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wellbutrin
- Thread starter easy as
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Missykins
Bluelighter
Can you be more specific?
DeathDomokun
Ex-Bluelighter
If it's not working tell your psychiatrist/GP and have them change the dose, or change drugs.
agreed, but was just wondering if anyone else has had Wellbutrin work to stave off depression and then suddenly not. I'd rather not go through the process of trying a handful of different ssri's before finding one that works or finding out that I should have simply increased my dosage. Again, all posts are much appreciated.
arctica
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2009
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- 174
If Wellbutrin is not working for you, going up in dosage will probably not make a difference. From what I understand, the therapeutic dosage window on Wellbutrin is pretty narrow. It only comes in 150mg and 300mg tablets. Almost everyone who is on a stable dose of Wellbutrin is taking 300mg. In some cases, they might go up to 450mg, but it's been shown that an increase above 300mg usually doesn't offer any additional antidepressant effects and just increases seizure risk.
Wellbutrin isn't actually a SSRI but a SNRI (Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor). It also inhibits the reuptake of dopamine. I've had trouble with side effects from SSRIs but I was able to tolerate Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin was enough to keep me functional through minor depression, but when I had a major depressive episode it didn't give me enough of a boost by itself. Some people have found Wellbutrin augmented with a smaller dose of the SSRI of your choice (e.g. Wellbutrin + Zoloft) will do the trick if Wellbutrin is helping, but not enough, so that might be another option. Standard disclaimers apply, your mileage may vary.
Wellbutrin isn't actually a SSRI but a SNRI (Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor). It also inhibits the reuptake of dopamine. I've had trouble with side effects from SSRIs but I was able to tolerate Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin was enough to keep me functional through minor depression, but when I had a major depressive episode it didn't give me enough of a boost by itself. Some people have found Wellbutrin augmented with a smaller dose of the SSRI of your choice (e.g. Wellbutrin + Zoloft) will do the trick if Wellbutrin is helping, but not enough, so that might be another option. Standard disclaimers apply, your mileage may vary.
^^ Very good info, thank you artica.
easy as, you really should go back to your GP or psych doc (whichever prescribed you on Wellbutrin) and discuss this with them as soon as you can. In the meantime, has anything in your life changed which could explain why you are feeling depressed again, despite the Wellbutrin?
easy as, you really should go back to your GP or psych doc (whichever prescribed you on Wellbutrin) and discuss this with them as soon as you can. In the meantime, has anything in your life changed which could explain why you are feeling depressed again, despite the Wellbutrin?
In my experience, this is fairly typical- antidepressants usually suddenly stop working for me at some. I had the exact same experience with wellbutrin. It sucked because it was really helping me and then- bam- it suddenly didn't. You can try upping the dose but that's only rarely worked. I find going to another drug has helped. If it's possible for you, you might try staying off the meds for awhile so that your body can become de-acclimated and then start again after some period of time. This approach has also worked for me.
Gang, all great advice cheers for that.
Arctica- I'll try adding a booster SSRI so to speak (from the doc). Didn't know that about Wellbutrin, so thanks. That answers some questions I had.
Just going through some serious stressers and it's aggravating my depression so hopefully with time this too will pass. Although, you know it never feels that way.
I may try the de-acclimating approach as well since it was working great for about a year prior to this.
Arctica- I'll try adding a booster SSRI so to speak (from the doc). Didn't know that about Wellbutrin, so thanks. That answers some questions I had.
Just going through some serious stressers and it's aggravating my depression so hopefully with time this too will pass. Although, you know it never feels that way.
I may try the de-acclimating approach as well since it was working great for about a year prior to this.
VanWeyden
Bluelighter
Hey easy as! Really frightening when you have the feeling of being stable and getting better and than bammm!... back on the floor again. Happened to me in december with 150 mg wellbutrin, i relapsed, shred my relationship and even the first days after raising the dose to 300 mg i got worse. But now it is getting better a bit.
If you are going through a hard time it is absolutely normal to get into that depression-like mood. Everybody does that, even people who are mentally 100% healthy. The difference is that we have established effective behaviour to maintain depression while others are much more effective in curing it.
Maybe you really need an additional antidepressant, i can't evaluate, but also try to help yourself, please. You see how ads can be a let-down at times and the only thing you can control at all times is your behaviour. It is absolutely vital, at least for me, to keep small, seemingly unimportant everyday activities: Do proper hygiene, tidy and clean your room, eat properly, talk to someone you like and trust. Exercise is very important, so is overall activity, but don't forget to reward yourself when you achieved something, even if it's just doing the things i mentioned above.
When you see that you can't manage that, even in small steps, then I would suggest reconsidering your medication. By the way, what dose of wellbutrin are you prescribed?
If you are going through a hard time it is absolutely normal to get into that depression-like mood. Everybody does that, even people who are mentally 100% healthy. The difference is that we have established effective behaviour to maintain depression while others are much more effective in curing it.
Maybe you really need an additional antidepressant, i can't evaluate, but also try to help yourself, please. You see how ads can be a let-down at times and the only thing you can control at all times is your behaviour. It is absolutely vital, at least for me, to keep small, seemingly unimportant everyday activities: Do proper hygiene, tidy and clean your room, eat properly, talk to someone you like and trust. Exercise is very important, so is overall activity, but don't forget to reward yourself when you achieved something, even if it's just doing the things i mentioned above.
