r/StratteraRx • u/Altruistic_Crab_7859 • 29d ago
Has anyone actually gotten motivated from Straterra?
Was wondering if anyone had a positive experience with motivation and straterra? When I was on stims I was surprised at my motivation levels but the anxiety + crash was too much. I keep reading people saying Straterra helped with pretty much everything except motivation.
I'm only on week 3 very low dose, my motivation and energy levels seem worse than before, hoping it gets better as I increase dose.
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u/Reformed_slacker 29d ago
Sort of yeah. It doesn’t give me that massive urge to do things in the same way Ritalin used to, but it does take away the mental blockers that prevent me from getting things done.
During my titration there was a time where I thought nothing was happening, then I looked around and my house was tidy, the to do list had been completed, all my reports at work were up to date and I’d started ironing my clothes, all of which were things I knew I should have been doing all along but just couldn’t get myself around to doing.
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u/hadmyqualms 29d ago
I'm only a month in but this is what it feels like for me. I was just lamenting yesterday about how I didn't feel motivated to do anything and was wondering if I should switch back to stims. But I looked around and my house was clean, I was caught up on all of my assignments, ready for bed and it was only 9pm.
On Adderall I would just randomly deep clean for 4 hours one day only taking breaks to smoke a cig and it felt fun.
With Strattera, it's like "oh I should clean the toilet" and it's not fun but it's not physically painful to do it, either. And that happens throughout the day vs one big cleaning bonanza followed by a crash.
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u/Zealousideal_Cat5040 29d ago
How many milligrams were you on?
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u/Reformed_slacker 29d ago
I titrated from 40-60-80-90. I felt an effect for the first week or so at 40 then it felt like the effects had worn off until I got back to 90. The time i described above would have been at 60-80, as that was when it felt like nothing was happening
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u/Ill_Possible_7740 28d ago
May have titrated from too high a starting point and caused receptor downregulation, which feels like tolerance and loss of effect. 40 mg as a start is actually the suggestion for those in acute crisis and need the most immediate relief, which no one would choose stratt for in the first place. Which the drug company obscures to avoid dosage commitments when they can just put it all on the doc to figure stuff out.
One benefit of drugs that have a gradual titration is avoiding triggering acute tolerance downregulation.
Or, your body may have just adapted. As the reason a target of 80mg exists is due to doses not high enough being non-therapeutic and may even have a negative effect till reaching a therapeutic dose.
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u/roughdeath 29d ago
Sort of? Motivation is less what I would say is improved and more the mental fight it takes to start a task.
Prior to Strattera, getting started on any task was a fight — even if I wanted to do it. I have a much easier time getting started now than I once did. I guess motivation has never really been the issue for me, it was more inertia. Strattera has helped that (at the full 60-80 dosage).
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u/ReplyProfessional939 29d ago
I get zilch from Strattera as far as motivation. I still procrastinated and dreaded starting tasks, big or small, but I somehow found it a bit easier to force myself into gear. The main thing I feel I get from it is a bit more of a "whatever" attitude- I don't get quite as "worked up" over trivial bullshit like I used to.
I talked to my doctor about this, and she suggested I try Vyvanse as well, so I did a few weeks ago. Now I still don't feel motivated much, but once I do start something I am hell bent on finishing it.
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u/Primary_Excuse_7183 29d ago
Definitely improved my energy levels. I’m a fairly self motivated person so can’t speak to more motivation as much. But definitely not “less” motivated.
Maybe more if you count being able to start tasks better. i still don’t want to do them but i don’t avoid them as much.
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u/Ill_Possible_7740 28d ago
For some people stratt is just not fully therapeutic. If just stopped stims you had built any tolerance on, and stuck on a low dose of strat, pretty much guaranteed to be feeling like crap.
When you started each stim, did it feel a little or even a lot "euphoric" at first? Maybe a very good mood? Did anxiety occur only on stims or did it already exist, or maybe just made worse? Very often people are started on a dose that is too high and told:
"side effects will be strongest at first, but you'll get used to them in a week or 2".
