r/StratteraRx

I started taking Atomoxetin almost 10 weeks ago. Went up from 25mg to 40mg after the first week. I loved the first effects of calmness and reduced anxiety. Then the tiredness began and life became hell. I experimented with the dosing time and stuck with taking it before bedtime, which helped a lot.

Yesterday I had a follow up appointment with my psychiatrist, where I described how tired it was making me. My Dr. was kind of surprised that it had the effect of a sedative on me. We were debating about how to move on from here. But since I liked the initial calmness and reduced anxiety, we decided to stick to the 40mg and wait for a bit longer.

Now all of a sudden, like a switch was flipped over night, I feel stimulated. My heart rate is a bit elevated but nothing concerning (resting heart rate at 79 instead of approx. 60) and I feel way more energized and motivated. For now it has no negative effect on my anxiety, which is great. I hope it stays this way.

I am very confused by this drug. I have tried a lot of psych meds in my life but this is definitely the weirdest of them all.

I hated stimulants so I asked my doc for straterra. Been on 80 mg since beginning of april with a 1 week break when i was on vacation and forgot to bring it with me. I get tired/sleepy about 4 hours after taking and tried taking it at night for about a week but it has a mild stimulant effect where it disrupts my sleep.

It has been GREAT at calming my racing thoughts and anxiety. I do comprehend more when I read or listen I've noticed. Motivation and focus...not so much I wish it helped more.

i've noticed many users here take both wellbutrin and straterra so i'm thinking of asking my doc for this.

23F, I have been on 25mg for two weeks now and the first week was fine but the second week I am finding it very difficult to focus on anything. I find myself staring at the distance with no thoughts and I can’t get myself to do anything. And I’m also finding myself feeling in general more suicidal. Are these side effects temporary? Will they go away eventually? I really want this medication to work because im tired of ADHD.
Any tips or words of reassurance are appreciated.

so i haven't had more than one drink at a time maybe 4 times total since starting strattera. yesterday i had half of a vodka lemonade at chilis and was pouring sweat, feeling like i was woozy and about to pass out. it wasn't an intoxicated feeling, but an "im going down" feeling. kinda similar to heat exhaustion.

well i have a party that im obligated to on the 23rd that im very nervous about; therefore i may be having 2-3 drinks.

my question is: should i stop taking strattera the day before if i plan on drinking?
are the EXTREME hot flashes normal?
AND are they co related?

Hi everyone,

I was prescribed strattera for what we presume is ADHD. I wanted to ask your thoughts on if I should start this medication now or if I should hold off for a few months.

Note, I have never taken any medication for adhd before.

Essentially I have a huge exam in August. I struggle severely with focus, especially reading, and am excited about the prospect of potentially improving my focus and staying on task.

I have heard however, that this medication takes a while to come into effect, and that some of the early side effects are rough.

Given I’m about 3 months out from my exam, would starting this medication now be a bad idea? Do you think I will have time to adjust? I’m studying for the exam now, and am afraid it might mess up the strategies I am currently using to help me study despite the difficulties I experience daily.

FWIW: I have strong family hx of adhd, and have been diagnosed by a psychiatrist. I am not taking this just to try and boost my exam score. My exam is important, but treating this horrendous ability to maintain focus is priority.

Thank you!

TL;DR - Is it a bad idea to start this medication a few months before a huge exam?

I'm starting Strattera tomorrow and heard the early side effects can be gnarly. I want to get ahead of it if I can.

I'm planning on getting some ginger/anti-nausea tea and I'm expected to sleep a lot (hopefully at 'normal' hours).

Anything else you'd recommend or found came in handy the first couple weeks? Thanks.

I have the Rising generic but I heard that other generics perform better. Is this true? I don’t know if I even have the option to change my generic brand.

idk if this is important, but I’m combined type adhd, 5”3 female and 115lbs.

