6 year old Starting Strattera

[FrankenMummy]

Hello! After a long internal struggle with realizing my son has ADHD, we decided to trial a medication with his pediatrician. He started him on strattera, which he said had to do with my son's hyperactivity, as he was thinking a stimulant might exacerbate the symptoms. I was thrown off, since first line of treatment is usually a stimulant, but decided to try it out since the earliest psychiatrist appointment we could get is in a month, so we can reevaluate at that time. We're now on day two and he's has a stomach ache and fallen asleep within an hour of the medication. It makes me so nervous giving this to him, and I know it takes a while to see a difference, but just wanted to know if anyone has had any success with this medication for their young child. I'm just nervous and seeing the initial effect truly has me freaked out! Just hoping to get some relief from my anxiety in hearing positive results!

[Snowseeker]

Hello!I remember the feelings you describe when our son started Strattera when he was 8. He will be 15 in June and it’s the only medication he has ever taken for his combination ADHD. He never tried stimulants because Strattera helped quite a bit with very few side effects . And because he is on the smaller side with slow growth curve and delayed puberty; so we were concerned that stimulants would reduce his appetite and make growth issue worse.

But initially, his reaction was the same as your son’s. He went from a child who never stopped moving (2 speeds: run and sleep), to being exhausted and falling asleep in the middle of the day. It’s very alarming at first! In those early months, we ended up switching the schedule so that he took the pill at night with food before bed instead of in the morning. That worked really well! We saw immediate signs of him doing things he had never done. For example: (1) sitting through an entire meal at a restaurant and (2) coloring a picture in the lines at the restaurant. His hyperactivity got much better and he felt happier at school with being able to concentrate better. He also had less conflict with classmates and friends. The daytime drowsiness went away when he took the pill at night.

I don’t remember when we switched to giving him the 25 mg pill in the morning but I think it was maybe 9 - 12 months later. His system had some time to get used to the medication and the daytime drowsiness was no longer an issue. As for heartburn or tummy aches-food and enough water seemed to usually help. Also, he has very rarely ever experienced heartburn with name brand Strattera (manufactured by Eli Lilly). I think Praxco generic brand is also made by Eli Lilly. It’s hard to know if it was just coincidence but the heartburn typically only ever happened with different generic brands not made by Lilly. It shouldn’t really matter but that seemed to be the case.

Good luck and if Strattera does help him with ADHD, the initial stark side effects may be short term. But it is so difficult to see that at first. For our son, the eventual benefits far outweighed the side effects, which in time, became very minor. Medication doesn’t solve everything but it can help make things much more manageable. Take care!