Re: Strattera advice please

[Anonymous]

I’ll preface this by saying this is my first time on the forums – actually the first time on the site. Stumbled onto it while looking for the PBS show “ADD and Loving It!?” I’ve heard it’s really a good documentary on ADD. Anyway…

I was diagnosed with ADD almost a year ago now. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety 8 years ago, but in the year before I was diagnosed with ADD I had stopped taking all of my medication. I really didn’t think they were doing much for me. I didn’t know that sometimes it takes a year to feel the effects of stopping your meds. Lesson learned!

After nearly getting fired from my job (I should tell you I’ve always been an over-achiever in the business world – can’t clean a house, but I’m pretty good at business) for my inability to follow up or complete tasks, I did the walk of shame to the doctor. I sort of figured I might be suffering from having stopped my meds. I got the lecture I deserved about medication (and the example of the diabetic who can’t ever stop taking their medication), and then started back in one med at a time. For years I had taken Lexapro and Wellbutrin. My doctor started me back on the Lexapro and also a sleeping aid – Lunesta. I was having difficulty sleeping – but the Lunesta didn’t work very well. It was then that the doctor thought that I might have ADD. He started me on Strattera and for the first time in 57 years, I started to feel normal! Things just started falling into place. I can tell you that for the 37 years I’ve been married (I’m pretty sure to a saint), that I have never kept a very neat house. Laundry has always been the biggest nightmare – I read in another forum about someone else who had the same problem with laundry that I did. Never did it, then when I did, didn’t fold it. If I did manage to wash, dry and fold it – I didn’t put it away. My husband has probably said “I’m out of socks,” or “I’m out of underwear,” as many times as he’s told me he loves me.

With Strattera the clouds of organization, prioritization, and follow through cleared away. For almost a year my laundry has been done, folded, put away. My drawers are neat, my closet doesn’t have 30 pairs of shoes just inches from the little cubbies they belong in. I change the sheets on the bed weekly instead of quarterly. And my desk is neat, my calendar is up to date, and follow through is not a problem. Strattera for me is a wonder drug. I don’t know what I would do if someone told me I had to give it up.

I do get a ridiculously dry mouth and drink tons of water and chew gum. I also have problems with chronic constipation, but I’m going to try the metamucil that someone else mentioned. Those are the only two side effects I have and for all of the positive results I’ve had from the Strattera I’ll put up with the side effects.

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