Strattera
Ummm yeah so I just wrote a whole freakin' essay on my ADD and specifically my recent experience with Strattera... and figured after going to all that effort I should post it here too...
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I figured that I should maybe chime in with a positve report on Strattera... seeing as how it seems to be universally negative results that have been posted.
I've been on strattera (60mg/day I'm 140ish lbs) for about a year and a half now and loving it. well as much as is possible anyway. but definitly likeing it.
Quick run down of my ADD history:
All the classic symptoms through school (temper, day dreaming, never completing anything ever etc) but since I could read for hours on end and really didn't have anything that would be mistaken for a hyperactive disposition, was never diagnosed despite a couple of occasions when they tried to figure out my temper (diagnosis at the time was "your friends are jerks")
Anyway was finally dianosed in second year of uni... and went right on to Dexedrine... which despite a brief trial of ritalin has always been my favorite... my dosages varied (5-80mg/day) depending on any number of things but I usually tried to keep it at a minimum (5-20mg/day) or on an "as needed" basis... my biggest compaint was always that it left me completely crashed in the evenings... absolutly useless for everything and anything...
by comparison Straterra does have maddening sideffects and requires a much stricter adherence to taking it at the same time every day.. but that's to be expected with something that is more akin to the antidepressants (SSRIs) than the CNSs...
Nausea: particularly when I started the nausea was really bad when i took it first thing in the morning. I tried taking before bed but was not able to rest well (was tossing and turning all night) so I switched back to the morning.. but only after I've eaten and that's resolved virtually all of the nausea issue.
The only other time that nausea has been an issue is when I've been doing physical activity.. this hasn't been a problem recently but for the first few months going rock climbing etc would put my into a nauseaus fetal position pretty quickly. Regardless of the cause ofthe nausea LOTS of water always helped.
Drowsiness: I cannot (should not) drive in the morning after taking Strattera. about half an hour after taking it, it becomes impossible to keep my eyes open. Fortunatly I ride the train into work so don't often have to deal with this... I'm pretty sure that taking it with coffee/energy drink (god I love B vits and amino acids) might help solve it... interestingly a 10-15 minute walk after taking it also seems to solve this... as does a nap of course.. but I still need to figure out the exact parameters
Constipation: this was an issue for a while.. I'd have to wait and take the staraterra late every once in a while to allow my body time to figure things out in the morning. doesn't seem to be so much of an issue now. but fiber is good.
The "peeing" thing: sometime it take a whole lot of work/thought to pee. and sometimes it feels absoloutly amazing when I do... I havn't figured this one out yet... just gotta remember to keep well hydrated.
"Sexual side effects": I think my Libido is if anything more active on this stuff than normal, but... keeping a full erection takes alot more effort and is easily lost... that I can deal with.. for now anyway since Sara is in Russia. I also find that more often when I ejaculate, it doesn't quite get all of the cum all the way out. it takes a bit of attention/kneading/pernerium pressure to completely "clear the pipes." If I forget to do this and then pee sometime afterwards it hurts... rather alot. I think that there is something going on with my PC muscle or something related that's wonky on Straterra. I find that the risk of this scenario rises with the length of time that I've been aroused prior to ejaculation and that's probably the worst part about it. Anyway on the plus side it seems to be getting less frequent with "practice"
...and it's giving me an excuse to practice tantra (which I never had the attention/patience for prior to strattera) I'm still a bit to impatient to have gotten ver far with that tho
Others: Ocassional headaches... but I actually think that they might have more to do with my energy drink habit and caffeine withdrawal since they're a relativly new occurance..
I also usually get headaches by sometime around noon if I for get to take the straterra... which is actually a helpful reminder!
BUT!!! despite all of these hurdles... wow.. I mean seriously straterra is great for me. it lets me get on with doing stuff that needs to be done but doesn't string me out... I never get the random motor mouth thing that I used to... and look! I can write coherant post (I think) without wandering away!!!! It is very different than the Rit or Dex experience but over all it makes me feel like a normal person.. I get a bit distracted sometimes.. (work) but when some thing needs to be done I can do it! at the same time I don't feel like I've lost any of the spontenaity/quirkyness/genius or anything else that I've always really liked about ADD
Oh I should also say that a couple of months ago I went with out it for a month (tried both going without any drugs and going back to my remaining stock of the dexedrine) it was a classic case of "oh my meds are going to run out soon! oh and i'm out of refills.. damn need to set up a doctors apointment some time" for a month and then the following month with no meds of course it was even more challenging to get my shit together (to make the one damned phone call) anyway the point is that during that month I got crazy behind at work and got nothing done outside of work and had crazy flashbacks to the out of control roller coaster that used to be day to day life... it wasn't much fun...
I'd be interested in hearing about anyone else who has stuck it out with strattara.... it's been my experience that it's gets better and with less sideffects th longer you stay with it.
ummm wow that really is long... didn't mean for it to go on like that! oops
----------
I figured that I should maybe chime in with a positve report on Strattera... seeing as how it seems to be universally negative results that have been posted.