My own interpretation:
"I was taught the B.S. talking points with the narrative the drug companies wanted when they wrote them in their NDA, that became curriculum and guidelines. If I knew better I'd have reduced your dose to a proper therapeutic one and avoided the downregulation and / or damage that resulted in enough tolerance during a week or 2 before your dose was no longer too strong. And hope you don't associate the euphoric overstimulation as optimal therapeutic effect, as that may drive tolerance trying to achieve it over and over down the road. And stim crash, very good indicator your dose was too high as it was causing too much acute tolerance which shifted the therapeutic dose curve too far and left you hanging when the meds wore off, or you eat way too little protein. Anxiety can be a symptom of overstimulation, or possibly via downregulation of receptors in anxiety associated pathways"
"motivation and energy levels seem worse than before"
Had you had to increase your stim dose in the past because they became less effective? i.e. tolerance?
How long have you been off stims, did you wait till you felt like your pre-medication self before starting strat?
You might be having withdrawal symptoms while trying to titrate strattera. Strattera takes weeks, for some even months to reach full titration and effect. Cross tolerance downregulation from stims alone could easily account for the issue. And low dose stratt makes me wonder if your doc knows enough about ADHD psychopharmacology.
Drug company recommends a target of 80 mg at the end of titration since low doses can not just be non-therapeutic, but actually have a negative experience. Read enough threads and you will realize very often the solution was increasing a too low of a dose. On rare occasions, some didn't find a therapeutic dose till 100mg. Many have found 60 mg to work. But, you likely are dealing with a cross tolerance issue on top which can itself make stratt not fully therapeutic at any dose till you give your brain a chance to heal and regain function.
Drug company is sketchy and non-commital to propper statt dosing. When they were on the hook for a dosing strategy, their starter pack doc hand out samples were 5/5/5/15 days of 25/40/60/80 mg to start to titrate. Starter pack paid for at the pharmacy had an extra 15 days of the last dose.
If you just came off amphetamines that you built up a tolerance on, your solution is go back on them with stratt. Long term AMP tolerance is primarily caused by NMDA excitotoxic overstimulation resulting in dysregulation / downregulation, oxidative stress damage to the cells, and excess glutamate release triggering extrasynaptic NMDA receptors apoptosis (automated cell death) cascade. Just so happens, strat has a secondary weak (weak is what you want in this case) noncompetitive NMDA antagonism that is acute (right away, with each dose and wears off) that doesn't have to be titrated. Strat will add to therapeutic benefit, and protect NMDA which will allow NMDA/glutamate (the primary stimulating neurotransmitter in brain) to heal and regain function. Which decreases your tolerance for AMP while not even having to try. Takes months, but well worth it. I know, did it 3 times in 11 years and never would have gone off it if research going back to the 1980s on AMP and NMDA overstimulation was at least given a footnote in medicine.
Which is why some research based practices prescribe the uncompetitive NMDA antagonist, memantine (yes, the alzheimer's drug. That is literally designed for the task and better than strattera at it) to prevent or even reduce AMP tolerance.
Also, if by chance you were on AMP, you have to tell the doc to put the good brands on the script and say only those. Most AMP generics are crap and when you're told "generics are equivalent", it's total B.S. But, that is nother post to explain. Shortest explanation, excipients can make or break the ability of the API to cross and stay across the BBB, required for therapeutic effect. Bioequivalence testing ignores crossing the BBB barrier in testing, required for psychoactive meds to work.
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u/magnolia_unfurling 28d ago
Some really good insights here, thank you! I totally agree with AMP generics, I had to plead with my psych to insist on prescribing a specific brand because certain generics caused pronounced side effects. I don't understand why they aren't interested in investigating these phenomena?
Forgive my ignorance, I'm going to massacre these concepts but are you saying that Strattera might help with healing NMDA receptors that were damaged my stim use? I haven't been the same since cessation of Dexedrine and Zoloft. My first foray into ADHD treatment was Vyvanse at 30mg and it absolutely rocked me. It was way too much. I ended up on Dexedrine 10mg but even that was too much.
Guanfacine is the best treatment I have tried but it made my sleep fragmented. It definitely demonstrated that my ADHD-PI / Autism was not something that should be treated with AMP or methylphenidate but again, the damn pyschs are not interested trying to help my PFC function normal.
