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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Tyler on December 11, 2002, at 22:19:08
I have just started using Wellbutrin. Today is my ninth day and I feel happy, but I am having plugged ears and my tongue feels fat. Does this go away in time. I'm curious to see if anyone has been successful on this drug over a long period of time. I also take Risperidal (.5mg) at night.
Posted by vagen on December 12, 2002, at 3:40:00
In reply to Wellbutrin: Has anyone had a bad reaction?, posted by Tyler on December 11, 2002, at 22:19:08
I have been on WB since April or May, I originally started it to quit smoking so I was on the mega dose of 150mg 2x a day. That not only pushed me into a major cycle, but I had stuffy ears and whatnot. The tongue thing was only at night when I laid down.
Now, I am on a smaller dose, 75mg 2x a day and that seems to be my happy medium with no tongue thingy.
I live in a sinus pressure nightmare of a city.
My ears are always popping.
I also take depakote. Maybe you are more sensitive with the other med you are taking.
Posted by MB on December 12, 2002, at 16:00:38
In reply to Re: Wellbutrin: bad reaction? Tyler, posted by vagen on December 12, 2002, at 3:40:00
> I have been on WB since April or May, I originally started it to quit smoking so I was on the mega dose of 150mg 2x a day. That not only pushed me into a major cycle, but I had stuffy ears and whatnot. The tongue thing was only at night when I laid down.
> Now, I am on a smaller dose, 75mg 2x a day and that seems to be my happy medium with no tongue thingy.
> I live in a sinus pressure nightmare of a city.
> My ears are always popping.
> I also take depakote. Maybe you are more sensitive with the other med you are taking.
>
>Hm, interesting, I've been on 100mg Wellbutrin SR b.i.d. for a couple months now, and I have a crackling noise in my left ear whenever I yawn or hiccup.
MB
Posted by utopizen on December 12, 2002, at 20:59:57
In reply to Re: Wellbutrin: bad reaction? Tyler, posted by MB on December 12, 2002, at 16:00:38
I wish I had a hot therapist. Going to therapy isn't like going to a psychiatrist, as I've just found recently when I began last month. It's really just like having my mother nag me into thinking a certain way (only in a healthy way).
I've never had cavaties before, but I'm sure getting drillings would be preferable for me to have.
I like going to a psychiatrist, because I can talk about meds, and there's always a chance I can get a new one I've never heard about, and it will have a cool color and shape and look to it. Speaking of which, I'd like to think Abbott makes the best looking pills.
Oh, wait. What was I saying? Oh yeah, the point is, if i had a hot looking therapist, I could feel comfortable about bringing up sex issues more. And like mentioning how my concentration is affected when I don't have sex. And even if she didn't help me, I could always look forward to looking at her. Kinda like my hot young professor who doesn't teach things well. I can always read the books she assigns, I'm more interested in attractive looking people.
Posted by utopizen on December 12, 2002, at 21:00:38
In reply to Re: Wellbutrin: bad reaction? Tyler, posted by MB on December 12, 2002, at 16:00:38
Yeah, um, so I so meant for that to go to "Crushes on therapists," sorry... =P
Posted by viridis on December 12, 2002, at 23:25:52
In reply to Wellbutrin: Has anyone had a bad reaction?, posted by Tyler on December 11, 2002, at 22:19:08
Wellbutrin was weird for me. My GP prescribed it for depression, and when I told him that I had anxiety problems and was concerned that it would exacerbate those, he said no, either it works or does nothing at all. He wrote a prescription for 450 mg/day WB SR to start, which I questioned, but he said this would be fine, since it's (supposedly) not possible for this drug to have side effects. However, the pharmacist was rather shocked at 450 mg as a starting dose and called the doctor. He claimed (the same day that we had discussed the dosing in detail) that he "meant" to write 150 mg, so that's what I started at, with the goal of 300 mg after a week.
Wellbutrin caused me severe anxiety at 150 mg, and 300 mg was completely intolerable. I shook uncontrollably, had panic attacks (which I experience occasionally, but never as often as when on WB), became extremely sensitive to bright lights, and was unable to make eye contact with people without panicking. I was dizzy most of the time, couldn't sleep, and had bizarre outbursts of anger (totally out of character for me). Each time I took WB, I experienced intense pressure in my head, stuffy ears etc. It made me feel like I had a head cold all the time.
The positives? A few times I felt happy and calm, but it never lasted. And it did have a strong aphrodisiac effect.
After 8 weeks with the same side effects, I decided that enough was enough and told my GP I wouldn't take it any more. He said that, since WB "can't" cause side effects, I must be having a psychosomatic reaction and needed therapy. I pointed out that a fair proportion of people in the trials had some of the side effects that I described, but he said that the information in the package inserts is deceptive, and the new antidepressants are absolutely safe. I pointed out that I'd had a fair bit of therapy, and each therapist wound up telling me that I seemed very "grounded" and really needed appropriate drug therapy. I asked for a referral to a psychiatrist, and he said he didn't know of any.