I was put on 40mg daily strattera after begging my doctors for MONTHS for adhd meds, due to your typically lack of focus, motivation, and general forgetfulness. I started off taking my meds in the morning with a meal. Within my first week, I was experiencing extreme nausea, vomiting my first couple days of taking it and otherwise just feeling sick. I had a complete loss of appetite, hot and cold flashes, and increased tiredness. While I did notice that I was accomplishing more benign tasks in a timely manner, and day to day time management became better, I still struggled with schoolwork and my meds didn’t seem to help with that. At my one month week checkup It turned out that I had lost 7 pounds, despite having stayed the around same weight for the previous 4 years. My doctor kept me on my meds, but scheduled a checkup for my weight on the 2 month mark. Unfourtunatly, I didn’t last that long. I wasn’t seeing good enough advantages in comparison to the disadvantages and quit cold turkey. I tried to take them again (this time at night) about 3 weeks later per my doctors suggestion, but didn't stay consistent enough, and ended up quitting again.

At this point I’ve probably been off Strattera since March/February but have still been experiencing symptoms, almost as if the meds changed my body chemistry. Before taking my meds, I wasn’t really a sweaty person, but during my meds I was experiencing EXTREME cold and hot flashes, that would sometimes fluctuate minute to minute. I had to wear tanks and hoodies, just to take my hoodie on and off all day. I also was just super sweaty, my deodorant stopped working and during drives I started sweating through my shirts. While off my meds I don’t go through hot and cold flashes as much, or as extreme as I used to, i still get them on occasion. I also am ALWAYS sweaty now, and bring extra shirts with me when I go places.
Before taking my meds, I used to drink straight vodka, no limits, with no vomit or hangovers. However, when I drank on my meds on new years (using the skipping day before + day of method) while I only drank 1/3 of what my friends drank, I ended up tossing cookies and passing out at 10pm (and couldnt even be woken up when the ball dropped). When i woke up, I had the worst hangover of my life, and was vomiting from when I woke up at 7, to noon. I blamed it on the four loko and attempted to drink later, only for a similar experience to occur. Now, almost 3 months off my meds, I can’t drink. Even a sip makes my stomach clench and I start to feel nauseous and sick. Can taking strattera leave you with permanent symptoms? Or am I just stretching two unrelated things.

TLDR: girl used to drink and party, and never sweat, but when she started meds, she experienced hot and cold flashes and extreme sweatiness, and threw up everytime she ingested alchohal. Now, 3 months after quitting, she’s still a sweaty and sick girl and is wondering if it’ll ever go away.

I’m very frustrated. We had been on Straterra, very low dose, even lower than the recommended dose for 5 months. While the beginning brought physical and emotional side effects, we quickly got through them, especially when we lowered the dose. And then the benefits were great. long story, short, we had a two week disruption where he didn’t take it consistently for two weeks. Once we restarted with consistency, it was awful. We lowered the dose, but he still has daily meltdowns 5 weeks in. It has improved slightly, but it wasn’t this way before. There isn’t another med option as we’ve tried them all (stimulants are the worst), and it worked so well before.

What am I missing? I don’t know if we should lower it or increase it. Doctor is no help. He is also on guanfacine, and I wonder if that combo could cause a problem, but he has been on it for a year, and the combo wasn’t an issue before. We are going to trial dropping G this summer.

Has anyone been successful on this med and then restarted it and had worse side effects? It’s very separation anxiety-related and peaks in the morning and evening. Middle of the day, he’s fine. Intermediate metabolizer. He takes strattera in the morning after breakfast

i thought the title was a funny way to say it. am i just depressed from playing roblox all day or is straterra fucking me up two doses in? because i know it literally takes a month to build up in your system, i just want some extra reassurance. i forgot to take it last night so i took it two nights ago + one ts afternoon. i dont wanna eat like at all and i am feeling insecure and emotional. my poor boyfriend 😭 ... i also take Wellbutrin 300XL so could it be the inconsistent medicating + different dose of wellbutrin.