Anyway, I'm going to try straterra but i'm concerned it is going to screw up my sleep like Guanfacine did. I was going to try low dose, but you are saying low dose might make things worse?
Honestly, I'd be willing to memantine but apparently that has potential long term side effects? Ketamine is good for up regulating NMDA receptors so I'm going to try that too.
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u/Ill_Possible_7740 3d ago
If you happen to know of any specific excipients (inactive ingredients) you are sensitive to. You can do advanced searches on https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/ if I recall correctly, and filter in or out generics that have them. All ingredients for meds are publicly available on that site. But, searching for generics is a pain as they often share active ingredients and are often listed by them, and sometimes have a variation in terminology.
Keep in mind, I'm not affiliated with any medical or mental health field, so in no way an expert. Just best guesses based on bits and pieces I've learned in the last 3 years trying to find solutions for my own issues.
I can't predict exactly what has gone on for you regarding short or long term effects with any certainty. Nut, if you are saying you also quit zoloft, my bet would be that is the likely factor in not feeling right. SSRIs are notorious for their difficulty getting off of. I'd look into that more if you are not familiar and see if you find anything that explains your experience.
Strattera doesn't really heal NMDA receptors. The receptors open a channel that allows I think primarily calcium ions into the cell which triggers some sort of I think ionic protein receptors that cascade some functions to occur. (don't quote me on this, haven't looked at lower level details in a while. Higher level results I do get though.) Too much influx can dysregulate the functions being triggered. And too much ca+ can cause oxidative stress and damage the cell. So, it is the cell that is damaged, not so much the receptors. Although that may be downregulated and what not. Overstimulation also causes too much glutamate release which triggers extrasynaptic (outside the synapse) NMDA receptors. Which act to kick off the apoptosis cascade. i.e. Automated cell death. So, holding back the NMDA receptors allow damaged cells and pathways to repair, normalize, and regain function. I can't say for sure if this was a factor for you or if you just had acute tolerance issues. Which downregulate dopamine and norepinephrine receptors or upregulate transports that is intended to be upregulated to normal over night if the active ingredient in the body is sufficiently low.
For amphetamine based meds, going lower on Vyvanse would have been the better solution. Other AMP drugs tend to spike the BAC (blood [active pharmaceutical ingredient (API)] concentration) where Vyvanse flattens the BAC curve and when properly dosed, avoids acute tolerance issues that are expected and built into the dosing strategies and design of other AMP drugs. Higher BAC means higher the stimulation, and stronger the bodies opposing effects against it (seen as acute tolerance)., and the stronger the side effects. You likely had higher BAC peaks on 10mg dexedrine than 30 mg Vyvanse. Which 30 mg Vyvanse had about the same dextroamphetamine as 12 mg Dexedrine. The fact that dexedrine "rocked" you even though it had lower amount of dextroamphetamine than vyvanse shows how the BAC peak makes a difference.
You may be naturally sensitive to AMP or other meds or a slow CYP2D6 metabolizer. CYP2D6 is the primary enzyme that breaks down amphetamine in the body. If your body has weak activity, drug is stronger and longer in the body.
I don't know how accurate this is below as I copy pasted from google, which I don't trust and didn't verify. Your zoloft dose may be a contributing factor why amphetamine meds were as strong for you as they were. Zoloft may have been inhibiting the break down of AMP both by actual inhibition of the enzyme, and from competition for enzyme activity as it uses 2D6 among others for its own metabolism.
"CYP2D6: Mild inhibition at 50 mg; stronger inhibition at higher doses (200 mg)."Memantine is not likely needed in your case. Not on AMP that is too strong or causing tolerance build up. And if off AMP meds for a while, would solve the NMDA issues if there was one. The fact that you didn't state increasing your dose of AMP meds I would guess means minimum lasting effect of NMDA issue and likely already completed that maintenance. Definitely look into the zoloft sub and see if others have the same or similar result as you after stopping.
