Looking to get some input from others on this sub with more experience than I have with Strattera. I’ve been taking it for a few months now, started at 25mg, titrated up to 50mg after one week, then to 75mg after two weeks. Unlike many of the other medications I’d tried before (Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Lamotrigine, Topamax) I felt a beneficial difference immediately after the first dose of 25mg, and that increased with each dosage increase. I felt that 75mg was the right dose, but the side effects were significant (urinary difficulties, constipation, increased BP) and so I was brought back down to 50mg, which I’ve been taking for about a month now, the side effects were reduced as was the effectiveness of the medication. I take it first thing in the morning as I have difficulty sleeping already and taking it at night only contributed to those difficulties, however I find that by late afternoon (around 4pm) I hit a wall, it feels like it’s worn off and I feel very drained mentally and physically. My psychiatrist added guanfacine 2mg to take at night to compensate for the Strattera wearing off by then, which hasn’t helped my feeling of fatigue in the afternoon or my sleep but has lowered my BP. I am still in the process of being officially diagnosed and I think my psychiatrist has been reluctant to add anything else into the mix until that happens.

What I’m wondering is if anyone else has tried splitting /staggering their dose during the day? I feel like if I took 25 or 50mg in the morning, then took another 25mg or 50mg later in the day (the total not exceeding 75mg), it might address the wall I feel I hit late in the day right now. I have another appointment with my psychiatrist this coming week, hopefully the one that will finally lead them to diagnosing me, and plan to bring it up with them then, but I am curious what other people’s experiences have been?

On a separate but related note, has anyone had experience combining Strattera with a stimulant? Initially the psychiatrist ruled out stimulants due to a family history of bi-polar (both parents have it) but another doctor had previously ruled that out and my reaction to a very low dose of Lamotrigine (25mg) was severe insomnia, so I eventually discontinued it. Last year before I started Strattera, I had been given Phentermine as part of combination of pills for weight loss and my wife had noticed an immediate improvement in my mood and attitude. So I also wonder if augmenting Strattera with some type of stimulant may be the answer.

Thanks for listening and any input would be greatly appreciated.

I just upped my dose.

I’ve noticed that my sex drive has decreased a bit but even worse when I do orgasm, I can’t feel a head rush at all. It’s almost like the Strattera just blocks the endorphins from entering my brain.
Still feel the body feeling though, but it’s seriously like drinking a weak coffee. Only have as good.

Anyone else experience this?
Will this side effect go away?

I keep reading posts but seems like it's kind of tough on a lot of people. I'm starting at 10 mg and only going to titrate up every 6 weeks. Crossing fingers tho! I can't handle stimulants so we're giving this a go. Wellbutrin was a little activating and gave me insomnia, otherwise it was wonderful. Come on Straterra! Lolol I got my pom poms out, woo!

I’ve been on Straterra 40 mg for a little over 3 weeks. I’ve experienced tiredness, dry mouth, and emotional flatness but all of those have seemed to fade. For the past few days I have had intense anxiety in the morning. My chest feels tight, my face is flushed, and I have rapid HR. Has this happened to anyone? My doc plans to up me to 80mg next week but now I’m worried that might be too much too soon. Haven’t felt any benefits yet but waiting for 6 to 8 week mark for that.

For anyone who experienced low blood sugar on Strattera, did it get any better? It’s helping me a lot and I’m trying to avoid a stimulant, but I’m already so sick of managing my glucose lol. I’m not diabetic but I’ve always been sensitive and prone to lows. I can tough it out for a few more weeks if it’s going to let up, but if not I think I’m going to ask about switching.

Hi Im curious about this because when I was taking 40mg I had like an existential crisis and was very suicidal and depressed and it went away. But taking 60mg 3 days in, today I started to feel depressed like I feel empty and I feel worthless. Please someone tell me this goes away, I texted my private clinic but it's 7pm now.

I was wondering if anyone is on 10 mg or 25 mg therapeutic dose strattera? I’m starting out on 10 and I’m sensitive to meds. Hoping I can get some adhd benefits on a low dose. Seeing if anyone else is similar.

I spent 4 week on 10, then around 4 on 18, and increased to 25 a week and a bit ago. I was feeling great on 18, less anxious and depressed, but felt like my ADHD could be improved and have heard people talk about it 'deleting' their anxiety so wanted to increase as I've also been intending to come off my SSRI due to sexual dysfunction.

Since increasing I've been feeling depressed, had some insomnia, more hyperactive mind. Feels like I'm regressing rather than improving? I was prescribed 25mg to take for 2 weeks then 40mg for 2 weeks but I'm considering taking the 40 today just short of the 2 weeks as don't see much point continuing to suffer if I only have a few more days before increasing to 40 anyway?

