Strattera Suicide Alert

The FDA has issued a new warning about Strattera, a medicine that is commonly used to treat children, teens, and adults with ADHD, after finding that it may increase suicidal thinking.

This shouldn't be that big a surprise to everyone, since antidepressants have the same warning, and everyone always said that Strattera kind of worked like an antidepressant.

It is bad news to all of the parents of children with ADHD who were looking at Strattera as some kind of miracle drug, which they hoped would work as well as but had none of the side effects as the stimulants, like Adderall XR or Concerta, which are also used to treat ADHD.

Unfortunately, the FDA is now warning that:

• Strattera may increase thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts in children and teens.
  

and that parents should call their child's healthcare professional right away if their child or teen has:

• new or increased thoughts of suicide
  
• changes in mood or behavior including becoming irritable or anxious
  

Keep in mind that this doesn't mean that you should stop your child's medication if he is taking Strattera because of this warning. Instead, it is best to follow the FDA's recommendations that children 'being treated with Strattera should be closely observed for clinical worsening, as well as agitation, irritability, suicidal thinking or behaviors, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of a course of drug therapy, or at times of dose changes, either increases or decreases.'

And according to the FDA, if you are thinking about starting your child on Strattera, you should 'must balance the increased risk of suicidal thinking with the clinical need for the drug.'

Since the risk of suicidal thoughts or actions are infrequent and there are few alternatives to stimulants to treat children with ADHD, hopefully Strattera will be found to be safe as long as children can be closely observed while they are taking it.

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