Strattera and the flight or fight response?

[Anne Oakley]

Hello all,
I was diagnosed with PTSD about 12 years ago, I am a 31 year old woman. I recently started Strattera after try bupropion and lexapro for depression and SADD. I wonder how Strattera is affecting my PTSD however. I have spent 13+ years in cognitive and EDMR therapy and really have my symptoms (minus an extreme trigger) under control. Looking to you all for some thoughts. I don't want to ruin my good work in therapy with a drug that screws up my epinephrine (flight or fight) but it has helped me out of the rut of depression a lot so far. Thoughts? Experiences?

 

[EveHarrington]

How did you do on Wellbutrin?

Both it and strattera work on norepinephrine, albeit in different ways.

Wellbutrin was awesome for my depression....at first, but the effect on my norepinephrine...? Well, I’m two months out and still trying to calm my system down. I flinch a lot less now, but my skin is still super sensitive. The odd thing is that this med was VERY calming to me in terms of my mental anxiety, it was just very activating and sent my sensitivities through the roof. I’m still crossing my fingers that I’ll improve.

Are you noticing any spikes in fight/flight? If so, tread with caution. The effects may well last a long time, even after the drug has been out of your system for awhile.

 

[Friday]

I took Strattera for ADHD for a couple years. >>> Which means none of the following may apply, as I’m Comorbid ADHD-C / PTSD, but since everyone’s neurochemisty is different that could be true, anyway so here goes <<< It came reeeeeally close to being a “magic wand” drug for me (where I got to keep all the things I like about the disorder but kick to the curb all the things I didn’t like). In the end, though, I lost one of the things I not only like... but find intolerable to live without, so I discontinued it.

My absolute favorite things about it?

- I could stop thinking about anything I didn’t want to be thinking about, and come back to it later.

- I could decide to go to sleep, lay down, and be asleep 15 minutes later. :eek: OMFG. I have never had that in. my. life. Just decide I have a busy day tomorrow, or want to get up early, so -wide awake- simply get ready for bed, lay down, and Zzzzzz. It’s f*cking amazing. And the waking up? Equally brilliant. And just as fast, with no emergency necessary.

- My hypervigilance STFU // My body awareness issues vanished (granted so did my awareness of surface temperature. So I had to be careful around hot/cold things not to damage myselfq).

***

I test pretty off the charts for ADHD, so whenever I’m doing a med trial my doctors usually take me a lot higher than the avg adult dose, often double but it varies by drug, and then I keep backing things down until I get to a level I’m comfy with. With Strattera that meant I started at 5 or 10-80-160... and then all the way back down to 5 or 10. (I can’t really remember, blue and yellow capsules.) Which kind of irritated my doctor at the time, because doubling the adult dose was what he was counting on being all Shazam for me, and here I was wanted a kids trial dose. :hilarious: Whole thing just cracked me up.

 

[Anne Oakley]

--->Hi EveHarrington, Wellbutrin personally makes me feel like I can do no wrong and I find that my empathy meter is turned off. For me I guess it makes me feel a little manic but not in a full-blown Bi-polar kinda way. I am feeling like my triggers are a little closer to the surface than "normal" but I have only been on it for a little over a week now. Either way I really appreciate this site and the people who are willing to share like yourself! Sometimes it is just nice to interact with people who get it!!!

--->Hi Friday, I luckily have not had the side-effect for the losing the thing most can not live without! Really happy about that one, lolz. I am on 40 mg a day and am supposed to up my dose to 80 mg but when I did I totally zonked out for an entire day. We'll see how it goes. When you were on it though did you feel like your PTSD symptoms were closer to the surface? If this is too much ask I completely understand and thank you sooo much for sharing x 1000!

 

[Friday]

When you were on it though did you feel like your PTSD symptoms were closer to the surface? If this is too much ask I completely understand and thank you sooo much for sharing x 1000!

I wasn’t taking it when my PTSD was acting up, in point of fact I’d been durn near asymptomatic for 7 or 8 years, at that point. Some insomnia in the fall, a few nightmares and panic attacks here and there, the occasional bad weekend. Nothing worth mentioning, really.

I’ve considered, repeatedly, going back on it just for PTSD for a few years now because of

- I could stop thinking about anything I didn’t want to be thinking about, and come back to it later.

- I could decide to go to sleep, lay down, and be asleep 15 minutes later.

- My hypervig STFU

Being able to table the intrusive memories & accompanying emotion storms / SI, sleep regularly, and not have my anxiety running hot! hot! hot! all the time? <low whistle> I can’t even imagine how much better/more functional I would be. I can remember what it was like, but I honestly cannot imagine life today like that.

How it would interact with both disorders at the same time, though? I can’t speak to. Would I still get those effects I love so dearly as I had them before? No idea.