me concentrate even less than normal. My heart rate would be at about 125 beats per minute and I'd be sweating buckets when normally I'm cold easily and prefer hotter climate. The next minute I'd be freezing cold with chills all over my body. Nausea was extreme as well as the urge to vomit. The thought of food made me sick. It gave me blurred vision.

I wasn't able to do anything but sit at home and hope it would pass.

DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG.

My son was put on singulair in fifth grade and I watched as an A student all thru elementary school all of a sudden be diagnosed with ADD in middle school and be hospitalized with major depression by 8th grade. Put on antidepressants,Strattera along with still taking Singulair. Grades improved slightly thru 9,10,11 but last year took him off everything and now in 12th grade -he is straight A's. Only YOU know your child best! This is hindsight but I do believe problems started with Singulair and stopped with Singulair!

just started taking Adderall, though i am not prescribed. I went to my doctor and asked for it but she said no. I explained that I am often overwhelmed at work, I am a case manager and keeping on task with all of the work is hard. My doctor said when she was in med school, med students used to take it for that purpose.So anyway i bought 5 pills from a coworker. I seem to have super human energy, get all types of work done and stay focused all day. On the down side, in 5 days I have lost 3lbs., I want to lose weight, but not that fast. I have what I consider to be Adderall hangovers the next day, where I am extremely tired. I also have noticed severe headaches, every day that I have taken it, I crash by the end of the day at work and cant wait to get home, because I am so tired. My neck aches, and I had to change to a firmer chair at work, because all of a sudden my back is killing me, I also get insomnia and have to counteract the Aderall with Tylenol pm just to get to sleep. These side effects freak me out, and I don't know if I want to again ask my doctor for a script, but I get so much done at work, and I am heading back for grad school, I just don't know what to do? oh yeah, the pills that I bought were Adderall XR 30 mg.

I am going to begin taking 25 mg of Topamax at bedtime tonight. After reading all of these posts I am a scared. I was prescribed Topamax for bipolar disorder. I am currently taking Lamictal as well. I always gain weight on psychotropic drugs and need to lose about 15 lbs (all of which I have gained over the course of being on Lamictal). Any who-my psychiatrist said that this medication may help counteract the weight gain I have experienced. Although I do not consider my self an overeater now. I do hope that it helps me to not like the taste of sodas though. I am addicted to Mt. Dew and caffeine, which I wouldn't mind stopping. Anyway, I am supposed to increase my dosage by 25mg per week until I reach 75mg per day. I am also supposed to go back and see my doctor before I increase the dosage beyond 75mg. I just hope I do not have the horrible side effects I have read here. Some of them I know I can deal with especially if they are temporary but the anxiety/depression/shortness of breath/lack of energy/morbid thoughts are the main ones that concern me. My psychiatrist said that with this medication I should drink plenty of water. He said that it could cause headaches and other side effects if I'm not sure to drink plenty of fluids with this medication. So, I am planning on hydrating myself really well today before taking it this evening. I'll post back and let you know how the side effects are going. Is anyone else on a combination of Lamictal and Topamax or on it for bipolar disorder? I'd like to hear more of your experiences.

So far the only side effect i've found was sweating incresed, not really a big problem to me, i've been taking strattera as well the side effects from that are far far worse than wellbutrin, i've been taking bupropion 75mg, going to increase after 1 week.

My daughter is 12 yrs old and has taken geodon along w/other 3 other meds. Lithium, risperidal & strattera. She is not able to verbalize what she is feeling. But I have noticed that she is sleeping alot. She was also just released from hospital for hematoma in her after having blood drawn. Does anyone no if Geodon or other meds that i mentioned can cause hematomas.

I think that a patient needs to give the meds at least 1-2 months to really see what it can do. I have been on Wellbutrin for 10 years and am currently taking 200mg qam. I had decreased my dosage from 200mg bid(2 times a day) because I had started taking Strattera. Well I am going back up to 400mg a day because it is like night and day. I am really short tempered, experience more depression and am ready to pull my hair out. Thanks to the Strattera I am able to control my impulsive behavior and focus on the present!!! Maybe if time isn't helping your side effects you should talk to your physician about adding another med to help the problem. Some times it takes a lot of miss and hit to finally find the right thing. Have an open mind and see what your doctor says. You don't have anything to lose, only gain. You won't know unless you try. Good luck!! Keep up the communication it really helps to talk about these issues.

Margaret
San Diego