access card and considering Strattera

For my son, this drug had little effect alone. For the first four days, you give your child both the strattera and concerta, then just the strattera. When he was on both, he was a zombie and very isolated. I told my PDoc, and he said to keep giving him both, so his blood levels would get up there. Then, after the four days, it was as if I wasn't giving him any meds at all. I had to go and get him from school one day because he'd invited the entire class to a party (he decided on a whim we would have that day). Mr. Social. His teacher said he was disruptive. So I took him back to the PDoc. Reminded him of the zombie state. his solution was to continue the strattera with a stimulant, but a single fast release one first thing in the morning to get him "off on the right foot". Instead of Ritalin, he thought the fast release adderal would be better bc it lasts longer. The first day I did this, I wanted to keep him home, but my husband said he'd missed too much school already so off he went to school. Because I was so worried, I called the school at 9:30 am. I was put through to the nurse who was trying to call me. My son was shaking and holding his head because there was computer with a very large clock in it that would not stop ticking. But the ants coming out of his ears was much more worrisome, as he was afraid they would eat his brain. On my way to the emergency room I called my Pdoc. He convinced me to bring him to his office. He said this was a not so common side effect of adderal and strattera. Giving the two togeather just amplified it. Also my son became very angery. He never gets upset. It was a good eight hours before both meds were enough out of his system that he could calm down. It was the next day before he was himself. As my doctor said, strattera is such a new drug, they don't "know everything" about it yet.

I'm not saying you shouldn't go for it, I just know my kids won't go that route at this time. If you do decide to try it, do it when you can be there to observe and jump in if needed.

One more fyi. My son did great on the fast release Ritalin twice a day. Like you, we switched to the conceta, and it never quite worked as well.

Good luck!