I am thinking of have my childs Dr prescribe Strattera for my 7 yr old. Can anyone tell me personally what they think this medication??

Well is official we are going to give my son Strattera I am just so sad. I have been the one pushing for help with him and now that I have the medication I do not want to give it to him.. Am I crazy or what??? Anyway Dr was a little peeved because he wanted to start him off on ridlin (cannot even spell) first then move him to Stattera. Does not make sense to me. I told him no I want the Strattera. Well I'm off to go cry in the bathroom where he won't see me.

Oh Mary... I am so sorry!

(((hugs)))

Just remember, you are doing this to help him, NOT hurt him! Hurting him would be to ignore.

The way I look at this is -

I grew up a ADHD child and as I grew older it turned into ADD and I became VERY overweight as well... usually the "H" helps keep the weight off.

Anyway, I struggled soooo much in school. Couldnt focus, couldnt retain any information, couldnt even read a book . I remember MANY TIMES crying and praying that God would help me remember all of the information I was given to study, so I could pass the test the next day. All school was for me was a place to daydream! Especially when I got a little older. And my handwriting? oh geez - horrible!,

I OFTEN wonder if my life wouldve been different if I wouldve been given something (like Strattera) for this 'problem'. Maybe I wouldve been in a 'club', or in a popular clique... better yet, gone to college! Not to mention I most likely wouldnt have struggled with being MO as a teen, possibly wouldve actually had a date in High School.

So, if my child would be struggling in school, with the same symptoms I had, I would definately give it a try! (which he is showing symptoms, but his pedi. wants to wait a little longer)

Good luck, and God bless you!

(oh, have you talked with the pharmicist yet? You may get more of a peace of mind from him/her.)

Thank you for your kind words last night was rough for me. I understand I am doing it for the good and well being of my son but with him crying why Mom are you doing this to me broke my heart. Amazing he got over it when I showed him the pill Mommy and Daddy have to take each day to help us with our problems and his tiny little pill next to ours was unfair with that said he took the pill. I also need to prepare if the Strattera does not work on it's trial run we might have to try the next option and give the Ritalin a trial run and see if that will work for him. I need to get better informed of what is out there. I would love for him to have a ton of friends and hopefully that will happen soon enough.

PS - going to talk today with the Pharmicist today

This site is written by a brilliant, somewhat crazy and VERY irreverant guy. It has incredibly good information and I think it may make you feel better about the drug.

http://www.crazymeds.org/strattera.html

thank you,

going to check it out

Hey Mary, just wondering how things were going with your son?

It sounds like school makes your son nervous. Did he do this before he was placed with his current teacher? Just a thought...

It seems so often that there are some harried/stressed out teachers that push to get kids on these drugs. Is it so they can have an easier day? It always makes me cautiously wonder who's best interest it's really in to medicate some of these kids.

I interned with school nurses at a couple of different schools and the lines to the nurses office for adhd meds were longer than the lunch lines. Those lines literally wound down and back around the length of the long hallways. I'm not in anyway suggesting that some kids aren't really needing medicinal assistance for brain chemical balance, just wondering if some honestly don't, but get it because a certain teacher pressed for it.

Hi Paula, Thanks for asking he is doing better but we take it day by day. Many positives and a few negatives but he is coming along fine. We work at it each day re enforcing good choices.

Pam you are so right the schools now days push medication like it was candy.

We struggled with this for 2yrs now it started with his kindergarden teacher and we changed his teacher to one that was more stricter. Now we got a strict teacher this year and the same thing. He was falling below grade level could not remember what was just taught to him within minutes of going over it. Not to mention self esteem was pretty low with everyone talking down to him as if he was not there. Needless to say the school year is almost over and he is doing alot better and I do see his grade coming up and he holds his head higher. So only time will tell

Mary,

he doesnt have the "hyperactivity" part, does he?

So what are the good and bad things that you are seeing from Straterra?