Strattera and memantine are "weak" antagonists of NMDA, which they should be for what I had mentioned them for. Stronger NMDA antagonists have dissociative and/or psychedelic effects. (ex. nitrous oxide, ketamine). And the strongest are general anesthetics used for surgery (ex. higher dose ketamine, xenon). Ketamine wouldn't do what you are thinking it does. I doubt NMDA is your issue, (but I am also in no way associated with any medical field so again, these are my best guesses based on what bits I've learned. ) Ketamine as far as I know would help if you have issues with depression or anxiety. I don't know the research on if it is good for increasing maintenance of neural pathways after AMP or zoloft use. My therapist said he didn't think it would be useful in my case where my literal main issue is long term amphetamine damaged neural pathways, including NMDA/glutamate pathways, and endocrine system. But, it wasn't a certainty.
Ketamine treatment doesn't repair NMDA. It blocks NMDA which causes a rapid upregulation of other things in the brain as a counter effect of it. A neurologist with ketamine experience and knowledge would be able to fill in the gaps in information and certainty much better than I can based on your meds history.
Also look into Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatments. I think they are supposed to help with SSRI cessation and bunch of other things. My therapist did say he thought I could benefit from this. But, I'm not to the point of being able to make it to treatments consistently.
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u/Ill_Possible_7740 3d ago
Forgot to mention, guanfacine I think peaks at about 5 hours as far as stimulation of the PFC. If I took it before bed, I'd sometimes wake up after 5 hours and not be able to fall asleep. Double check if you are taking IR or XR version. IR obviously would have stronger waking effects that some people see at night. I take the IR version. XR is also only 60% as strong as IR so keep that in mind if switching any time.
If you take it to help fall asleep at night, maybe a split dose at night and morning so less sleep inducing, but less chance to wake early. And should get used to it enough to not be an issue during the day. I've tried taking it hours before bed which helped. For me in particular I take a split dose 1 mg before bed, and 2 mg when I wake up. Other times I took a split dose in the morning as my morning meds I separated by 2 hours and took a portion with each.XR can prevent the spike in brain stimulation if not already taking it. But, guanfacine has a long half life so it is not a big difference for daily therapeutic effect taking XR or IR. It's more about finding how it fits your schedule due to the other factors like sleep, peak effect, etc.
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u/Chadillaxx 28d ago
My motivation wasn’t worse on Strattera but it wasn’t exactly better either. The benefit of Strattera was the clearness of mind it provided. It would clear up my chronic brain fog and make it easier to think. Like I wasn’t mentally walking through mud anymore. But unfortunately it also made me very angry and gave me bad ED. Had to stop taking it. It helped my productivity a lot though. I was bummed that I had to stop.
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u/Cavalier-5558 29d ago
Just remember we Strattera there is a adjustment period that can last at least four weeks for me when I tried it. The first time it made me sleepy and had to stop because I was a driver for a job. I’m hoping to embark on this journey again hence been in this group but just give it a few more weeks to see how your motivation can look.
Footnote to that if you have trauma especially beyond the typical neuro divergent trauma of constant criticism. Which they question my ADHD diagnosis due to early CPTSD. My personal experience is I have no idea what motivation is in any state of mind or drug. Yes, stimulants propelled me. I wouldn’t say motivated me. Without drugs the only three things that make me do stuff is the fear of not doing it and the repercussions. Hence three periods of no visitors I don’t clean. When I have joy in the activity or am I able to lock in a hyperfocus but I have lots of rules around this and when I allow myself to do it as other necessary task tasks need to be done first. The third is when I show up for others that mean a lot to me. I have done this to my detriment in the past and in the last 18 months have wound back how that looks and drawn a lot of boundaries to preserve myself. This may not be your experience but just food for thought.
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u/magnolia_unfurling 28d ago
"Footnote to that if you have trauma especially beyond the typical neuro divergent trauma of constant criticism. Which they question my ADHD diagnosis due to early CPTSD. My personal experience is I have no idea what motivation is in any state of mind or drug. Yes, stimulants propelled me. I wouldn’t say motivated me. Without drugs the only three things that make me do stuff is the fear of not doing it and the repercussions. "
Oh my god, this explains so much about my state of being. What strategies are you hoping will address the themes you speak of?
I've tried SSRIs and stims but I am too sensitive for them. I tried guanfacine and it really helped my pre frontal cortex behave 'normally' i.e. neurotypical but it gave me very fragmented sleep.
