Depression

Hello everyone.. I'm new here and have some questions to those of you on wellbutrin. Were any of you prescribed this for anxiety along with depression? I have alot of anxiety and i'm hoping this wil help with it to.

Actually, Wellbutrin is usually not a good choice for someone with anxiety disorder; it can exacerbate it.

I'm on wellbutrin and take clorazapate for the anxiety. I just started going to a new psychiatrist after being off meds for over 6 months. She wanted to put me on Cymbalta, she said it treated the anxiety as well as the depression. But I just told her to put me back to what I was on before. I knew it worked in the past and just thought it would be easier than trying something else.

I'm not a doctor, but I think Wellbutrin is not a good option for anxiety. Wellbutrin can cause anxiety and agitation as side effects, so it may aggravate existing condition.

I take 300mg of XL a day and I am going to ask to be bumped up to 450 tomorrow. For the anxiety my Dr. gave me Gabapentin, though interestingly enough it also causes short term memory loss

Hi - I'm new on the site. I took Wellbutrin for a couple of years and it helped my depression so much. I changed to the generic Buproprian for insurance purposes a couple of years ago and have felt horrible all this time. I've had some pretty bad personal problems and have chalked it up to that. But I saw an article in the paper where someone said that the generic didn't help them at all. 'Anyone had experience here? Help!

Is there any chance of finding a reference to that newspaper article? Or is there any other information that anyone has found.

My wife was started on Wellbutrin 6 months ago. It appeared to help. The pharmacy automatically switched her to Buproprian a couple refills ago. She is now in about the same sad state she was before taking any medication. I told her doctor about the generic and he blew it off as not a factor. But I wonder.....

Any more information please!

My wife started on Wellbutin and Risperdal in the hospital back in October. She was released to a doctors care and showed improvement (from severe depression and phycosis) over the next month or so. Her doctor took her off the Risperdal and, at about the same time, the pharmacy started giving her Budeprion XL instead of the Wellbutin XL. She quickly went down hill to the point that I started to believe she would just stay in bed and die. I recently convinced the doctor that she should start taking the Risperdal again. He prescribed 1 mg twice a day. This reduced some symptoms (main unexplanable/unexplaned anger toward me) but did little for her depression. Last Friday he prescribed Effexor XR 150mg on top of the Budeprion XL 300mg and Risperdal. By Sunday my wife started to look like herself. By Tuesday she was back about 80% (measured from before her problems started). This weekend she was 95%. It's a miracle! She is back from the dead. I could not be happier. I hope it continues and continues without side effect issues.

To celebrate I just booked a vacation to Myrtle Beach in a couple weeks. A week ago I would not have even considered doing that (unless I had completely given up and plan to go by myself)!!

I'm so glad that she is doing better. It's very important for people with depression to have someone like you who gets involved in their care. Your wife is very lucky.

It's odd that you, Lynne Lofton, say that changing from Wellbutrin to Bupropion made you feel awful. I am the SR version. 450ml/day(3 times/day). A while back I guess about 8ish months ago there was a shortage of Wellbutrin and I was given the generic Bupropion but it was not the Bupropion I am on now. It came in a huge bottle like vitamins come in not a pharmacy bottle. It had those little silicon tablets in it to keep it dry. I WAS A WRECK. I couldn't believe it. I could not believe that a generic could be so different. Anyway the Wellbutrin came in again and I was fine. But finally the my drug company would only pay for the generic. I guess the patent ran out. But this is not the same generic. It looks and is dispensed just like the real Wellbutrin. I am just fine on this. I have no idea what the stuff was that I was on because I just throw out the bottles when I am done. I know technically the generics are the same but why do some of us react differently? I suppose it is just as odd as there are different types of medications and combinations out there. One will work for you eventually. My dr. told me once that if I lived in Iceland he would know exactly what to prescribe because Icelandics are genetically very much alike unlike the rest of the world.
The Wellbutrin(Bupropion) wasn't working quite enough for me so the dr. added Dexedrine. That really helped.
B

This must be documented somewhere. I now believe it to be real....

