r/qelbree

So i just started taking 200mg Qelbree (I have never taken any sort of medication before) the first day was great! I felt motivated, I had control of my impulses and felt like I could really focus on tasks and not feel overwhelmed.

Day 2 was a fucking nightmare, I had horrible insomnia the night before and was just in a horrible mood all day, super irritable and felt completely hopeless.

Im currently on my 3rd day and I dont really feel any positive side effects. I have no appetite, my head hurts, i just feel sad and i have no motivation to do the things that i need to.

I know it takes 4-6 weeks for the negative side effects to subside but how do you guys do it? I cant handle feeling like this for a month. How did you power through and was it worth it?

My psych wants me to up my dosage to 400mg next week but I dont know if i can deal with the side effects coming back. Again ive never taken meds for ADHD before and this was the one i was recommended but I just want to feel normal again, or at least semi-normal. How did yall do it? I really want to get my life on track but I can hardly stand to feel this way, especially for another 2 weeks. Please help i have no idea what to do and i have no idea how to power through these feelings.

have been taking qelbree for about a month and half now. Currently on 400 mg, and the past week I have felt the best I have in my entire life. I am so confident, self loving, self respecting, and at peace. Cooking healthy meals, cleaning, organizing, I could go for a run if my back weren’t injured. So excited to see the full effects of this drug because I can tell there is still room for improvement.

I feel drunk off this 200mg, I take it at night with my lexapro and i feel so fucked up in the morning so i try taking in the morning then i feel fucked up in the day and I eat big dinner with a fat bowl of weed just me?

What are your anger experiences with Qelbree?

So I (32m) stopped taking stimulants a couple months ago. For a couple weeks I tried to just raw dog life without any kind of ADHD meds. It didn’t go well. So I tried Strattera for a few weeks (40mg). I really liked it for a list of reasons. In fact, I would say it actually helped me focus more than Adderall did. But unfortunately, it gave me major anger issues. As well as erectile dysfunction. I was just mad all the time and my dick didn’t work, which made me even angrier lmao Perhaps if I waited longer the side effects would’ve gone away. But the rage I experienced while on this medication was too intense to stay on any longer.

I’m looking into trying Qelbree next. But since it has the same active ingredient as Strattera, I’m worried I’m just gonna run into the same issue. Yet some people describe far less side effects with this medication. That part sounds great. But if it doesn’t work out, I hear getting off Qelbree is a nightmare. Any shared experiences would be appreciated 🙏

Hi everyone! I recently tapered off Qelbree per my doctor’s orders, and I wanted to share my overall experience.

Firstly, I’ll begin by saying Qelbree did not work for me. I started on 200 mg the first week, then 400mg the second week, staying at this dosage. (I took two 200 mg capsules at night). I was on it about 11.5 weeks, giving it as much time as possible to kick in from what I’ve read of other’s experiences. At 11.5 weeks, I still felt no change in my focus, motivation, executive dysfunction, or any other ADHD symptom. On top of that, I had bad food aversions and felt very emotional as a result of the medication, both of which I was done dealing with when the medication was not helping me. My doctor agreed it was time to come off of the medication. Before I dive into that, I can share some other side effects of the medication:
-Amplified the effects of alcohol: I drank 2 cocktails and felt like I drank 6. The most hungover I’ve felt in years.
-The first 3 weeks of the med I did have an upset stomach and even worse food aversions.

My doctor suggested the following tapering off method for me: Go down to 300 mg for 1-2 weeks, down to 200 mg for 1-2 weeks, finally 100 mg for 1-2 weeks, and then stop taking the medication. I had a limited supply left of the 200 mg capsules, so I had to get a bit creative. I did a week of each of the doses. Each time I went down a 100, I had a bad headache the next day, but it was manageable. (Granted, I get headaches frequently, and I think those headaches might not be so manageable for someone who doesn’t frequently get them). This past Friday, 5/15, was my first night without taking any Qelbree, completing my tapering off. Saturday, 5/16, I got the worst migraine of my life. We were at a friends wedding, and we actually had to leave early (just as dinner started at the reception) because I felt so unwell. I hate being that person, but that’s how unwell I felt. I ended up throwing up back at our AirBnb, which is VERY unusual for me to do. We drove back home after that, and I slept for 12 hours. I spent Sunday with a headache and being exhausted. Today, Monday, the headache still lingers with brain fog.

I will admit I probably should have asked my doctor for one more month’s supply of the medication, taken each dosgae for 2 full weeks instead of 1 week, and possibly even gone done in 50 mg increments instead. Although, going down in 50 mg would have been a bit harder to determine with the capsules.

I’m glad I read other’s experiences on here to know the migraine (especially bad enough to throw up, considering I have emetophobia) was a possibility, or else I would have been a complete mess anxiety-wise, which is why I’m sharing my experience to let others know of this possibility. This won’t be everyone’s experience, and I know others have successfully tapered off with minimal issues. I also know others have success with the medication overall, which is wonderful! :)

My 5yr old recently stopped taking guanfacine (his speech has regressed since starting) and started Qelbree. It’s been almost two weeks and it helps him in similar ways as the guanfacine, but he’s very irritable. I’ve seen the warnings for symptoms of possible suicidal thoughts. My son is not able to explain how he feels but he goes through multiple sporadic episodes of distress daily. I don’t think this medication is helping. Has anyone else tried it?

