# Atomoxetine ( Strattera )



## birdie (Aug 23, 2004)

Hi to everyone
I've been DP-ed for the last 10 years and I've tried more than 30 medications.I am not ADD but recently my doc sugested me to try some new (ADD) medication,Atomoxetine.I have not started and not sure if I am gona do it,just scared of taking meds,after experiencing the side efects only.
That's why I would like to ask all of you on our planet,from any part of the world:
HAVE YOU TRIED ATOMOXETINE ( STRATTERA ) ???
If yes,what was the result,any help? Any change?
I would be grateful for any advice on this topic.
Take care all of you and thanks.
Birdie


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## sleepingbeauty (Aug 18, 2004)

hi birdie

i was on strattera for aprox 2 months. i took it for ADD. im sorry to say it didnt do a doggone thing for me. i didnt get side effects good or bad. nothing zip zero ziltch NADA!! still scattered and still zoned out.  the sucky part is i waited 4 months to get approval from my insurance just to start taking it.. i had such high hopes. i probably would have gotten better results from a bag of skittles. oh well. :roll:


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## Chris (Jan 5, 2005)

Allow me to be pessimistic for a moment.

Everyone on this board tries many kids of medication. For anxiety, depression etc. Many people on this board believe that dp is caused by anxiety and stuff, and if we can medicate the anxiety, maybe our dp will go away.

I don't really believe in this theory anymore. Becuase Anxiety caused my DP. then I took medication and it worked wonders for my anxiety and depression, yet the dp never ever went away. When my anxiety came back last month, I became a chronic DP'er. it went through the roof. Now I'm clining to reality. My anxiety is gone now.

so I'm sorry but I don't believe medication will help DP. once your chronic, I think that's it. Your DP for life.

Maybe 2% recover.


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## kenc127 (Aug 10, 2004)

I have to disagree with you there Chris. I recovered from a horrible 2 year long episode and was DP free for 10 years. I think if one takes the necessary time in therapy in conjunction with the meds, one can get at the core of why they are dissociating. Our brain dissociates as a defense. If we can get at what it is we are defending, we would no longer need the dissociative defense. The meds will only get us through the much needed therapy, not cure us. Only the therapy can eliminate the DP once and for all once we manage to get the courage to talk about our most defended issues. Just a thought.

Ken


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## rob (Aug 22, 2004)

chris

for me going into dp/dr was like going through a one way trap-door - I knew there was no way back the moment I went through it - my subconcious took the decision and my subconcious is not something over which I have any concious control - so, after 30 years, I reckon you're right

rob


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## Guest (Feb 2, 2005)

THOSE are the posts we never want to hear about.....

How to be positive after reading this???? Are you aware of the consequences of sensitive people here who wants to have faith?

It's really serious..... I think posts like this makes us all more scared and DP. And for me, 2 weeks after my first episode of DP I have read about it, and saw stories of no-recovering at all, and had the most terrifying panic attack of my life. And it made me traumatized... since 2 years.

Watch out for what you are writing.

C xxx


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## Guest (Feb 2, 2005)

VERY important, guys: this is one of my VERY IMPORTANT POSTS:

If somebody says something scary or negative, YOUR REACTION TO IT IS THE SYMPTOM.

We, dp/obsessive types, INSIST on hearing only answers we want to hear. We are terrified of not being able to COUNTER-act negative ideas by being able to (as normal people do) just say "oh, well, that is only your opinion...I'm not buying into that."

THAT Is a CRUCIAL aspect to your symptoms and your basic neurosis.

It's like getting a chain letter (you know,those awful things people send that say 'if you respond to this chain letter by sending it to ten of your friends, then wonderful things will happen for you, but...if you throw it away and do not respond, HORRIBLE fate will befall you."

NOrmal people say "oh, please..." and laugh and throw out the damn letter!

WE however, are the type of person who PANICKS and if we do throw it away, we can't get the fear/threat out of our minds.

THAT is crucial, guys...talk to your therapists about this. We are terrified of uncertainty and we feel like other negattive thoughts or ideas must bE AVOIDED, or NOT HEARD, in order to not make them come true.

