Elvanse or Atemoxetine? Really need advice and experience please

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My 14 year old DS is ASD and ADHD. Tried Medikinet very unsuccessfully last spring and although ok on 10mg, the change to 20 was awful and he sounded as though he was so slow that he was slurring his usual very fast speech. Also said he saw no point in life. Now being given the choice of Elvanse or Atemoxetine. I’m erring towards Elvanse, mainly because he can take a break from it. His struggles are really with chaotic and organised thinking / planning, so executive functioning really. Sleeps well and behaves ok although very talkative 😬

I’d really welcome peoples experiences of either or both. Thank you 😊

DS took elvanse for several years.
He took it first thing in the morning with his breakfast, it made him feel a little sick for the first week but that soon settled.
It suppressed his appetite a lot. He never ate. Once it started wearing off around 8/9pm he was starving and couldn’t fit food in his mouth fast enough!
His performance at school was improved on Elvanse, we could tell when his dose needed increasing when he’d had a growth spurt, it was really noticeable.
He decided to stop taking it as an older teen, I wish he had continued. His performance and work absolutely bombed in his GCSE year without it & he is now struggling in his first year in college but we can’t persuade him to re take it.

My 12 year old son who has asd and adhd takes Elvanse. He started age 8 and it took a while to get the best effect for him
with the least amount of side effects.
He had some nausea and headaches when he started but this settled after a few days with each dose change.
It changed his life at school, he can concentrate and is keeping up well in the class. It helped his self esteem as he doesn’t feel stupid (how he described himself) and prefers not to stop taking the meds for weekend or holidays. It really suppresses his appetite although this has changed a bit when he has a growth spurt. I make him food when it wears off from about 730pm and feed him as much as I can at weekends. At the moment he tells me he prefers how he feels on the medicine. I know his opinion might change as he gets older but for now the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Oh - my son also had to start taking melatonin at night time as he had quite bad rebound restlessness in the evening once the Elvanse wore off.

Thank you, think I’m erring towards Elvanse at the moment 😊

Good luck, it’s so difficult trying to make these decisions. Eventually I tried to think about it - not about whether we tried a medication but whether we kept our son on a particular medication, as there is always the option to stop and change. We also don’t give him a full dose as he seems very sensitive, eg he gets 16mls not 20 and that makes all the difference balancing side effects.