this post was submitted on 10 May 2024
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ADHD

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Hi !

Just to go straight to the point, my doctor is thinking of trying Strattera in me, since it was recently made available as a generic and I tend to have prevailing side effects with stimulant medication (ritalin, Rubifen, elvanse).

I have some questions that would like to hear from people that are/were on this medication to share:

  1. I understand this is non-stimulating and seems to work akin to an antidepressant. Therefore, do I have to take it every day? Even on days I do not need ? With stimulant medication I only take it when doing theoretical work, and skip it when on the laboratory or other minor tasks and would never take it in days I'm not working, because I can't just interact with people and gives me a baseline anxiety the whole day.

  2. What benefits did it gave you ?

  3. Any prevailing side effects?

  4. How does it compare with stimulant medication (after taking it for some weeks)?

For a bit of context:

I've been diagnosed for about 6 years now, and started with Ritalin XR. However, I could only keep using it for some months since it gave seriously side effects that persisted 3-5 months after stopping it. I later switched to Ritalin IR, which worked for some time and gave me less side effects. But it started to be ineffective after some months.

Then my doctor tried Elvanse (Vyvanse), it worked on keeping me focused, but the anxiety and the huge time frame of action of the drug led to me only taking it once or twice a week.

I'm now back on Ritalin IR, but always feel the anxiety and aversion to interact with people that I always feel with these 3 stimulants.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Straterra didn't do anything for me. Had no effect on my ADHD. Didn't have many side effects other than no dreams, which I only noticed after I stopped taking it.

I'm currently taking Vyvanse and it's starting to lose its efficacy. At first it gave me anxiety and other side effects but they all leveled out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Yeah the Vyvanse side effects wore off for me too, but so did it's efficacy over time even though I rarely take it every day. I did take it daily for a couple months recently though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

You could also take L-Tyrosine on days off to replenish your dopamine levels

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I've heard of people not taking it on weekends to keep that from happening. I haven't tried that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I did that for a while and (anecdotally) it only delayed the effectiveness from reducing, didn't stop it.