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:
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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.
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What benefits did it gave you ?
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Any prevailing side effects?
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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.
Accountability time: No “maybe” about it… You didn’t follow the instructions and then you say it didn’t work for you. Well of course not. You never gave it a chance.
This is like buying a nailgun and then ignoring all safety warnings, you use it like a hammer and accidentally shoot your kneecap with it. So you call it defective and return it to the store, telling everyone hammers work better for you. Okay, maybe that’s a strained analogy.
I was using it almost daily from the start and felt worse for it, so I started dreading taking it and quickly preferred no medication. I eventually finished it off and instead of getting a refill, I switched to something that worked great from the start and was cheaper.
I’m not saying it’s not a good medication, I even recommend it, but if it requires a strict schedule and that much of a miserable buildup just to still be worse than an alternative it’s simply not the right one for me.