We are terrified becasue we feel like we cannot ALLOW negative thoughts to co-exist in our minds along with good ones.

We want ONLY good, black and white...and we try to control other people by making them not say things, or take them back, rather than learinng to live in an imperfect world. We need to trust ourselves and trust our own thinking. Instead, we keep returning to the negative stuff and harping on IT, not the positive thoughts that people tell us. We like the positive stuff for one second, but the negative stuff lives on in our minds BECAUSE WE ARE FEEDING IT. We feed it because we are ENRAGED that it exists.

You're fighting with reality.
This is an imperfect world.
Learn to accept that you will never succeed in controlling other people and learn to trust your own ideas about things, rather than trying to make everyone else say what you want to hear.

GOT IT?

Love,
J


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## Guest (Feb 2, 2005)

Yes Janine,

I understand 

So hard to have self-confidence when you are ill.

K xxx


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## rob (Aug 22, 2004)

Cynthia

sorry to upset you with my post - truly I am - it's always been a slight dilemna of the board whether or not the truth should be told even if it isn't want we want to hear - this is a support forum - i accept that

so the flip side of my "one-way" trap door remark is that I have learned to live with my dp and dr and I have a truly rewarding life in many ways - especially my relationships with my three adorable children..

I found that dp makes you feel like you can't do or achieve anything - when i first got it as a teenager I neber even thought I'd be able to drive a car - but after twelve years of running away from my dp and myself through a haze of self-abuse - I got my act together - got a first class degree in law - have been a partner in a mighty big law global law firm in my time and now run several creative/nedia busineses because I prefer to earn less money and spend more time with my children - which is of course real wealth..

DP/DR is never so bad as in the first few years - I still get days when I get very down about it - but you have to look at the positives - I have survived cancer, I never had to "go over the top" in any barbaric war, I have never beem the victim of genocide or starvation - so you have to look at your situation in the round and believe me there is so much good in life to be savoured and enjoyed even with dp/dr...

Maybe I made a mistake in thinking dp was a one-way trip and I hope YOU proove me wrong and if so tell me all about your recovery

Once again sorry for making you fel bad

rob x


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## rob (Aug 22, 2004)

Janine

That was one hell of a post.. that is me to a T.. always trying to be incontrol for fear of uncertainty - I've really worked on that over the years - I still get gut wrenching fears about everything but especially relationships - but I have learned not to let my fears control me - even though it is hard to do

..just wish I didn't have those silly fears in the first place and could lighten up a bit - yeah I'm sensitive and intense by nature - from childhood - but even though I know my fears are not right they still produce strong feelings in me

I have a terrible fear of lonliness and of being alone

Rob x


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## rob (Aug 22, 2004)

Janine/Cynthia

God knows how or why but I went into business in quite a big way about ten years ago when all I had was a ?20,000 overdraft and a family to feed - in business there are few certainties - you can do what you can to minimise risk - but ultimately everything's a gamble - a glorified trip to the races

but one thing is for sure - you are always being confronted with news that you don't want to hear - you know someone's launched a rival product/idea that not only competes with yours but is better - bitterly disappointing at the time - but you have to accept it, because at least if you face up to the problem you can start working on a strategy for dealing with it - in other words if you lie to yourself then you're headed for even bigger trouble

not sure what that has to do with anything and I am by no means the world's greatest businessman

rob x


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## rob (Aug 22, 2004)

janine

a few weeks ago a posted:-

"I am a perfectionist.

As I have not been guaranteed a perfect life I have detached myself from life. "

and i have since been told by a doctor at the iop dp unit nearly that every dp patient they see has strong perfectionist tendencies.....?

rob x


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## Guest (Feb 3, 2005)

Rob, you toy with me (grin)

Are you going to The Dark Side (psychoanalytic thought? grin grin)

I absolutely 100 per cent agree with the doc from the IOP. There are always certain personality types who cluster around certain symptoms. There are Traits that depressives have, traits that phobia/panic attack people have, and traits that many dp/obsessives have.

I was classic to that type (still am in many ways, lol). I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it. No negotiations. No patience. If I couldn't HAVE what I wanted, I had to make myself not want it.

