Up Next

Went to the Dr. on Thursday and got a new drug to try out. I'm on Concerta now. I got a free trial coupon from my doc. It's a slow release rittalin variant. I am hopeful as I had good results with rittalin before. I just started taking it today, and it was a pretty good day, although I just sat around the house. It seemed to take a while longer to kick in, but kept working until later in the evening. I can take up to 4 a day and thing I will likely end up taking a couple.

I'll keep you posted

I quit

I stopped taking Stratterra. We just didn't get along. I don't know, maybe it will help other people, it seems to be a strong drug. Strong enough to mess me up three ways from Sunday.

The worst of it was the sleeplessness and along with that, the messed up dreams. Here are a few highlights. Mind you because you don't sleep well, you have a certain level of consciousness in your dreams which I am sure isn't a good thing for your psyche.

I had one dream that if I fell asleep I would die. You know what happens next right? I dies in my dream which is just all sorts of messed up because everyone knows you're not supposed to die in your dreams ever right?? Well as I was plunged into a dark silent abyss of death, I was somewhat conscious of my dream even though I was asleep. I freaked out and tried to wake up, and for, I don't know 30 seconds or so I couldn't wake up! Finally I popped awake to find I had produced enough sweat and adrenalin for a whole basketball team.

The other dream was that I was talking in some sort of broken gibberish, but not just nonsensical noise, almost a language, it kind of made sense, but again in my semi sleep state I consciously knew that the human mind wasn't really capable of coming up with this kind of organized gibberish which mad em think that I was being possessed by demons. Fun stuff.

Oh, and then their was the one when I was driving in a full on apocalyptic snowstorm, trying to get somewhere that was really important, life and death kind of important, and while my car was doing a remarkable job of driving through 3 foot deep snow, the damn thing kept turning off as I was driving meaning I had to fiddle with the key to get it to run again, the whole time frantically trying to get somewhere which strangely enough wound up being Microcenter?!?!?

Anyway, I'm dine with the pills and I see my Dr. today to see what's next.

I should also point out that just because you quit Stratterra doesn't mean it has quit you. Things are better, but I still know it's at work in my brain doing fun things, especially when I'm trying to sleep. I've also noticed I'm rather agitated since quitting.

Straterra Part 2

So, I still haven't had a good night's sleep since starting Straterra about 2 weeks ago. I have been taking some sleep aids I picked up at the grocery store, but they don't seem to do much of anything to make me tired. I have another appointment later this week, and I hope the Doc has something better for me to try.

I am now at the 80mg dosage and for the first half of the day I was an absolute zombie. I take the meds at night to avoid the side effects, but since it has a long half life, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I feel disoriented, dizzy, and I think I can feel my brain freaking out a little.

The drug has done nothing to improve my life, and in fact I'd say I'm worse off than I was before I started taking it. I can't concentrate on anything and I find myself nodding off frequently. I should point out that the drug often takes several weeks to show positive signs, but from what I've been able to gather it works best at tempering the more "hyper" issues of which I have, but keep in check pretty well. I need help with the concentrating and attention part of the problem. I think if you were hyper this drug would bring you down. If you were a rampaging elephant this drug would bring you down!

Anyway, I have to go contemplate witting Eli Lilly a nasty letter.

Update-been a while

I went back on Straterra after the holidays and it has not been good to me. Straterra is a non-stimulant medication originally used to treat depression, but it didn't really work for that application and supposedly works for about 75% of ADHD patients. It is a stepped plan in which you take progressively larger doses up to 80 mg, I am on the third step of four and I have to say I am not happy. Apparently it take a while to begin to work (a few weeks) and in the beginning there is a higher likelihood of side effects until you level out so to speak.

I have been enjoying all sorts of fun side effects. It made me tired and spacey. I even had to go home one day. I changed from taking it in the morning to taking it at night as I had heard some people do better with the side effects (you sleep though them). Apparently it also causes insomnia. I haven't had a good night of sleep in 4 days. Last night was ridiculous. I was up most of the night, and had the weirdest dreams.

I'd like to say screw it and go back to taking something else, but I have decided to stick it out at least until my next appointment in a week or two in the hopes the side effects will wear off and maybe the actual beneficial part of the drug will begin to work! Right now, I'm a spaced out tired zombie.

Back on Rittalin

I decided to go back on Ritalin last week because with Christmas coming my wife wasn't happy with the meed change I had after I started taking Strattera. I don't blame the new drug, it was going off the old drug. Straterra takes a while to take effect and you start out at a low dose. I gave up after a week.

I intend to go back to Straterra after Christmas, when I can afford to be a little less jolly.

On to a new med - Strattera

So, after a month on Rittalin, I talked to my Dr. and we decided to give Strattera a try. The reason we switched was that Rittalin didn't really do a very good job of treating my ADHD symptoms. It gave me an energy boost, but it was hard to focus that energy in a positive way. Addreall which I took before had better results in being focused, but came with a host of other side effects that didn't work well for me.

Strattera is supposed to be different in that it doesn't work as a stimulant, it takes a while to work too, so I haven't been able to form an opinion on it yet. The drug is a little unique in that you take an increasing larger amount of the drug for the first month. Each week is a more potent dose until you reach a point at which you remain indefinitely. I am hoping that the non-stimulant will work for me. Apparently some people just don't react well on them and those people do better on this drug. My fingers are crossed.

Ritalin Update

I've noticed that some days Ritalin is my best friend, helps me out a lot, other times it isn't such a good friend. When it's not my friend, it either makes me feel kind like I have a energy drink high, but at the same time kind of sick feeling. Other times I have a hard time concentrating kinda like when I have a head cold without the congestion. I haven't been able to determine when or why it decides to affect me one way or the other. It may have something to do with how much sugar or activity I am experience.

If I get a lot of sugar, I think I get too much energy when combined with the ritalin and I go into a sort of overload.

If I don't have anything going on and I'm on ritalin I get really dull and lethargic.