Lowering Atomoxetine daily dose due to high pulse. Anyone had this resolving after lowering daily dose?

My son has been doing well on Atomoxetine 1.2mg per 1 kg body weight. Unfortunately now his pulse is consistently high at rest- over 120.

His dose will be slightly lowered to see if this will do any difference to his pulse. I am worried that it won’t make any difference and that we will be back to square one, trying yet another medication. I suppose this time Guanfacine…

I am worried that Guanfacine also will give some adverse reactions and then what next… It’s scary because Atomoxetine really works fine for him.

Has anyone had a positive story with lowering pulse when reducing daily dose of Atomoxetine?

Any feedback from parents whose kids had to stop Atomoxetine because of high pulse? What medication did you go for next?

[Bobsi]

Hi, Pattimum, my son is taking strattera, sertex and risperdal and his pulse has been going up on some days, its not everyday but had happened and his doctor does not want to lower the strattera dose, he downed the risperdal and hoping that does the trick.

[Hidden in reply to Bobsi]

Thanks for sharing. It must be that the other meds that your son is on also can cause raised pulse? At least for your son it’s not constant high pulse. It seems your son get palpitations? And then they stop?

I keep checking my son’s pulse randomly different times of day and night and even at night it’s 94 and supposedly when people sleep pulse should significantly go down.

I noticed that when it’s slightly over 100 then the doctors are still fine with that as during the previous medication review it was already 105 but now it’s way higher and the doctor is concerned.

I even started being ‘paranoid’ 😉and blaming Covid vaccination that my son had in September and then another one in December… It just strangely coincided that at the time he had a Covid vaccine he also had medication increase and then his pulse went up. Maybe it was too much for his body- the Covid vaccine and the medication that can also affect heart health…

[Bobsi in reply to Hidden]

Pattimum i will check him randomly, thanks for the tip. I can understand that we become a little paranoid but its because the changes we see in our kids are real qnd the doctors dont live with us so they sometimes minimize symptoms.

[Hidden in reply to Bobsi]

Yes exactly. For the doctors it’s a job and for us it’s our kids.

I think they should have checked his heart before commencing with the medication anyway as he has a history of a heart murmur. And then you are seen by another doctor and he listens to the heart (but just with the stethoscope) and he says ‘I can’t hear any murmur’. And I wonder is it because National Health System is at its limits and they don’t want to refer for expensive checks such as ECG etc.

So I tell them I’d like to use my private insurance but this time family doctor ‘didn’t feel it’s necessary to refer’ even to private.

I suppose it’s tricky as in our health insurance ADHD is excluded so if this referral goes via family doctor then insurance covers but if it goes via the paediatric psychiatrist then insurer will say that’s not covered.

I suppose in US it’s the same, it’s the maze of what’s covered and what not on the insurance!

But his pulse is still high even though the Atomoxetine dose is slightly lowered. So we will see…