Strattera

[uni]

I have been on a medication called Strattera, along with lamotrigine and Remeron, for about 3 years now. I rarely used to have trouble sleeping (when depressed I would do nothing but), however now I quite frequently do. I was blaming it on having lost my mother, gotten a boyfriend, and changes in my job. I have bought a new mattress and that has helped a fair bit. Oh yeah, I forgot, let's throw menopause in there too.

Anyway, it's the Strattera I'm wondering about. Now that I have a computer I'm looking more stuff up, including drugs. Strattera is marketed as a treatment for ADHD, which I've never been diagnosed with, but it originally started out as an antidepressant. Whatever. My Pdoc told me to take it in the morning because it could have stimulant properties. The last couple of times I had it refilled, the pharmacy put a sticker on it saying to take it at night because it could cause drowsiness. So I asked my Pdoc and he said, either way, whatever suits me, which was of no help. I am now officially confused. I take the lamotrigine morning and night, and the Remeron at night.

I work an evening shift, usually 1pm to 9 pm, so sleep in most mornings and stay up late most nights. I am not wild about this, but take it as a necessary evil for now. Mainly I'm curious about the Strattera. I don't remember anyone mentioning taking it as an antidepressant. It seems mainly to be used with kids. Does anyone have experience with it, or info to share?
Thanks.

[paul m]

Hello Uni. Sometimes meds meant for one thing work well for something else. Strattera is sometimes one of those meds. It is indeed meant for ADHD. However it has been approved for treatment of bipolar depression as well. It was oringinally developed as an anti-dep. It flunked the drug trails as it could not be proved it was of more value than a placebo. It was tested for and approved for ADHD shortly afterwards.

That does not mean that it will not help some people's depression, just not usually a lot of peoples depression. It can be a stimulant to some people as well. A lot of people with bipolar have trouble taking A/Ds that affect the seritonin in our brain. For example, while most A/D's make me rapid cycle immediately, wellbutrin allows me to take it for a short while. Wellbutrin does not affect seretonin. Strattera also does not affect the seretonin.

Remeron on the other hand tends to make people feel sedated a lot. It also is known to help a lot of people with anxieties. About 70% of people with bipolar also suffer from some sort of anxieties. Because it also uses a different mechanism to control depression it is also used to treat bipolar depression.

www.crazydrugs.us and wikipedia have both got a lot more info in an easier format than what I can put here. Taking Remeron at night is probably a wise move. As far as when to take the stattera, Most of my meds have a sticker on them that say may cause drowsiness and indeed they can. In actuallity most do not affect me that way and if I took all of my meds at night I would be in trouble.

Unfortunately with bipolar we sometimes have to do as you are doing, educate ourselves. Bipolar affects so many people in so many different ways it is often impossible to predict the results. So we research, learn, take our meds and then hope we don't grow and extra ear from the side effects . Take Care. paul m

[Woody]

You have been through a lot Uni but what really jumps out at me in your post is the menopause part. This alone could be throwing your system off kilter. Might not be a bad idea to get a good physical (incl. hormone levels and so forth).

[AJ]

Oh ya, menopause. I'm in the perimenapause phase. I actually went to a talk one evening by an OB/GYN. The hormonal changes can wreck havoc with our moods. Women without a mood disorder can gave some significant mood swings. It's even more of a challenge when you are bipolar.

[paul m]

www.oursistersplace.ca has a variety of fact sheets dealing with menopause/perimenapause etc. The facts sheets don't look that great( I really don't know much about the subjects for some reason) but they do a number of links that may be worthwhile. Take Care. paul m

[uni]

Thanks for all the input. As far as the Strattera goes, I (not having learned from my mistakes) altered the time of day I was taking it without medical supervision. After three days it was abundantly clear that I'd better return to the original plan of taking it in the a.m., because sleep at night simply did not want to come, and I started to get spinny in the head and just plain weird. On the up side, I did satisfy my curiosity as to when to take the stuff!

Which has me wondering whether there may be more to this menopause than I have been giving it credit for. At one time I was on hormone replacement therapy, but due to research about a possible link to breast cancer am no longer on it. The trouble is, that was before my current drug regimen, so how do I know what's drugs, what's menopause, and what's mood disorder? I suppose I can't really know. However, I really like your suggestion, Woody, about getting my hormone levels tested. I go for a physical in February, I believe, and will ask the doctor about it.

Oh yeah, is anyone familiar with bioidentical hormone therapy for menopause symptoms? It's alternative medicine or something. Sounds complicated but may be worth finding out about.

[AJ]

'Oh yeah, is anyone familiar with bioidentical hormone therapy for menopause symptoms? It's alternative medicine or something. Sounds complicated but may be worth finding out about.'

The short answer is that they are not 'bioidentical' as they claim to be. If there is a particular one you'd like to know about, let me know... PM me if you like.