I’m writing this at 3 am in my time. I’m 24 years old and take qelbree for ADHD. I recently got my dosage increased from 200 mg to 400 mg. After taking that dosage for a couple of weeks, my sleep schedule is completely destroyed. I feel dead tired randomly throughout the day. I could be sitting or lying randomly anywhere and I will struggle to keep my eyes open and begin to doze off. But the second I actually get ready for and go to bed at night, I all of a sudden can’t fall asleep at all. I lay there in bed with the lights off just staring at the ceiling in the dark. It’s a horrible feeling.

If and when I do fall asleep, I only stay asleep for a couple of hours. I feel horrible all the time. I was initially taking it in the morning and I switched to doing so in the evening to no effect. It was actually helping with my focus and attention, but now the lack of sleep is beginning to cancel it out. Do I just stop taking it and see what happens? My next psychiatrist appointment isn’t until the end of June and I can’t wait that long to be able to sleep again.

31F was on Strattera for a month & Qelbree for 2 weeks. Strattera was insufferable, but Qelbree gave me intense insomia so was already planning on making the switch to something else. Been on Adderall XR for a month and its causing me high BP (which I would rather avoid adding intuniv, since I'm now gonna see my pcp to see if theres anything else that could be going on as well, my mom suffers from high BP) so I'm wanting to give nonstims another chance, I'm very unsure about Strattera since it gave me physical pain but other than insomnia the Qelbree, i didn't have any other side effects. I would really like to try it again, so are there any good experiences here for us adults? Ive heard a lot about the headaches/withdrawals? Wondering how common this is? or if theres anything we can do to avoid that type of side effect? We're only human, sometimes we do forget to take our medicine especially when lives very overstimulating/overwhelming.

Just looking for some advice and personal experience.

Thank you.

So I had been on 200mg for about a year and decided I was t benefiting that much because I would go days where I would just scroll or lay in bed without realizing how long I had been there for.

So I talked to my psych and told her I was thinking of upping it up to 300mg to see if it would help me more. I’ve been feeling better but am noticing a sudden change in my emotions. I’ll be watching a sad video that would normally not do much to me but lately has been almost bringing me to tears. I’ll have to hold them back.

Has anyone else had this or is this a rarer side effect since I’ve never felt this for the past couple years I’ve been on this.

I have been taking Qelbree almost 2 weeks, 200 mg. Drowsiness/fatigue/brain fog/spaciness have been my main side effects and I do feel like they are decreasing, thankfully, but I just want to feel some positive effects!! The tiredness and brain fog are making it more difficult to get work done and function normally, and I struggle to get out of bed in the morning. (And I sleep well, no insomnia!)

Overall, I feel my ADHD is worse (struggle with task initiation, focus) and I am just trying to wait it out and hope it gets better…I was on Wellbutrin for about 3 months earlier this year (with increased dose after 2 months) and didn’t feel any benefits with that, then Vyvanse made my ADHD symptoms worse, so it’s hard to be hopeful this will work for me.

Any encouragement/advice would be helpful. I’ve been taking it at night but might gradually shift to taking it in the morning. I just wish I saw little signs it was starting to work… I do feel like it has lessened my anxiety a bit overall, but then I still get anxious toward the end of the day thinking about how little work I got done!

I'm (31m) currently 11 days into taking Qelbree and starting to see some of its benefits. However I have noticed from lurking here that most people are taking it before bed. I was told to take it first thing in the morning. Should I be concerned? I haven't had any signs of narcolepsy but I'm curious why it seems no other post says they take it in the morning.

Thank you in advance

After two sessions and a separate psychological evaluation, my psychiatrist offered either methylphenidate (a stimulant) or Qelbree, an NRI (a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor). I was told that I require a urine-drug panel for the methylphenidate, but I could start Qelbree as soon as now.

I leave the state soon, and I'm supposed to try either of the medications during the summer alongside a separate psychiatrist, as I go into my next year of college.

It's a bit of a cliché, I bet, but I have heard stories and negative reviews about Qelbree, as well as methylphenidate. As someone with a combined form of ADHD, which medications would be a good starter for ADHD medications?

I'm also happy to answer any questions in the comments!

My doctor prescribed me Qelbree today. I’m going to start with 100mg a week then go up to 200 mg.

I take 20mg citalopram and 5mg Adderall ER daily.

He wants me to try Qelbree and then if it goes well stop taking citalopram and maybe Adderall.

I know all my doses are pretty small, so I am just slightly worried about too much serotonin. Just wondering how maybe someone who also takes an SSRI/stimulant with Qelbree has felt?

I started on 200mg this past Tuesday. I take it at night, and the first night I was drowsy, dizzy, had cotton mouth, and woke up every 2 hours. The second night I didn't have any of those except for I couldn't get consistently good sleep and kept waking up. My issue with it now is that I'm dealing with bad insomnia and I have absolutely no appetite. I haven't gotten more than 5-6 hours of sleep in the past few nights. Every time I eat I can only take a few bites before I can't eat anymore. It's also making me extremely emotional. Does this get any better the longer I'm on it? I'm upping my dose to 300mg on Tuesday and then 400mg the following Tuesday. I'm genuinely so worn out right now emotionally and physically because of these meds.