im sorry if this is a dumb question it could easily be the wellbutrin but my wellbutrin doesnt kill my apetite anymore and my libido is suddenly so low so im confused. if anything itd be placebo, right? sorry💀

I’m currently on Wellbutrin XL 300mg and it helps emotional regulation a little but really none of my ADHD symptoms go away. Stimulants are not an option because of the shortage. I was wondering what kind of experiences you had on Strattera + what dose you are on. I am desperate and really want Strattera to work because Wellbutrin and Qelbree didn’t work for me. I preferably want the experiences to be in depth but you don’t have to. ADHD is just hard for me and affecting my whole life.

Recently the last 3ish weeks my eyes have been really dry and itchy. I wake up with blurred vision and takes a few seconds to go away. I have to keep rubbing and blinking sometimes it takes longer. I’ve been on 25mg for about 2ish months maybe more

I'm wondering if people use Strattera to treat medical issues besides ADHD and what kind of luck they have when they do.

I have never been officially diagnosed with ADHD, but my doctor says I have strong ADHD tendencies. I take amantadine for executive dysfunction and brain fog, possibly a remnant of years-ago chemo be that never fully resolved.

The amantadine helps somewhat but I still have gaps (especially but not only task initiation). I asked my doctor about Strattera and she thinks it makes sense so we're going to discuss it at our next appointment.

Does everyone here who takes it use it strictly for ADHD? If you use it for other issues, please share.

Side effects aside, does anyone feel that they actually got better results at a lower dose? It doesn't seem sensical, but my doctor told me that some drugs at lower doses have entirely different results, such as lower doses of trazodone make people sleepy, but higher doses don't. So I am wondering if too much Strattera lessens the effects?

I’ve noticed that for a few days, maybe a week or two each month (I’m bad at counting time lol) but I’m completely scatterbrained, can’t remember what someone said 2 seconds ago, can barely control what comes out of my own mouth, become lazy af and also depressed. It’s like a night and day difference to how I normally feel with this med but those few days are hell. Anyone else experience this?

Alright, here we go.

I started with 40mg for 4 weeks. After that period, I began noticing some improvement, but I realized it still wasn’t enough for what I needed regarding my executive functioning and my life overall.

I was also feeling pretty depressed. And I want to be honest about this: from the very beginning, I had expectations that atomoxetine would help with my depression too. I know many people insist that it’s “not an antidepressant,” but I believe that, in some cases — like mine — depression can be deeply connected to ADHD. So improving ADHD symptoms can indirectly improve depression as well.

And in my case, it definitely did.

After that, I moved up to 80mg and stayed there for 8 weeks. Honestly, it was a very difficult period.

Until around the seventh week, I dealt with intense fatigue, anhedonia, lack of motivation to do anything, and a constant feeling that things had no meaning. During the first weeks, my depression actually got worse. My communication abilities dropped dramatically — probably by around 50%.

I also spent an absurd amount of time doomscrolling on Instagram. I started smoking much more, eating compulsively, and my self-esteem dropped hard. I stopped exercising completely and isolated myself socially. My insomnia also became very severe.

So yes, I experienced a lot of side effects.

But now comes the important part.

Today is the first day after completing those 8 weeks on 80mg, and honestly... I couldn’t recommend this medication more strongly for people who truly suffer from ADHD.

Anything positive I say here will still feel like an understatement compared to what I’m experiencing right now.

I feel like I’m becoming a much better version of myself.

The biggest changes have been in my ability to think, reason, and communicate. I can structure thoughts and arguments much better now. My thinking feels deeper, clearer, and more organized. I feel more eloquent, more mentally present, and more connected to the world around me.

There’s also this strong sense of meaning returning to life again. A sense of well-being. Calmness in social situations. A genuine desire to go outside, experience life, and reconnect with the world.

