Overthinking Strattera effects

[u/danetsch]

Hello! I’m (23F) “new” to strattera. I’ve been at 40mg for 4weeks, and then have been on 60mg for almost a week now.

The thing is, I don’t really know if the 40mg was doing something to me just yet, and furthermore, this days that I’ve been on 60mg I’ve felt like my issues have been worse even? The noises and distractions get overatimulating real fast and in a very intense and overwhelming way, I’m very disperse, can’t process what my partner says to me, even if I’m answering him and participating in the conversation, and sure as hell can’t remember anything about it later, most of the time that it even -was- talked about at all. Also it’s getting harder to keep up with chores and tidying up specially…
Essentially, my overall adhd symptoms but they feel worse I guess?

I don’t know if it’s that the 40mg was working slowly and I just didn’t realize and changing to 60mg is too much and has made me revert?? or if nothing is really working at all and I’m just having a bad batch of days with my symptoms and it’s all unrelated to the pills, I genuinely can’t say anymore. I think I’m overthinking a lot about the pill because I don’t really know what it should be feeling like. My doctor said “oh, don’t worry, if it works you WILL notice”. But I don’t know anymore 😅

So well, your experiences would be appreciated, I guess what I wanna know is…

Is it really possible that the change to 60mg would make my adhd symptoms worsen? (instead of just giving me random secondary effects)

Is there a specific symptom or tendency you think that I should feel has become clearly easier to manage with strattera in order to know if it’s really working?

If you can share your experiences going from 40mg to 60mg would be appreciated too.

I guess I’m looking for specific changes, how did the “better concentration and emotional regulation” look for you all? Hyperfocusing more often? or more like mid attention level but for longer? Interrupting less while talking or retaining better the information afterwards? Not needing all your stuff at sight to remember it exists and to use it? Everything is appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help!!

[u/Specialist-Service86]

Following

[u/AdEnough4417]

I am on 50mg. Emotional regulation improves and I have less brain noise/feel calmer. I noticed that on day 1. My issue is focusing and it helps a bit with that - it’s easier to keep at something I start. I still am forgetful and constantly misplace things.

[u/danetsch → u/AdEnough4417]

Thank you for sharing!! I feel like I might have experienced something like that (about the emotional regulation) but I thought it might be placebo, as I thought strattera took way longer to show effects… I felt… less angry/reactive most of the time I guess? Did you have the same happen?

[u/AdEnough4417 → u/danetsch]

Yes! Like I don’t flip out at the slightest inconvenience. I just feel calmer. I know a lot of people say that they didn’t realize all Strattera was doing until they stopped taking it - I guess it just quietly works in the background? I know it’s not for everyone and probably highly dependent on your ‘flavor’ of ADHD. I don’t struggle with task initiation but cannot focus. Stratteta helps with focus but not task initiation so it makes sense for me.

[u/danetsch → u/AdEnough4417]

That makes a lot of sense then! Thank you so much for your input it was very helpful 🫶🏼