I've been on strattera (60mg/day I'm 140ish lbs) for about a year and a half now and loving it. well as much as is possible anyway. but definitly likeing it.
Quick run down of my ADD history:
All the classic symptoms through school (temper, day dreaming, never completing anything ever etc) but since I could read for hours on end and really didn't have anything that would be mistaken for a hyperactive disposition, was never diagnosed despite a couple of occasions when they tried to figure out my temper (diagnosis at the time was "your friends are jerks")
Anyway was finally dianosed in second year of uni... and went right on to Dexedrine... which despite a brief trial of ritalin has always been my favorite... my dosages varied (5-80mg/day) depending on any number of things but I usually tried to keep it at a minimum (5-20mg/day) or on an "as needed" basis... my biggest compaint was always that it left me completely crashed in the evenings... absolutly useless for everything and anything...
by comparison Straterra does have maddening sideffects and requires a much stricter adherence to taking it at the same time every day.. but that's to be expected with something that is more akin to the antidepressants (SSRIs) than the CNSs...
Nausea: particularly when I started the nausea was really bad when i took it first thing in the morning. I tried taking before bed but was not able to rest well (was tossing and turning all night) so I switched back to the morning.. but only after I've eaten and that's resolved virtually all of the nausea issue.
The only other time that nausea has been an issue is when I've been doing physical activity.. this hasn't been a problem recently but for the first few months going rock climbing etc would put my into a nauseaus fetal position pretty quickly. Regardless of the cause ofthe nausea LOTS of water always helped.
Drowsiness: I cannot (should not) drive in the morning after taking Strattera. about half an hour after taking it, it becomes impossible to keep my eyes open. Fortunatly I ride the train into work so don't often have to deal with this... I'm pretty sure that taking it with coffee/energy drink (god I love B vits and amino acids) might help solve it... interestingly a 10-15 minute walk after taking it also seems to solve this... as does a nap of course.. but I still need to figure out the exact parameters
Constipation: this was an issue for a while.. I'd have to wait and take the staraterra late every once in a while to allow my body time to figure things out in the morning. doesn't seem to be so much of an issue now. but fiber is good.
The "peeing" thing: sometime it take a whole lot of work/thought to pee. and sometimes it feels absoloutly amazing when I do... I havn't figured this one out yet... just gotta remember to keep well hydrated.
"Sexual side effects": I think my Libido is if anything more active on this stuff than normal, but... keeping a full erection takes alot more effort and is easily lost... that I can deal with.. for now anyway since Sara is in Russia. I also find that more often when I ejaculate, it doesn't quite get all of the cum all the way out. it takes a bit of attention/kneading/pernerium pressure to completely "clear the pipes." If I forget to do this and then pee sometime afterwards it hurts... rather alot. I think that there is something going on with my PC muscle or something related that's wonky on Straterra. I find that the risk of this scenario rises with the length of time that I've been aroused prior to ejaculation and that's probably the worst part about it. Anyway on the plus side it seems to be getting less frequent with "practice"
...and it's giving me an excuse to practice tantra (which I never had the attention/patience for prior to strattera) I'm still a bit to impatient to have gotten ver far with that tho
Others: Ocassional headaches... but I actually think that they might have more to do with my energy drink habit and caffeine withdrawal since they're a relativly new occurance..
I also usually get headaches by sometime around noon if I for get to take the straterra... which is actually a helpful reminder!
BUT!!! despite all of these hurdles... wow.. I mean seriously straterra is great for me. it lets me get on with doing stuff that needs to be done but doesn't string me out... I never get the random motor mouth thing that I used to... and look! I can write coherant post (I think) without wandering away!!!! It is very different than the Rit or Dex experience but over all it makes me feel like a normal person.. I get a bit distracted sometimes.. (work) but when some thing needs to be done I can do it! at the same time I don't feel like I've lost any of the spontenaity/quirkyness/genius or anything else that I've always really liked about ADD
Oh I should also say that a couple of months ago I went with out it for a month (tried both going without any drugs and going back to my remaining stock of the dexedrine) it was a classic case of "oh my meds are going to run out soon! oh and i'm out of refills.. damn need to set up a doctors apointment some time" for a month and then the following month with no meds of course it was even more challenging to get my shit together (to make the one damned phone call) anyway the point is that during that month I got crazy behind at work and got nothing done outside of work and had crazy flashbacks to the out of control roller coaster that used to be day to day life... it wasn't much fun...
I'd be interested in hearing about anyone else who has stuck it out with strattara.... it's been my experience that it's gets better and with less sideffects th longer you stay with it.
ummm wow that really is long... didn't mean for it to go on like that! oops
posted by Syrrys |
12:19 am
2 Comments:
So who was the original to? I 'm glad you like strattera though, it makes you a nicer person to deal with in the evenings (when I'm there) than the dexedrine :)
Ah getting comments :)
it was originally on the ADD forum @ sg... there were lots of people who weren't very happy with their experiences with it but then none of them seemed to have stuck with it for very long. Most just gave up as soon as it didn't work as quick as the dex.
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