Tasks still don’t “start automatically,” but making the decision to begin them became much easier. And, most importantly, continuing tasks became much easier too.

I returned to exercising around week five. I’ve been doing 6-mile walks around 3 to 4 times per week, usually walking for 2 to 2.5 hours. Last weekend, I did almost 10 miles in 3 hours and 46 minutes.

I’m losing weight.

My social life also improved significantly.

I had been suffering a lot from social isolation, but I started noticing that both men and women naturally became more drawn to me. Friends began showing more admiration and respect. Conversations started flowing better. I felt more socially present overall.

I also had some romantic experiences that greatly improved my self-esteem. A female neighbor/friend I had wanted for months started getting involved with me, and another woman with whom things had been left unresolved spontaneously invited me out for drinks again.

That had a huge impact on my confidence.

My chess performance hasn’t clearly improved yet, but it remains solid. And now, for the first time in a long time, I feel capable of directing energy toward studying, music production, DJing, singing, personal projects, and expanding my business ideas.

Is there still procrastination? Yes.

Are there still difficulties? Absolutely.

But now it finally feels like I have the psychological foundation to move forward.

So my biggest advice is this: if the side effects are tolerable and your doctor is monitoring you properly, try to stay with it at least until the eighth week at a proper therapeutic dose.

For me, the difference after that point was enormous.

When I reach 12 weeks, I’ll come back with another update about studying, exercise, chess, music production, and professional life.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

So I started with 40 for two weeks took it in the morning, but it affected my sleep, like waking up every 2-4hrs at night so I told my NP and asked her to reduce the dose? For which she was confused and said that not even her teen patients were on low doses, so she gave me 25 and it still keeps me awake 😭 originally I had asked for vyvanse but they wanted to try non stimulants first, I don’t know how to bring it up again without her thinking I’m seeking meds basically (I work in healthcare so ik she will think that)

I'm coming up on five weeks at 40 mg (or its equivalent, it's been kind of weird because I've been tapering down Wellbutrin while starting Strattera which throws a lot off.) Have folks here felt that "motor" sensation of being really locked in and focused from 40mg, or does it require a higher dose to start feeling those positive effects. Getting impatient with the waiting process and wondering whether I need to go up to a higher dose now that I'm tolerating 40mg.

I (F) got diagnosed with ADHD at 32.

I was having issues getting Adderall. So I asked for a backup for when I don't have Adderall. BUT Strattera does not work like Adderall it needs to be built-up in your system for it to actually work.

I think this community has a lot of cons so let me tell you how I use it and how it helps me.

I take 40 MG in the morning with 5 MG Adderall. If I don't have Adderall than I take it with coffee. Has same effect but hate buying coffee and making the coffee.

When I am off of Strattera, I notice the difference. I have a LOUD inner voice. So it at least keeps me on task and my thoughts are all related to my task. Also I usually forget I am doing but that has stopped as well.

Please note that these are just my opinions and it may be false.

But people are not using Strattera with therapy. I think people should at least try reading the book atomic habits entirely with Strattera.

Ex:

Setting myself up the night before helps me get out of the door faster because I have what I need set up for me so I don't wonder what I need to do.

Same with work, I make little task for a big project to combine them later.

Strattera gives my brain the power to stick through a task even if it's boring.

Just wanted to give people one last method of trying Strattera before calling it quits.

Hi, 44F who started strattera a little over a week ago. I’m starting with 40 mg while working on cutting back my sertraline (50 mg to 25 mg). The side effects are hitting me hard ( sweating, brain fog, exhaustion, dry mouth, spaciness, anxiety). I’ve been taking it at night and my sleep has been awful. I’m experiencing a racing brain, which I haven’t experienced since being on sertraline. I tried taking a dose in the morning, but that led me to be completely exhausted right around 1:00. Does anybody take theirs in the middle of the day? What’s your experience? I want to stick with this a bit longer and I’m hopeful that getting the timing down might help.