Atomoxetine/ Strattera

[Pantoufle23]

Keen to hear from those who’ve tried or use this for adhd? Running out of options 😔. Thanks

My daughter started this about 8 weeks ago. Was in methylphenidate for a good while but due to appetite suppressant side effects was causing her to lose significant weight. It’s early days on this but it’s definitely better than nothing regarding her focus at home and not being too overwhelmed but she’s said it doesn’t help as much as medikinet with school distractions. She’s saw the psych yesterday who said it is more effective as time goes by so hopefully in another month it’ll be similar to medikinet. With adhd meds it really is suck it and see!!

We found ourselves in sane position as yourself with our child in the summer of 2020, having exhausted all other options and strategies in the face of lockdown and adjusting to home school.

Was the right decision after much resistance from us (mainly because stupid school were trying to forced us and that rang bells loudly). However, it's been of great benefit, introduced much better and consistent levels of calm, focus times have increased hugely.
Downside : sleep or rather the lack of it is an issue which never goes away- but we do have a largely calm, happy and curious child who is now able to sit, focus, learn and engage positively.
First set of meds were awful, but Strattera brought very notable results within a few weeks.

NotDonna & DoubleShotEspresso -if you see this I’d love to hear how things are going with atomoxetine ? Dd just started on it …

@Pantoufle23 sorry didn’t see your message until just now. If you put @ infront of posters name an email is sent.
She’s no longer on this as she felt it wasn’t working and I’d agree. She was a teeny tiny less hyper but inattentive as ever!
She’s now trialing Guanfacine, which makes her quite sleepy so takes it at night. Albeit it still quite sleepy but that could be the heat. It’s holidays so hard to know if working regarding her attentiveness. I’m not sure what’s happening because she’s flat & seems a bit dopey yet gets easily overwhelmed. Heat & teen or adhd & meds? Is also grumpy and snappy. Teen? Meds not great? Really hard to know what’s normal teen behaviour or adhd or meds.
Such a shame that medikinet caused such a huge weight loss as it was definitely the best for her adhd.
We’ve a psych review next week so will see what he says. I think we may have exhausted our options though.
How’s it going with you?

Hi @NotDonna and thanks for your reply. Sorry to hear it’s still not straightforward for your Dd either. Atomoxetine is our 5th med and unfortunately Dd only lasted 2 days on guanfacine (alongside Elvanse) as it totally wiped her out. We are 5 days into full dose of atomoxetine (2.5weeks total) and she seems to have more energy and be getting up in mornings but says there is nothing in terms of focus/helping with brain fog. We also have issues with heart rate as with stimulants. She’s going to give it til a week after term starts but I don’t know if a month at full dose will be enough. Wishing you all the best x