Strattera

[Guest guest]

Hello again

I am wondering if any of you have had positive experiences with the

drug Straterra.

My daughter Breanna has HFA and ADHD innatentive. She is 9 years

old. 18 months aqo she was put on 10mg of Ritalin twice a day and it

had an AMAZING affect on her ability to concentrate. She completed

her school work, was able to maintain a 2 way conversation and

controlled her impulses much better. But there was a downside. She

developed mild tics that eventually became quite severe...to the

point that they were interrupting her daily life. She began to have

trouble sleeping, so we introduced Melatonin and eventually

Clonidine. As she took a dose at 8 (before school) and a dose at

noon. by 4pm she seemed to be 'coming down' and would get quite

teary.

3 months ago she began to appear very 'flat'. She had lost her spark

completely and her anxiety levels had increased dramatically. Her

tics were also worse. As it is school holidays here in Australia

(Summer) we decided to wheen her off the Clonidine and now she is

also off the Ritalin. The change was amazing. She is back to her

happy, joyful self again, her tics are almost gone and she is

sleeping better. She may be busier (hyper at times) but we are just

happy to have Breanna BACK again. Sadly though, she will not be able

to focus on her schoolwork when she goes back to school.

Her Paediatrician would like to trial her on Straterra. It is

relatively new here in Australia and Bree would be part of a trial.

I am scared to start her on a new drug. Ritalin was wonderful at

first but seemed to develop negative side-affects as time went on.

So if any of you can share your experiences with Straterra I would

really appreciate it. I hate making these kinds of decisions.

Nikki