I controlled everyone around me instead of trying to take control of myself.

I was always looking for what was wrong with something, finding fault, hating flaws...literally HATING them. I was NOT perfectionistic in many areas - I didn't SEEM to be that uptight. But I was highly perfectionistic in relationships. One blemish, and I hated the person. One argument and I HAD to "fix" it - couldn't trust that the relationship could endure on rocky waters.

Black and white.

Perfect/Ideal or "who needs it anyway?"

Never developed much of a taste for reality.

Yep. MANY of us have much more in common than our symptoms.

Love ya, and good to see you!
Janine


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## lone wolf (Aug 10, 2004)

kenc127 said:


> Only the therapy can eliminate the DP once and for all once we manage to get the courage to talk about our most defended issues.


Hi Ken - now is my turn to disagree. :twisted: I don't think that therapy is the only answer, nor talking about the defended issues with someone else. I hardly believe I'd find the kind of wondrous therapist with whom I could feel s/he'd understand and see me 100 %. Instead I guess that person might be my boyfriend, but bc of my deep fear within I just don't dare to try it, step out of my icy cage of DR and see if I would be seen and recognized by him. *

I have discussed about this thing with my boyfriend, and I'm happy he is sympathetic and even more than understanding. I really have no insecurities about sharing this thing with someone else, and have found talking alone doesn't help me - it is the fear that keeps me behind the icy walls, which I know too well but can't do nothing for it at the moment. Thus I don't see how therapy would help me, bc I don't think I would feel being on the same wave-lenghts enough with a stranger in an artificial professional-client relationship, cuz I don't dare to let go of DR even with my boyfriend.

Instead of therapy and talking I hope time and active self-therapy might do the "trick" for me. With self-therapy I mean living and enjoying my life as much as I can, doing simple things - e.g. being busy with my studies and especially with my hobbies. I also have taken MDMA (Ecstasy) ** once in a summer in the solitude of North Finland's nature for a couple of years' time. I've taken MDMA for self-therapeutic reasons only and it has been a great help for me regarding my issues.

I wish that doing these things for some/many years will help me to the point that someday I mightn't see my fear that consuming anymore, and I would dare to take the step out of my icy cage of safety/DR, and would experience life real again. It might be possible, or perhaps not - who knows? I don't know but I try to be optimistic.

Ninnu

* You may read about my fear in the thread "Two DR-free moments of mine: A question", if you're interested. Replies are also more than welcome there. :wink:

** I wish nobody will follow me regarding the use of rec drugs even for therapeutic purposes just bc of my posts. Please keep in mind that there are also people whose DP/DR was triggered by rec drugs, e.g. MDMA.


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## kenc127 (Aug 10, 2004)

Hi Ninnu

I agree with you 100% that therapy is not the only way to heal this thing. I too believe there are other avenues by which we can heal. I am just taken with therapy as it helps me find out why I have these symptoms in the first place and provides me with the tools to manage them. I just think it's very innacurate to even imply that DP is a lifelong issue.

I think of John Nash, the genius portrayed in "A Beautiful Mind" as I write this. He spent years in his paranoid delusions wasting his genius intellect on things that did not exist. After years he learned to ignore the internal stumuli going on in his mind. He now leads a very normal life and lives as the genius he was meant to be at the start of his life. The point I'm trying to make is that he took charge of his illness. He knew that if he wanted to live in this world, he could not exist in the other at the same time. He learned to manage his illness and he now has his life back.

I think the very same thing applies to DPeople. While we don't suffer from bizarre delusions, paranoia and hallucinations (thankfully) we have a similar battle of the mind taking place; the battle of facing the issues and taking charge rather than watching the symptoms and marveling at how WIERD they are. To say we will never heal is not only inaccurate, it's a big "Yeah, right" to those who have healed. It's also highly discouraging to those who are working on it. We can heal and most of us here will, just as soon as we learn to manage this thing. For some it may not be an issue of healing at all, but rather an issue of emotional and symptom management.

My apologies for the confusion. Now back to Strattera.


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