Posted by xanablu on November 8, 2004, at 18:05:25
In reply to Re: strattera pushed on me - please help, posted by shefast on November 7, 2004, at 21:17:13
> thanks - i am curious, why did you stop taking it?
>
> i am receiving benefits from the county i live in because i am flat broke and have no insurance. i have been informed that it is their "policy" that a new adhd patient must try wellbutrin for two months and if that doesn't work they go to strattera for two months. then if the strattera doesn't work they can go to stimulants. i've already been on wellbutrin, so that obviously doesn't work, thus i got to skip the first 2 months. i will not take strattera, but it remains to be seen how the county will deal with that.
>
> i don't know if the doctor is allowed to prescribe stimulants anyway, but i have to pay for them? or do they permit patients who object to a certain medication to "skip it"? (i should get answers from them tomorrow)
>
> almost everything i have read states that stimulants are considered first-line treatment for adhd, and strattera is a fallback if you can't tolerate stims. i have not found much touting strattera as a first treatment.
>
> also, i am still on wellbutrin and can't find any info on the potential reaction between strattera and wellbutrin...
>
> > I took Strattera for a year and discontinued it abruptly. There was no withdrawal.
> >
> > Much of the research in the period since Strattera's release has focused not on Strattera's efficacy, but on its lack of abuse potential relative to stimulants. Numerous experiments have confirmed that monkeys are reluctant to intra-cranially inject themselves with atomoxetine, in contrast to Ritalin or Adderall.
> >
> > You don't have to take a drug that is prescribed for you, or even fill the prescription. But I have never heard of a health plan telling their doctors what they can or cannot prescribe.
> >
> > -z
> >
>
Ya know, considering how long it took me to get a private psych ( or rather find one) who was open-minded about adult ADD (we're talking years of my life lost to confusion and depression as a result) my advice, but a month, say it doesn't agree with you, and go thru the hoops. Myself, I would at least try it, briefly, but not to the point that it made me unwell. We are not the docs or the system, we are the bodies and souls.
I just don't want you to lose your chance at financial help in this super-critical area of your life even if you have a good point. Choose your battles, but don't lose this 'war'. It will be yours (and mine) forever. Just a thought-I'm right w/u on knowing my own body 10 x's better than any doc and I have suffered thru innumerable drug trials. But any doctor I've ever tried to armwrestle, has always had the power to put me down. We, as patients, must be clever, informed, subtle, gracious, and educated--even whn the powers that be are not. GOOD LUCK!!!
xanablu
poster:xanablu
thread:412762
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041108/msgs/413439.html