Atomoxetine and Guanfacine

I'll start this off with I had covid before the lockdown even started and wound up with tachycardia affecting my heart rate permanently long term (my resting heart rate is 90-100 most days). I was shortly after diagnosed with adhd at the age of 34. My doctors were rightly scared of stimulant medication for me as stokes and high blood pressure run in my family. We landed on atomoxetine and over a year we went from a starter dose to 80mg. Last year I ran into a serious issue that had to be treated with anti biotics. I'm deathly allergic to amoxicillin and penicillin and doxy raises my BP to dangerous levels.

Wound up having to go off atomoxetine for a period of 2 months while we figured out the infection. I was cleared eventually and could resume medication and here was my error:

I didn't communicate with my prescribing doctor that I needed to start strattera over. I don't know why but I got hit with side effects I've never had before. My blood pressure skyrocketed. I felt like crap. (In retrospect it's likely because I quit cold turkey and started up immediately on a high dosage).

I worked with my psychiatrist and we settled on adding guanfacine 1mg and monitoring my progress and slowly elevating the dose over the last 5 months.

I'm now on guanfacine 3mg as of two weeks ago. My BP is incredibly good now. My heart rate is at near normal levels for someone at my fitness level and guanfacine has really helped with some of the stuff atomoxetine has not been able to address. I was non functional for nearly all of my adult life unless I was putting myself in high risk reward scenarios. Strattera changed that for me. Guanfacine has pushed me even further and I'm so thankful it was able to keep me on my adhd medication as well as add to it.

I've read some other people have had issues with this combo and irritability but honestly for me... I've become way less emotionally volatile and can actually react to myself with my personal voice inside my head before acting outwardly for the first time as an adult.