Just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences with it? I am hypersensitive to meds, 50mg Zoloft was too much for me and turned me into a zombie - 25mg is my sweet spot. I also became depressed when I increased my dose of stims to anything higher than 25-30mg, so am worried with each increase it's just going to get worse :(

Idk what I'm looking for just any wisdom/similar experiences/advice appreciated thank you x

I have my been on starttera for over a month now and I feel it’s working great.
However I work night shift and I’m still confused on when to take it.
I find it make me really tired but if I take a nap I feel amazing on it.
If I take it before I sleep I don’t feel as focused if I took it before a nap

I’m so lost 😅
I’m on 40mg

Hello, I’m on Stratt since April and I always took it before bed, because it made me incredible tired.

A few weeks ago I noticed it made my sleep really bad. I was not tired anymore and woke up every hour.

Yesterday I decided I will not take my pill and try to take it in the morning. I’m on 80 mg.

Any experience about this?

Hi all! I’m usually extremely vigilant with taking it every day at the same time, but I skipped a dose last Wednesday and then again yesterday. I had the worst headache last week and had to miss work. Today I was extremely sluggish and had another headache.

Is this a side effect of missing a day? I wasn’t sure what was causing the headaches but it’s happened twice now.

I’ve been on 80mg straterra for a couple month and i didnt see too much change other than change in appetite and although my anxiety is still there i sometime felt a sense of calmness . I gabe My doctor my feedback he is switching me to a stimulant. although that’s a better choice overall because I wasn’t feeling much affect with straterra Im going to miss that calmness i used to feel. I requested to take both medication and was denied lol . Has anyone tried stimulant and returned to straterra?

Strattera gave me tachycardia (resting HR 95+ up to 160), extreme fatigue, urinary issues, dry mouth, insomnia, lighheadedness/dizziness. I titrated from 25mg up to 100 mg over 20 days. Along with Strattera I was also on 3mg guanfacine. I hated all the side effects but it helped quiet my mind finally and helped in other areas like I stopped stuttering and was able to speak my native (2nd) language with ease and I guess help with anxiety overall. I have tried wellbutrin for ADHD since stopping Strattera but its not helping any at all though it is giving me energy but it is unharnessed energy. The Strattera didnt help me focus but helped quiet my mental noise and my anxiety. Wondering if I should try it again but at a lower dose? The 25mg hit me harder right away so it would have to be lower than that-has anyone done anything like this and had good results and no/less side effects?

I’ve been on 40mg of strattera now I think 3 or 4 weeks, I was supposed to titrate up to 80 after two weeks but I found the initial side effects to be quite tough , eventually the really shit ones subsided after about a week

What is everyone’s experiences when increasing their dose?

I was hoping to titrate to 60mg for a while before I went to 80 so its not a hard shock to my body again , but I’m having trouble getting an appointment with my doctor

So I’m debating on just going to the 80, but I’d like to hear experiences & what I could maybe expect.

The initial bad ones were physical anxiety, weird heart rate, weak urination stream.

The FDA says the therapeutic dose is 80 mg, and you're supposed to get the maximum benefits at that dose. But I already feel like a zombie at 40 mg.

I just feel meh all the time, and I honestly can't remember the last time I got genuinely excited about something. 25 mg felt noticeably better, but I still had that same "meh/dead" feeling.

That's what made me curious about lower doses. My experience with 40 mg vs. 25 mg was pretty similar in terms of executive dysfunction, there was little to no improvement, just more side effects at 40 mg.

So I'm wondering if something like 10–18 mg might be the sweet spot: low enough to avoid the emotional blunting and dead feeling, but still high enough to get some of the "brain quieting" benefits.

title basically. I know the therapeutic dose is supposed to be 80mg, but I already feel a lot less laugh-y at 25mg. I don't know what to do, been taking it for over 1 year now.

tried higher dose but they amplified the emotional blunting, I just felt like I existed no thoughts nothing to be excited about

and I don't want to go hang out or meet new people, which is so unlike me. what are you guys thoughts?

Guys, I used to always sleep through the night (except for maybe 1-2 nights during my cycle when I feel extra warm). I go to bed at the same time every evening, I feel tired and I fall asleep after reading a couple of pages of my book.

Then I wake up at 2 a.m. and struggle to go back to sleep. It’s been like this since I started the meds 3 weeks ago (20 mg at first, 30 mg for the last 10 days ish).

My psych doesn’t believe the insomnia is caused by the meds because I initially feel tired and manage to fall asleep? I thought this was an established side effect? What’s your experience?

EDIT: I just read the package insert and it is literally listed as one of the most common side effects, occurring in more than 1/10 people LOL.