My wife received Wellbutrin while she was hospitalized for two weeks. It did improve her severe depression symptoms. She came home with a couple months supply of Wellbutrin and continued to be, let's say, 70%. When the Wellbutrin ran out a prescription for Wellbutrin from the doctor she is seeing was processed by our local pharmancy. They filled it with Budeprion. My wife questioned me about it and I said it was the same, just the generic version of Wellbutrin. However, after a week or so of Budeprion she started going through symptomatic phases. She went through a couple weeks of crying. Became angry all the time and finally slipped into lethargy (staying in bed, not eating, not talking and she would not go to the doctor). At the time I believed it to be an advance of her depression. Now, looking back (with what I know now), I believe it was all the signs of withdrawal. In other words, the Bupropion was doing nothing or nearly nothing for her! It got to the point where I really believed she would die or regress to the point where I would have to call 911.

Fortunately, it did not get to that point. I talked to the doctor and got her to the office. Three weeks ago she started Effexor XR 150 mg along with the Budeprion XL 300 mg (and Risperdal 1mg X2). It was like a miracle. In 24 hours she looked like her old self (and not like a zombie). By the end of the week she was 95%. Now, except for still being too thin, she is 100% or better. Other then the weight, you would not know she had been (or is) sick!

When I again had the Wellbutrin prescription refilled this weekend, they again gave us Budeprion XL. The pharmacy said they would exchange the Budeprion for the real thing if I brought it back and we considered doing so. But, I told my wife that since the current combo is working so well (maybe it's just the Effexor working), why take a chance of changing anything. I am afraid that the Wellbutrin and Effexor might be too much and cause other problems.

Comments??

Hi there...I was put on Effexor Xl about 6 years ago...switched to paxil 4 years ago, and tried coming off it 3 years ago...was fine for 3 months, then crashed into a depression worse than before I started taking meds...went back on Paxil, until this past Christmas...I went off them, was fine until March, and now have been struggling with anxiety and depression since...a psychiatrist gave me Wellbutrin...but I haven't started taking it, as I am afraid of the seizures, and of going back on medication in general....my symptoms were not that bad when I started taking meds 6 years ago, but now are ridiculous....anyone have experiences like this??? How has Wellbutrin helped with fear of death, energy, worthlessness, etc...

I was just put on wellbutrin xl yesterday. I've had past experience with antidepressants before, but now my dr. has given me this for anxiety, pain and weight loss.

I did a google search for the drug. If you go down about 4 or 5 into the search, you'll see a very large article about the drug and the fact that the seizure likelihood for wellbutrin is actually lower than with SSRI's like prozac or paxil. The article was very enlightening. Thought you'd be interested to know this.

Lilly

Hi, I thought I would jump in here... I have been on Wellbutrin SR for close to four years now. I don't know what the difference is between the SR and the XL though. I was taking a lot of medications when I first started it (I was in the hospital then). I was taking it along with Prozac, Seroquel, Lamictal, Trazodone (Desirel), and Risperdal. They stopped the Prozac when I left the hospital. This combination worked well for me for a long time although I did have some rather annoying side-effects from the Risperdal and Seroquel (lactating and extreme fatigue).

In the past year, I have been able to wean off both of these as well as the Trazodone. I have had a lot of difficulty with sleep however, since I stopped the latter and am considering going back on it now that I don't have to get up early anymore. But I think the Lamictal has been the "miracle" drug for me.

I have taken Bupropion on occasion when the pharmacy has run out. I did not notice a difference with it - but I also did not think to observe that (I will watch more carefully now that I have read this thread).

Sorry I've written so much, but this is just my experience. Good luck finding your right combo.

quote:

Originally posted by Freesia:
Hi, I thought I would jump in here... I have been on Wellbutrin SR for close to four years now. I don't know what the difference is between the SR and the XL though.

In general the slower release forms are better, so XL will be better than SR and SR is better than immediate release. But not always: slower release formulations may achieve lower plasma concentrations.
In a study peak plasma concentrations of bupropion at steady state for SR Tablets were approximately 85% of those achieved with the immediate-release formulation (from PDR iformation).

Wellbutrin is the most activating antidepressant (it’s chemical structure resembles that of amphetamine), and can help to lose weight and fight fatigue. Indeed, wellbutrin is often used as augmentation of SSRIs and as anti-dote for SSRIs side effects.