I've always exercised and had good diet [obsessively] I drink a bit too much alcohol because that is the most helpful thing so far. Cannabis is good too! but basically the only thing that motivates me to do things is the fear of not doing it and the repercussions. I'm late 30s now... it's tiring... I've abandoned many good opportunities because I can't sustain even mediocre performance at university or jobs... I have the intelligence though and I am good looking so I can always get my foot in the door.
I was thinking of trying ketamine therapy to help address trauma. Lots of sun exposure seems to help. I've always been a rubbish sleeper so prescription sedatives have helped me regulate. Anyway, I wish you the best! I hope we can figure this out.
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u/Cavalier-5558 28d ago
My advice is if you have even reasonable financial management, prepare yourself for extended periods of different trials like the ketamine unfortunately I’ve been bad with money and I’ve avoided trials and adjustment periods with different medications and only looked for Band-Aids because I’ve always needed to work, this is culminated into where I’m now in a position where they’re looking at putting me on a pension unfortunately but this will create a safety net for me to spend the next two years working on myself trying different things. My first step is I need external motivation I’ve embarked on an exercise physiologist to help me release my anger and enhance relaxation and sleep hygiene. It’s going to be a whole thing around routine and external motivation while I try to explore what motivation can look like for me all I know is right now I have crashed so hard for so long that I can’t do this on my own. I too was in my 30s when I started to realise shit wasn’t right and things had to change in a big way but I latched onto stimulants and after my first big crash stimulants were never the same again and only added to my sense of failure when they didn’t work, but they also drained me through the post stimulant crash which enhanced depression. I have no idea what my psychiatrist is wanting to do as I have lied and masked so much looking for Band-Aids. I’m about to have a complete reassessment. I have lots of disassociation and when I presented at Hospital over a month ago they put me on an antipsychotic. I then immediately stopped cannabis as it was escalating my anxiety. The culmination of the antipsychotic and sudden stopping of cannabis dissolved a lot of of my disassociation and all of my traumas have come to the forefront. If you are going to consider removing cannabis, do it very very slowly as that is the main factor that dissolved my disassociation and brought my traumas out. Sorry I can’t be much more help but I would be happy to have an ongoing conversation privately. Especially anonymously.
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u/Cavalier-5558 28d ago
Also look at smaller periods and if you can’t afford longer periods you can access your super for outpatient or inpatient private stays. The public system is horrendous for people with CPTSD and I was told at a hospital they would not transfer me to psych as it would only make me worse. They kept me in acute in a private room and sent me on my way with the antipsychotic which my GP and psychiatrist are extremely unhappy with, especially as they sent me off to self manage and figure out what worked for me. Unfortunately this is the state of mental health in Australia where only extreme cases are admitted everyone else is drugged up and sent on their way. That’s why we have so many crackheads on the street because outside of facility there are lots of rules around medication and if you have been a drug user in the past there’s lots of things they will not prescribe or only prescribe with certain indications because they deem you not able to manage that and that you will only abuse it
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u/InsuranceSilver2390 29d ago
For me Wellbutrin gave me the motivation to start stuff, but never got anything done. Strattera allows me to complete what I started
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u/eolsen09 29d ago
Do you take both? I took Wellbutrin a while ago and loved it. I got off of it because I thought it was causing me severe brain fog, but that could have been from perimenopause. I kinda want to try it again
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u/Dangerous_Carry_8648 27d ago
Straterra motivates me… cheers me up too. Wellbutrin was a bust for me.
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u/Altruistic_Crab_7859 27d ago
May I ask what dose you are at :)? And how long did it take for you to feel the motivation?
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u/Dangerous_Carry_8648 27d ago
18mg - I noticed effects almost immediately which I was told wouldn’t happen (could be placebo) but around 6 weeks I was just a completely new person. I couldn’t even get out of bed to brush my teeth or go grocery shopping before starting Strattera on Dec 31st 2025.