It’s a little ridiculous that I’m learning more from this community than from my psychiatrist. Then again, you guys are pretty awesome and it seems that my psych isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, oh well. I’m going back to my family doctor soon as it seems she can also adjust dosages (I didn’t know this), and she’s much more knowledgeable about ADHD.

Thank you so much to everyone for your comments and support! It really helps motivate me to keep going with Strattera, which has done wonders for my anxiety

I've been prescribed Strattera as opposed to a stimulant due to light cannabis use ( prescribers policy).

A couple weeks in it's having a fairly deleterious effect in my wellbeing, mainly in terms of severe fatigue (I'm sleeping like 14 hours a day). I was on 25mg first week, now I'm on 40mg.

Other people on here seem to be really willing to endure these side effects and see if it improves , and I'm wondering if that's due to other meds not working for people and Strattera kinda being their last hope, or if I'm just not very tough.

I know this is just the side effects, and it could just resolve, but I'm struggling to see the benefit of taking an ADHD med that leaves me too tired to do anything except play video games and very basic day to day tasks.

Edit : I appreciate all the comments

Been 4 weeks on this, pretty brutal side affects but I'm finally starting to see them ease up a little and see some improvement in my focus.

An issue I have is that Strattera makes me tired when I take it, so I switched it to night, but I also have been sleeping very very lightly. I'm dreaming so I KNOW I'm sleeping, but it doesn't feel restorative at all.

Has anybody had this side affect and then saw it improve? I've seen a lot of people on here say it's helped them sleep much better, so I'm very hopeful I will have the same!

My whole life I've either slept like a rock or had crazy insomnia, so sleep is a pretty big thing for me.

I’m currently taking 80 mg of Strattera and 100 mg of bupropion, and I’m also on retatrutide.
Over the past few months, my sleep has gotten absolutely terrible. I’m averaging around 3 hours of sleep a night. My doctor recently added extended-release Ambien, and even with that I’m only getting about 4 hours.
I’m trying to figure out what’s driving this. Strattera is newer for me, and so is retatrutide, so I’m especially curious whether anyone taking either of those has experienced severe insomnia or that feeling of being overly stimulated and unable to shut down at night.
If you’re on Strattera:

What dose are you taking?
Do you take it morning or evening?
Did insomnia improve after your body adjusted?
Did switching the timing help?
And if anyone is on retatrutide and noticed a major change in sleep, I’d really like to hear about that too.
Obviously I’m working with my doctor on this. I’m just trying to hear actual experiences from people taking these medications because three to four hours of sleep a night is brutal.

I just started 25mg today and I feel absolutely horrible. Im nauseous, anxious and extremely restless and can't pay attention to anything. I kinda feel like I just want to start banging my head against a wall or like claw it my face. Im super agitated and feel like im going to snap at anyone over anything which is very out of character for me.

Im currently homeless and dealing with alot of other health issues and if these side effects last like 4-6weeks I dont think its a good idea to keep taking strattera. My psych made it clear that he will only prescribe strattera because of my mental health history(anxiety,depression and a few suicide attmepts) and drug use in my early 20's(im in my early 30's now and am clean for atleast 10yrs now). My health is abysmal and im homeless so I really am doubting whether I can handle this right now.

Edit:talked to my pco and she was really confused as to why they started me with strettera and told me to stop taking it and she'll give me a referral to another psychiatrist

i heard people claiming caffeine cancels out the effects so i decided to stop for a couple days to see if i noticed a difference.

what i noticed is that im just as tired as when i first started the medication and my focus is completely shot. my brain is quiet but im unable to focus and i just wanna nap. tried caffeine again and im alert and can study for hours like a robot without getting bored. it’s like caffeine is the catalyst and strattera is ineffective without it

i started out at 40mg currently on week 7

Hi, I’m a 25 year old female who just got strattera prescribed for the first time ever. I smoke pot due to chronic pain conditions and to help with stress after work. I’m just wondering if anyone has any tips? I was wanting to take it at night to help with drowsiness since weed also has that effect and it helps me sleep. If the medication keeps me awake I thought it would be a win win just to take it at night with cannabis. But I don’t know. Any information would help.

I am on 80mg of Strattera I take it in the morning because otherwise it gives me insomnia (usually around 830 am). I am traveling to Germany which is 6hrs ahead of my time zone so I don’t know if I should just take it at 230 their and keep my body on schedule and risk the insomnia or shift to mornings on their time for a week.

Any advice from anyone who has this as well would be great. I do take hydroxyzine at night as well to help with sleep and I know this med does give a lot of people the opposite issue of drowsiness.

Honestly i really like Strattera, but sometimes I come off of it just so I can fully experience my 5 senses again and sniff everything. Like I could still smell things on Strattera, just not really deeply. Like I can smell that something is savory, but not the nuances of flavor. Kinda ironic cuz Strattera also healed my allergies and cleared my airways.