*Im bringing my 9yr old next week to the doc for ADD*

My 9 y.o. son was on it for over a year. During that year we had to increase the dose a couple of times because it stopped working as well as it did in the beginning. By the end of his taking it, he was on reflux meds, vomited every day, had constant abdominal pain and the Dr. was pushing me do to an EGD (stomach scope) on my 9 yr old!!! NO WAY!! I took him off of it as soon as the school year was over last year and within a week his stomach problems went away. Now he is on Ritalin LA, with no weight loss or stomach problems.

I have to say that my friends two kids are on it and are doing GREAT, with absolutely NO problems. I hate to give this advice, but its true: you'll only know how it works when you try it, there's just no other way, I wish that were different, but it's true.

Just my experience with it.

Pati-o

yep he does have the Hyperness going on.

Good - is that he now will stay seated the majority of the day at school no more ants in the pants or wondering from his desk. One example would be when we had the first Doctors visit he was literally under the table rolling around on the floor. Now this last time he picked up a book and sat calmly on the table looking at the pictures. Blurting out and just plain talking has really come down to where it use to be making weird sounds and just talking out loud was a huge problem. Concentration has improved he actually gets what you are talking about rather than having to go over the same question 10 times. (not kidding) Home work now is a breeze more organized.

His self esteem is getting better before he use to say he was a bad child Cause everyone told him that. I have pointed out there are no bad children just children making bad choices.

Eating has picked up he eats all day long but he is thin so right now it is ok.

Now the side affects - Things I have noticed he is really sensitive at certain times. Might cry for no reason expecially at school this has happend 2 times. Talked with the school counslor about this.

Seems to get the chills more easely now days.

Has the school approached you regarding your son? Have they actually put together one of their charts for you to take on your visit?

I Sincerly feel if you have had no prior problems with your son in school check into alternatives rather than having his teachers push medication. Could it be his teacher or something that has recently changed in school? Hope everything works out for you Paula.

You are so right Pati I have read and heard different stories about Strattera and the affects of wearing off or actually working so far we are still in ther trial stage I say. Just keeping close contact with the teachers and monitoring him everyday.

Mary, yes! he has already been evaluated. (sigh)

Ohh Paula so sorry to hear that. Are you good with the evaluation? Are you going to get a second opinion?

hi all

my 12 year old has adhd and was diagnosed at 8 ... he has been on ritilin ever since.

He is fine at home as i know his moods and the warning signs of impending bad behaviour.

school is a different story. has a great form tutor ... he has a great principle.... only snag is that most of the other tutors have no idea how to approach a child with adhd and therefore some days at school are good and others are not so good.

One thing is certain though....he would not get through one lesson without his meds...

they make such a difference to his concentration levels.

When he first started taking it he lost weight and seemed to have little appetite. i fought hard to get him to eat all the right foods etc.. a losing battle...

this went on for a couple of years..me stressing about his weight .... then one day i spoke to an elderly lady , a stranger, in a cafe i was trying to get him to eat his dinner a very healthy dinner... this lady saw i was getting upset as he wouldnt eat and she said to me... i know its hard darling but why dont you just let him be he will eat when he is hungry.... thats when it came to me ....meal times were like a battle ground... well i decided not to fight anymore....

i started to just make him food when he asked me for it... if he wanted to skip a meal i let him... if he wanted to snack i let him...if he wanted a bowl of cereal for dinner i let him have it..... and do ya know what.... once i took the battle away and gave him the choice of wether he wanted to eat or not my home returned to a calm stress free meal time zone....

He is now 12 and still has ritilin but now he is a strapping well built boy with no hint of a skinny rib in sight. And he is still a fussy eater but its part of his life i no longer worry about....that elderly lady was right....i let him be and he ate when he was hungry and not when i told him to and he never starved away like i thought he would...lol

I really do understand how worrying the appetite thing is but it does get better as they get older. And so does their behaviour... children are wonderful things they adjust and learn to live with their adhd much better than us parents give them credit for...

as for tears for no apparant reason at school... adhd kids are very sensitive and as much as they can display lots of anger and bad behaviour they also tend to want to have lots of cuddles and be reassured they are loved, which i think is due to the amount of time they spend being told off and what a bad boy they are etc.

Hope your boys turn out to be as special as mine cos adhd kids have to work twice as hard to achieve at school as the average child does and to me that makes them very special...not naughty and impulsive.....special....

love trace