When you see that you can't manage that, even in small steps, then I would suggest reconsidering your medication. By the way, what dose of wellbutrin are you prescribed?
Yep, I know that feeling all too well man. But hey, it's great that you acknowledge that there are some external stressors which are really challenging you at the moment. Knowing that some things are happening to you which are creating these negative emotions could help you to not only steer the blame away from yourself (e.g. "Why isn't the wellbutrin working for me anymore/What am I doing wrong" etc etc), but also to distance yourself from those emotions and to know that once the stressors are gone, they will pass. The tricky thing with anti-depressants is that when they are working well for us, we don't tend to practice our internal coping strategies to overcome stressors, so once a stressor come along again we can't deal with it effectively and just think we're depressed again. I know because this has happened to me many times.
Have you ever had any therapy for your depression? Did you learn about meditation or mindfulness or anything like that? Accepting that we have no control over external stressors, and then actively letting those thoughts go, sometimes really helps me deal with bad things that are happening to me. Do you think that could help you at all?
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Bupropion is actually a dopamine norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor with little or no effect on serotonin. It works well for some people especially people like me who can't really take a serotonic anti-depressants because of the risk of mania. Like all anti-depressants wellbutrin can just crap out and stop working. It hasn't happened to me yet thankfully but it does happen. The top dose is 450mg's a day but often psychiatrists won't prescribe that dose because once you get above 300mg's a day the seizure risk starts to go up. Granted the whole seizure thing with wellbutrin was blown out of proportion at first and doses at 300mg's a day or under are no more likely to cause a seizure then a SSRI would. Or atleast that's what Ive read and what my psych has told me. But once you get above 300mg's a day the risk of having a seizure does go up so you have to be aware of that.
Finding the right medication is a crap shoot and Ive had to go through a ton of meds via trial and error to find he right combo for me. So don't give up hope if the first few meds you try don't work as well as they should. Also if the depression is being caused by something as opposed to just being depressed for no reason other then your brain wants you to be depressed then anti-depressants tend not to work as well.
Finding the right medication is a crap shoot and Ive had to go through a ton of meds via trial and error to find he right combo for me. So don't give up hope if the first few meds you try don't work as well as they should. Also if the depression is being caused by something as opposed to just being depressed for no reason other then your brain wants you to be depressed then anti-depressants tend not to work as well.
True, I know it stopped working. I thank you all fo rthe support. Its many things as you say. I feel like a hypocrite as I am a drug user as well and this is just a medium to connect. I hate to complain. Cheers for the advice. (I'm on 300mg and often take 450...thanks for the advice on seizures).
Also be careful with taking some recreational drugs whilst on wellbutrin, perhaps PA can give us more info on this but I know that MDMA is NOT good to take whilst on wellbutrin. And from personal experience, cocaine doesn't really have any effect whilst on wellbutrin so don't bother with that 
VanWeyden
Bluelighter
Yep, I can't say anything about MDMA, but Weed made me paranoid whilst taking Wellbutrin (Normally I don't get paranoid on weed), and Cocaine was really horrible. I was way more jittery, extremely paranoid and in fear that I would get a heart attack half of the time. And I took less than I would do while non on wellbutrin.
Unless things have changed (which they could have done, it was a while ago I looked into this) it isn't licensed for the treatment of depression in the UK - not to say it can't be prescribed off-license though.. I would be interested to know if anyone had too!
And a big +1 to n3o's post! It is difficult, but the risk of interactions between psychiatric drugs and recreational drugs is high and can be dangerous, plus anything that alters your brain chemistry is going to have some kind of knock-on effect.. post-MDMA serotonin depletion is especially bad for depression (and MDMA doesn't mix well with the traditional antidepressants which work on serotonin) plus anything that increases dopamine levels increases your chances of having a psychotic episode..
And a big +1 to n3o's post! It is difficult, but the risk of interactions between psychiatric drugs and recreational drugs is high and can be dangerous, plus anything that alters your brain chemistry is going to have some kind of knock-on effect.. post-MDMA serotonin depletion is especially bad for depression (and MDMA doesn't mix well with the traditional antidepressants which work on serotonin) plus anything that increases dopamine levels increases your chances of having a psychotic episode..
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Ive taken bupropion with cocaine and it dulls out the effects which makes since given it's effects on dopamine. Mixing bupropion with cocaine. amphetamines or MDMA can be very dangerous due to the seizure risk. I can't say how it would react with MDMA but i wouldn't risk it. Also mixing it with certain opioids such as tramadol and demerol (meperidine/pethidine) raises the seizure risk as well.
Bupropion is also NOT registered for treatment of depression in Australia. It is only registered for smoking cessation. Oh the blank looks I've had from medical professionals here in Aus when I've told them I'm on bupropion for depression! :D Not even to mention how I finally managed to persuade my GP to prescribe it to me in the first place!
Definitely. And it is for this reason also that it's very dangerous to drink large amounts of alcohol whilst on Wellbutrin.