Jules was just officially diagnosed with this and put on Straterra. We *think* Jen may have it too, her therapist suggested it last year, but she has not been officially diagnosed.

Anyone with older/grown kids diagnosed with ADD?

By Lauram on Friday, March 19, 2004 - 02:20 pm:

I believe my father and brother have undiagnosed ADHD (but had it through childhood as well). My son (age 6) takes Strattera.

By Tink on Sunday, April 25, 2004 - 04:30 pm:

Ok, I'm a little late getting here, but my dh was just diagnosed 6 weeks ago and prescribed Strattera. He is noticing a few side effects. Does anyone have any advice? Will these go away if he is on this longer? Should we try a different medication already?

By Happynerdmom on Monday, April 26, 2004 - 10:41 am:

My son,11, is on Straterra. They started him on 60mg. The med made him nauseous when he took it in the morning, so we switched him to night with no problems. He also complained of waking up a lot at night when he first started it, but that went away after a few weeks. But, he wasn't eating enough and lost too much weight, (I told the dr. I wanted some!LOL) so they lowered his dosage to 40mg and now we notice no side effects. Now, he can even take it in the morning with no nausea. So, from my experience, some side effects disappear after a few weeks, but if they persist, the dosage may need to be lowered. We've been extremely satisfied with Straterra. We were worried about personality changes, but with this med, he's still the same goofy kid, only now he can concentrate!

By Lauram on Monday, April 26, 2004 - 03:10 pm:

I have to say- I'm not happy with Strattera right now. My son did have side effects at the beginning- mostly nausea and vomiting and some appetite loss, but they have disappeared. He's been on it for a year now. He takes 18 mg in the Am and 18mg in the PM. It's not working anymore. We have noticed in the last month a steady decrease in effectiveness. I'm so bummed. I don't want to have him increase the dosage because then that puts him over the recommended doses. I'm willing to try a stimulant at this point-even though they all say not to if you have Tourette's. We'll see. We have a parent mtg with his psychologist on Saturday and an appt with the neurologist on May 27th.

By Happynerdmom on Monday, April 26, 2004 - 04:20 pm:

Laura, I'm glad you posted. I've heard that before, that Strattera didn't work after a while in some kids. My son has been on it almost a year, and so far, so good. But, I think it's important to know that is a possibility. I can understand you being bummed...I can imagine how frustrated I would be if it stopped working. Good luck. (((Laura)))

By Tink on Monday, April 26, 2004 - 08:39 pm:

Thanks for the replies but my dh's side effects seem to be more "adult" related. They also just upped his dosage from 80 mg to 100 because he was "crashing" after about 10 hours after he took it. So I'm a little worried that it will only make it worse. We'll see...

By Cat on Monday, April 26, 2004 - 08:48 pm:

Robin's been on Strattera since about November. We also had to switch to him taking it at night because he was throwing up every morning at school. He takes 75mg right now and his pdoc said he'd like to increase the dose when school starts this fall. We did notice a slight weight loss, but now that he's on Zyprexa also, that's taken care of that. The kid gained 10lbs in two weeks! Thankfully, that side effect tapered off! He is at a good weight now (75lbs-10 1/2 years old). The stimulants really made him irratable, which is very common with bipolar people, so this is really our only option at this time for his ADHD.

Laura, has your son gained weight recently? That could make the med less effective. I really hope you don't have to resort to stimulants with his tourette's. Robin had a few small tics when he first started dexadrine (way back in 1st grade). I have heard, however, in very small doses Ritilan can be effective without causing/amplifing tics. (Please don't pay attention to my spelling!lol) Good luck at his appointment. Let us know how it's going. {{{{{Laura}}}}}

Karen (Original poster with the questions!), when we rented a couple of years ago our neighbor and his son both had ADHD. He was in his late 30's/early 40's and his son was 18. This man was on a small dose of ritilan and you'd never know he had ADHD. He owned a successful roofing business since he was 20 and was doing very well for himself. I don't know if his son was medicated or not, but he was a great kid and really seemed to have it together. ADD/ADHD is very managable. Good luck to both Jules and Jen.

By Lauram on Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - 08:34 am:

Cat- he's gained 2 1/2 pounds since last year. We doubled his dose in September. More would put him over the recommended dose. I'm scared about that. THe neurologist has counter research that says that stimulants don't necessarily amplify tics. It's a small sample though. Honestly, I think the ADHD is worse than the tics at this point though. I wouldn't want to have to medicate the tics though. It's so difficult- all these decisions....

By Cat on Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - 12:07 pm:

{{{{{Laura}}}}} I'm so there with you. I don't know if you saw my post on the main board, but I'm looking into the Feingold program. If it seems like it would be worth it, we might give it a try. Couldn't hurt.

By Lauram on Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - 12:49 pm:

I don't know what that is- but I'm going to look now on the main board....