What are the side effects of Strattera? I have talked about possible giving it to my son this summer w/ his Doctor. DS has been on stimulants so long.[QUOTE=tzoya]
The psychiatrist we've used for 10 years is a reknown expert in autism. I pressed him about Strattera (which was a disaster for our son). He told me that he hasn't seen Strattera work that well with kids on the Spectrum. He says the few cases he's seen where it's worked was with kids who we very high functioning and mainly ADHD with only a touch of Asperger's. [/QUOTE]
Strattera has worked wonderfully for us (in combination with Adderall). My son prefers the way he feels on the meds rather than unmedicated. For awhile I wasn't giving him his meds on weekends, and he asked me not to do that, because he felt scattered and all over the map. Then again, ADHD with a touch of Asperger's is a pretty accurate description of my son
For those it doesn't work with, starting on a low dose of Ritalin and slowly working up usually seems to work better. Some kids on the spectrum have a negative reaction to Ritalin, but if the child does, you'll know it immediately and the meds will be completely out of his system in mere hours. Our doc suggests trying it over a weekend or during a school break to monitor it at first. When it works, it works GREAT with hyperactivity as well as focus.
When my son started Strattera, his language fluency increased and he is less anxious. He is still on it though, so I'm not sure about the affects of stopping it.For thos of you that have had your child on strattera have you noticed that once you remove it your child seems more interactive and more language.
I have not given Ryan strattera for almost 3 weeks...and he just seems so much more alert. He is a little more hyper at times, but I will take that any day with increased language and interaction.
He has been on it almost a year, I thought it was helping..well actually it was with the hyperactivity but he is so much more interactive now.
What are your thoughts?