atomoxetine (strattera)

[shazian]

Does anyone know of any side effects of strattera. My ds aged 10 has been prescribed this to calm him down. At night he gets risperidone to make him sleep he's had this for over a year now so has little effect but because he's extremely hyper always, has now to take strattera during day as well. start at 25mg then upto 40mg. Really worried, as before i gave him concerta and he had every side effect, was like total maniac and as he doesnt communicate i never realised there was a problem and wee soul was hallucinating and everything. Would be great to know in advance of anything to look out for before i start giving him them.

My dd1 stopped eating when she was on this. We took her off it.
We also didn't see a marked change in her concentration

Sorry, someone came to the door!
But the Consultant was very keen on this drug, so I am sure many children will thrive on it. Just not my dd!
Good luck with it all

many thanks, suppose its all trial and error just hope this works, and my ds has pica which means he eats anything (even non edibles), so it maybe wont be a bad thing as long as he still eats some things :)

:)

DS1 is doing quite well on it - he was prescribed it rather than methylphenidate because of issues with severe anxiety and because he was already skipping meals. It doesn't give the ups and downs that methylphenidate does, although it does have documented side effects which you'll find if you google or check out wikipedia.

Thanks will google. What age is your ds1 and what dose does he get? Can you put tablets mixed in with something, because will have a problem trying to get my ds to take them. (still to collect prescription so dont have leaflet on it yet).

He's 7 and takes 18mg. Started on 10mg.

The tablets are capsules and what's in them tastes positively revolting, by all accounts (and as DS1 found out when he messed about and spat one out into his drink, one day. He never did that again :o)

When you start your DS on it, it takes a few weeks to really work, but we noticed improvements in a few days, once DS1 had got over a few days of being knocked out by it. What we have discovered is that we have to be really pro-active getting repeat prescriptions, though. Not all pharmacies carry it, so have to order it in and it's a drug that tends to be given dispensing limits. We've given up trying to get it from our local pharmacy because, even though they don't dispense it for anyone else, they've often exceeded their quota in the first few days of the month as an entire pharmacy chain. DH just takes the prescription to an ASDA or Tesco pharmacy, these days because they never seem to run out of quota or have to order in.

Thanks for your help. Put prescription in local chemist today, your right, not in stock. However pharmacist has said she will order in extra for me if ds is to be on it long term, so thats helpful. Dont want ds to be knocked out by it though he is extremely hyper, had general anaesthetic last year in hospital was supposed to be in bed for full day, half hour after it he was up running about,so we'll see how it goes. Positive thinking :)

The sleepiness was a short term effect, gone after the first couple of doses.

I'd be ineterseted to know how you and others get on with this too - ds also had bad reaction to methylphenidate and we would be keen to trial atomoxetine but he can't swallow the capsules. If anyone else has worked out way to teach dcs to swallow tablets, I'd be glad of their advice. Sorry for wandering off subject.

not yet started ds on this he hasnt been well and am waiting for him to get better before i start, will keep you updated :)

i did see a change in dd, she was able to sit still but was very miserable to such an extent it was stopped

with my other dd when she had long term capsules to take, we opened them up and sprinkled then onto a spoon of yogurt

i'll try the yoghurt then, cos ive no chance of ds swallowing a capsule, n he loves his yoghurts. thanks :)