Posted by Ritch on October 11, 2002, at 23:37:08
In reply to Re: Wellbutrin agitation and anxiety, posted by viridis on October 11, 2002, at 14:02:10
> I took Wellbutrin SR for about 2 months for depression/anxiety, and the anxiety never got better -- it got much worse.
>
> There was an initial mixup by my GP with the dosing -- he wanted to start me at 450 mg/day. Based on the little I knew, this seemed high, but he insisted it would be fine, and that it would either work or do nothing. Luckily I questioned this with the pharmacist, who called the doctor. He then said he'd made a mistake, and had intended to write 150 mg/day to start, then 300 mg after a week.
>
> Anyway, it's a good thing I did question the dosing, because even 150 mg caused severe anxiety and other side effects. I tried 300 mg a few times, but it just about put me through the roof. The effects at both doses were intolerable: uncontrollable shaking, intense dizziness, a weird feeling of pressure in my head, bouts of irrational anger (all of these very unusual for me), insomnia, etc. In addition, I developed a strange aversion to bright light and eye contact with people (classic norepinephrine-mediated "fight-or-flight" responses), both of which could set off full-blown panic attacks. Although I'd experienced panic attacks before, these sorts of stimuli hadn't triggered them previously.
>
> I tried going down to 75 mg/day by cutting the pills in half, and that reduced the side effects by about half too, still unsatisfactory.
>
> Interestingly, around the same time, a friend of mine had a very similar experience with Wellbutrin, which she described as terrifying and stopped immediately.
>
> After about 8 weeks with no lessening of side effects, I told my GP that I would have to stop the drug. His response was that there was no way it could have these effects, that I must be imagining them, and that I needed psychotherapy. I didn't buy this, and the side effects stopped as soon as I discontinued Wellbutrin.
>
> I then found an excellent psychiatrist who told me, after detailed examination/questioning, that Wellbutrin would be just about the last thing he'd prescribe, since for someone like me it would have a high probability of heightening anxiety. He wasn't at all surprised by the reaction I had.
>
> Now I'm quite stable on a combination that consists primarily of 1 mg Klonopin/day and 5-10 mg Adderall (plus 1200 mg Neurontin and occasional Xanax).
>
> Of course, for others Wellbutrin can be a wonder drug, but clearly it has the potential to exacerbate anxiety, so if you're prone to that I'd be cautious and start with low doses.Hi, I have had to cut down from 150mg SR in the morning to 75mg because of the same reasons you mention. I'm taking Ritalin 20mg (for work focus/ADHD), and I'm not having any problems with the Ritalin, but the WB just makes me too panicky. I know the difference because I work in the afternoons and I take the WB as soon as I wake up in the morning and I feel more panicky afterwards (from the WB) than I do when I take Ritalin (just before work) and the WB is starting to wear off. --Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:123107
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021006/msgs/123312.html