Posted by 10derheart on October 10, 2012, at 18:10:16
Okay, first don't faint - I know I **never** start posts on this board. But I do read a lot so I feel like I kinda, sorta know some of you. And boy do I have a head full of random info about meds and conditions...it comes in handy sometimes :-)
I've been taking Strattera 80 mg daily for over eight years. I'm beginning to wonder if I need a dose increase. I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating and organizing my thoughts and some tasks, enough to where it is affecting my life negatively.
At first I thought this was more about bad sleep, low confidence, some pure laziness and plain old anxiety. I'm sure those probably do play a role. But even on days when I'm well rested, like what I;m reading or studying, calm....I still can't sustain things like before. I don't seem to be functioning, in the executive function area, all that well. I am in a new school working on my B.A. (about two months) and things have slowly slipped downhill in the stick-to-it-ness department. I need to see if meds are part of the problem because just talking to my T. (MSW-no prescribing) about anxiety and stress isn't helping one bit. She is highly in favor of me checking out the option of increasing meds.
I have not felt any need to augment the atomoxetine for all these years, I even tried to reduce it to 60 mg daily just to see if I could. But I went back up to 80 within a week because it just felt...weird, for lack of a better word. Not sure about increase in symptoms then, but frankly, I had a no stress life where I wasn't working or in school and could do as I pleased, so it was hard to discern.
The thing is....(I hate this part since I have to be honest) I weigh 50-60 pounds more than I did when the 80 mg was prescribed. The FDA max appears to be 100 mg a day, but I understand that is because of lack of efficacy over 100, not from any danger to me, correct?
Would it be reasonable to try 120 mg a day for a couple days as an experiment? I have a whole bottle of 60 mg, perfect for this. Obviously, it makes sense to try 100 since I am on 80 now, but I'm not quite sure about opening capsules and approximating a dose like that. Guess I could since i have the 60s. I am pretty heavy and charts out there would put me at 120 mg daily, not 100, if you disregard the FDA max.
Another lovely unintended consequence to being overweight - needing more of a med. :-((
I'm also wondering about adding some IR Ritalin. That was my first ADD med and it worked well with Prozac years ago. I got up to 20 mg x 4 daily. Is there any problem augmenting Strattera with MPH - say 5 or 10 mg x 2 daily, or less as the situation calls for? The problem is....I have HBP, totoally controlled with meds, but I have had docs in the past frown on *any* stimulants for someone with hypertension issues. My old pdoc of years ago trusted me checking my BP and noting the Ritalin didn't change one thing, so he continued to script it even when the PCP got all huffy with him. He is such a cool guy....
Few pdocs in my area any more and none that take my insurance (yikes!) so I'd have to propose this to my regular doc. He's nice enough, but it makes me nervous.....
I dunno. Got to try something before this college thing spirals out of control.....
Thanks for reading. All replies welcome (yes, you, too Lou) - 10der
MDD (presently in complete remission); ADD-Inattentive type; mild anxiety (not fomally dx'd)
Meds: Strattera 80 mg q day
poster:10derheart
thread:1028303
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121009/msgs/1028303.html