straterra or adderall

[notgoingdown]

My 12 yr old son has been on adderall for the last several years. We started on concerta but he was loosing weight on those but he also had a rotovirus right after he was put on them. Then we went to straterra (non stimulant) but we didnt see much of a difference then went on to adderall. Recently I have been wanting to take him off the meds if possible... we tried it, tapered him down off of them over a 3 wk period but it doesnt seem to be time for him. If I ever doubted whether he really needed them I now know that he does. I would like to at least get away from the stimulant type of med for him as I think sometimes that it makes his temper worse.
Does anyone have any experience with non stimulant working better with adhd kids with temper problems. I think I might not have given the straterra enough of a chance as I now know he didnt have it in his system long enough to have seen significant change. We went thru the 3 diff meds within about 4-6 wks.

[Sandman2]

      You probably should ask your doctor why they started you off with Straterra.  Yes, it certainly has its place for people who cannot take stimulant meds, but it is not as effective as a stimulant med.
       On the other hand, Straterra also takes 2 to 4 weeks to be effective (see link) - http://www.leeheymd.com/charts/adhd_1.html
        So If you just started, you should not expect it to be working.  However, if every little thing sets you off - thats not good and I would immediately tell your doc.
       Overall, your doc should be giving you more information about what is going on.   Let me know if you have any more questions.   Good luck!

[Bear19921974]

I just started Straterra and I've never felt so infuriated at everything! Every little thing sets me off. I don't think this is the right drug for me, I was thinking of taking adder all but the doctors won't perscibe anything useful if they know you need it., just saying

[notgoingdown]

Yes please let me know how how the natural remedy works. I would be leery to try another since I basically wasted my money on the one I have since he couldnt swallow it.
We have an appt this week to see about a meds check and I am going to ask about trying the Vyvanse.

[Melissa0116]

Oh, I did forget to tell you that the daytrana patch worked well for my son.  The only problem he had was that he was allergic to the tape, (he cannot even use anything latex) so we had to discontinue it.  But, if your child has trouble taking pills this med works great.  

Also, my son has been taking the Vyvanse for about 1.5 years and his symptoms have actually improved.  So from our experiences this works for him.  

I take the Adderall, which I take the short acting so I can control the dosage throughout the day.  I take 10 mg 4 times daily, which is a lot better since I can have focus all day long instead of using the XR which barely worked for 6 hours.  I plan on trying the natural L-theanine this summer for myself to see how it really works before I give it to my son.  I will let you know how this goes.

[notgoingdown]

Thanks for the info on straterra. Yeah I think that will be off the table. I started reading more on  here after I posted and I think the prob may be that he hasnt had a dose adjustment in several years of the adderall. I know it is based on weight and he is tiny but maybe they need to go with something that is more able to be tweaked to get to the right dose. I had printed out a few posts about the vyvanse to show our doc cuz it seems that many have had success with it.
I started to try the vaxa attend stuff but the capsules were so big he couldnt take them and when I tried mixing it in with some food he gagged on it saying it tasted hot. Sooo they are just sitting up in the cabinet. After that episode of trying to get off them I have decided that if we try another homeopathic remedy it will be during summer break where he doesnt have to deal with school while figuring out how it works.

[Melissa0116]

You really need to do more research before putting him back on straterra.  Straterra was forced by the FDA to put a black box warning on the meds since it causes suicidal thoughts.  

I use to take this and realized how dangerous it really was.  Did you try Vyvanse?  My 11 year old son takes this and has really works great.  It may not work but it is definitely worth a try and straterra is so so dangerous and most of the time does not even help.  

If you want to try the natural method there is a study being done on the vitamin L-theanine.  This is used in tea and foods in Asia.  Have you ever heard of ADD or ADHD in Asia.  No, because this vitamin helps with their focus, hyperactivity, and many other symptoms.  
Do some research and talk to you doctor.  Your doctor may not like to hear about the natural method since they do not get any money from the pharmaceutical company if they stop using meds.  

Just a couple of suggestions.  I have been doing so much research on this for about 15 years or so, although I am not an expert, sometimes the physicians are just not sure what to do.  

Good Luck