Hi,
I am 23 years old an I was diagnosed with ADD last spring. I took Strattera this summer at 40 mg and then up to 80. I was prescribed it by one of the leading experts on ADD in the country. He said the only side effects I should feel were dry mouth, drowsiness and a decrease in appetite, all of which should go away after a few doses. But when I went up to 80, I got horribly dizzy and almost blacked out. He said that a side effect that extreme was very very rare, and suggested that I might have a slow metabolism for meds and so would need a lot less for it to be effective -- so I am getting tested for that.

In the meantime, I stopped it altogether because I had just graduated college and I am pretty highly functional without it and I wasn't sure if I would be able to tell a difference because of all the changes in my life -- no more school, new city, new apt, new job. Now that I am settled in the city but was having a lot of anxiety about life after college, I am on it again at 40 mg.

But my doctor stressed that Strattera was slow acting and that a lot of adults got frustrated by that. I didn't want to take stimulants because I was afraid of getting adicted to them and because I didn't like the idea of the feeling of it kicking in and then leaving my system.

Strattera works by increasing the amount of norepinepherine (I have no idea how to spell that) in your brain by causing the brain to be slower in reabsorbing the hormone, so that needs to happen gradually over time.

I dunno if it is going to work (it's been a week) , but I have high hopes. I just wanted to chime in and say that it is SUPPOSED to be slow acting and build up over time, so if that's what you are looking for this might be it. Also, most of those fear mongering things on the Internet are bogus, and that comes from someone who essentially was poisoned by too much Strattera. I still believe that taken at the right amount it's safe.

@mckell13: I've heard that a ton of MD's don't want to diagnose meds right away because it takes a while to sort out reactions to the ADD and determine how ADD is really affecting your life.

That being said, it sounds like your doc didn't take the neurological basis of ADD seriously -- it's not always something that you can get over by yourself.

When I was debating whether or not to go back on the meds, I told a close friend that I wanted to fight myself, that I didn't think I should need outside help.

He said "This is bigger than you. Your doctor gave you meds, you should take them." That phrase, "this is bigger than you" really put it in perspective. It's not something you are supposed to attack on your own necessarily, and so the meds make sense,

Hope this was coherent.