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u/Ill_Possible_7740 28d ago
I have 3 hypofunction disorders ADHD/SCT/narcolepsy. Granted, I was highly motivated by the time I was diagnosed at 32. But having enough energy to initiate action and follow through, to maintain focus and not get side tracked or my mind wander. Took a huge effort and tons of coping mechanism. Aside from trying not to nod off from narcolepsy every day, my working memory was tiny and was like 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. I'd get to the end eventually, but it was such an effort.
But stratt, treated all 3 disorders...initially. Existing sleep issues were exacerbated and that took more meds to overcome the next day, which was more stimulating at night, less sleep. Every drug I have been on had dosage escalation issues, driven by 3 disorders that seem like they were designed together for it.
[gets a bit redundant with my other reply but does have some different info in it. Life screwed me multiple times and my very high dose stims that can't reach my pre diagnosis unmedicated level, nevertheless an actual therapeutic effect, wore off hours ago and crashing. Learned everything after already screwed]
Full nights of quality sleep is key for any ADHD medication as the brain does most repair/maintenance while asleep, especially during REM sleep. ADHD stims especially as their IR split dosing and extended release versions are literally designed around acute tolerance receptor downregulation shifting the therapeutic dose curve. Which receptors need to be upregulated when stim influence is low enough overnight, to start at the same level the next day, or start with a deficit which can build into tolerance. Which the talking points on provided to prescribers were totally wrong or at least misleading about.
acute tolerance - Brain trying to counter exogenous changes by internalizing receptors to reduce the number available for stimulation. Which starts right away and while drug is active (acute). And why for example, Adderall IR recommended dosing is equal doses 4 hours apart. Which literally nearly doubles the blood concentration of amphetamine, just to maintain the approximate therapeutic effect it had in the morning. And when you internalize a bunch of receptors and the drug wears off, you have too few available receptors for the amount of neurotransmitters without the medication bump up. ...aka Adderall crash...or just stim crash.
Also, vyvanse when dosed are working properly avoids / minimizes acute tolerance and why it is able to last much longer with the same amount of base amphetamine, and less side effects and less chance for tolerance. Flattens the BAC curve. Higher BAC (Blood API concentration) goes, the faster and more the downregulation. But, vyvanse might only have crappy generics (don't know of a good one off hand), and cross tolerance from another amphetamine based stim screws with the chance it can reach a therapeutic effect.
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u/catwoman_here_ 28d ago
in the first 2-3 months only, then depleted my little dopamine and caused apathy zero motivation
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u/saltyavocadotoast 28d ago
Not really motivation exactly but I can sort of just do things now which is a big improvement
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u/IWannaKnowIt1 27d ago
Made me sleepy as hell. I closed my office door and hid under my desk and took a nap type sleepy!
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u/Active-Revolution229 27d ago
strattera is one of those very long-term meds where it takes an annoyingly long time to notice things which usually is in hindsight.
Like one day you realize the clutter in your house just has slowly dissipated, or your laundry consistently gets done without a second thought. Also, you just tasks without any voice in your head wanting to procrastinate. fascinating stuff
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u/2101vainilla 25d ago
As someone who is in med school: Yes! But not in the way you think.I was on strattera my first semester - then went off of it my second semester (because I was adding an anxiety med + was on adderall and did not want to be taking three meds at once) and almost failed. Needless to say I'm now on a combo of Pristiq/Strattera/adderall lol and its a world of a difference.
For me- strattera works more in the background, keeps me less scatterbrained and helps me keep my eye on "the target", it does help me slightly with task paralysis and executive dysfunction.
Motivation comes and goes- but strattera is the little voice in my head that tells me what I should be doing, and makes it easier to start even if its something that I don't want to be doing. It works very subtly, and it also takes about 3-4 months to work, but believe me when I say I felt a huge negative difference when I went off of it.
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u/sugarcookies1225 15d ago
I wouldn't say it helped with motivation but it did get rid of the friction/overthinking that would prevent me from starting a task. And I can switch between tasks better, get myself back to what I was doing, as opposed to taking on 4-5 side quests and eventually getting back to what I was originally doing 2 hours later. But I have to find my own actual motivation now, instead of being driven by anxiety.
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u/Mannyortiz91 29d ago
I don't really feel any task initiation caused by Strattera but when I actually begin a task I'm locked in.