The medicine merry-go-round is so frustrating. Took us four years with my 12 year old to finally find something that worked pretty well. We did try Strattera, which didn’t work for us. Question…not familiar with the dosages of Strattera (we never got past the lowest) but why such a huge jump from 10 to 40? Isn’t there something in between he could have gone to? Just a thought.

I don’t know what starter packs you have been on, but we have been starting Stratera recently, and our pack starts at 18, then 25, then 40. It goes to 60 after that, but it is much slower than what you have been describing. So far, OK. We could tell some difference when we did the first jump. We do the 2nd jump on Friday (not looking forward to it - my daughter has a paper in class to write on that day).  It is a pack and we go with the pills that you do on the days it gives them to you.  See if your doc has something like this.

They went to 20 mg. (2 10mg. pills)and then went to 25 mg.  However, the teachers were saying he was still extremely unorganized so they went to 40mg.  Also, he is 140 pounds and 5’3 so they took his large size into consideration.  Now they are saying he is less disorganized but now they are reporting that he is being difficult.

Oh my goodness, I’m seeing some similiar issues as well.  I have a large 13 year old (5’7”, 160 lbs) who is now on 100mg of Strattera.  He’s had a negative reaction to all stimulants tried so far.  I can’t tell what is teenage angst, or meds, or the struggles of having a learning disability too, but my son has been getting upset over pretty minor issues, and obsesses over negative thoughts such as how stupid his teacher’s are, or how much he hates school. It’s not consistent though, and some days are fine so it’s hard to pinpoint the cause. It’s so hard on the kid AND the parent.

We are on that merry-go-round too! 13 and not sure if its puberty, growth, hormones, meds or some combination. We had great success on concerta. after some changes came back to that with Straterra added. It is my understanding that Strattera takes time to build up in the system where Concerta starts pretty much right away, so I would check with your doc about timing. The Straterra seemed to help with our sons moods and the concerta addressed the attention. But everyone is different. Some have had great success on adderall - but it had a terrible affect on my son. You really need to find what works for HIM . . . and trust your instincts! I always doubted myself until things got so bad I just knew something had to change and sure enough we ended up finding some success. Good luck to you & God Bless!