So I found a psychiatrist a few blocks away (who, it turns out, is a good friend of my GP), he tried a few drug combos, got me on Klonopin/Adderall/Neurontin (all low dose), and now I feel fine, with no dosage adjustments required after more than a year.
By the way, my psychiatrist said he would be extremely uncomfortable prescribing WB to someone with my condition, because it could cause severe anxiety and other side effects. He wasn't the least bit surprised at my reaction, and said that what I described was consistent with his experience.
But, WB is great for some people -- just not me.
Posted by worrier on December 13, 2002, at 21:10:13
In reply to Re: Wellbutrin: Has anyone had a bad reaction? » Tyler, posted by viridis on December 12, 2002, at 23:25:52
> Wellbutrin was weird for me. My GP prescribed it for depression, and when I told him that I had anxiety problems and was concerned that it would exacerbate those, he said no, either it works or does nothing at all. He wrote a prescription for 450 mg/day WB SR to start, which I questioned, but he said this would be fine, since it's (supposedly) not possible for this drug to have side effects. However, the pharmacist was rather shocked at 450 mg as a starting dose and called the doctor. He claimed (the same day that we had discussed the dosing in detail) that he "meant" to write 150 mg, so that's what I started at, with the goal of 300 mg after a week.
>
> Wellbutrin caused me severe anxiety at 150 mg, and 300 mg was completely intolerable. I shook uncontrollably, had panic attacks (which I experience occasionally, but never as often as when on WB), became extremely sensitive to bright lights, and was unable to make eye contact with people without panicking. I was dizzy most of the time, couldn't sleep, and had bizarre outbursts of anger (totally out of character for me). Each time I took WB, I experienced intense pressure in my head, stuffy ears etc. It made me feel like I had a head cold all the time.
>
> The positives? A few times I felt happy and calm, but it never lasted. And it did have a strong aphrodisiac effect.
>
> After 8 weeks with the same side effects, I decided that enough was enough and told my GP I wouldn't take it any more. He said that, since WB "can't" cause side effects, I must be having a psychosomatic reaction and needed therapy. I pointed out that a fair proportion of people in the trials had some of the side effects that I described, but he said that the information in the package inserts is deceptive, and the new antidepressants are absolutely safe. I pointed out that I'd had a fair bit of therapy, and each therapist wound up telling me that I seemed very "grounded" and really needed appropriate drug therapy. I asked for a referral to a psychiatrist, and he said he didn't know of any.
>
> So I found a psychiatrist a few blocks away (who, it turns out, is a good friend of my GP), he tried a few drug combos, got me on Klonopin/Adderall/Neurontin (all low dose), and now I feel fine, with no dosage adjustments required after more than a year.
>
> By the way, my psychiatrist said he would be extremely uncomfortable prescribing WB to someone with my condition, because it could cause severe anxiety and other side effects. He wasn't the least bit surprised at my reaction, and said that what I described was consistent with his experience.
>
> But, WB is great for some people -- just not me.> I tried WB about a year ago, primarily to quit smoking but found the side-effects too bad to tolerate (or at least I thought they were bad until I went on Paxil) It made me jittery, disconnected, and very irritable. Also could not sleep at all. Seems we always get back to the fact that these drugs must be used with great caution in people with anxiety/panic. I don't want to sound like I have all the answers (I don't have any, really) but once again, benzos are safe, effective and won't turn you into an instant addict. My psychiatrist is still trying to talk me into increasing my xanax dose to actually get rid of my symptoms rather than just turn them down a notch...it's been hard for me to do because my reg. doc was so opposed and sort of brainwashed me into thinking it was a virtual sin to take it.But, it works alot better than anything else I've tried.
Posted by viridis on December 13, 2002, at 23:45:28
In reply to Re: Wellbutrin: Has anyone had a bad reaction?, posted by worrier on December 13, 2002, at 21:10:13
I agree, and it's unfortunate how little many doctors understand about anxiety. The same GP also told me that there's no such thing as an anxiety disorder -- anxiety is (supposedly) simply a byproduct of depression, so antidepressants are the obvious solution. Benzos, in his mind, just mask the problem, and besides, they're much too "addictive". And, if you don't respond to the antidepressants, or respond negatively, then the disorder is "psychological" and any side effects are imaginary. Sad -- but this view seems to be pretty widespread.
Posted by noelle on December 16, 2002, at 12:35:15
In reply to Re: Anxiety disorders » worrier, posted by viridis on December 13, 2002, at 23:45:28
I've tried Wellbutrin several times, I used to take it and tolerate it pretty well except during PMS. However now I can't tolerate it at all, I seem to have developed more acute anxiety and I now take effexor, and Neurontin at night. I Tried Wellbutrin agian because effexor is so demotivating, and again I feel tired and morose.
Posted by Mikhail99 on December 17, 2002, at 14:52:31
In reply to Wellbutrin: Has anyone had a bad reaction?, posted by Tyler on December 11, 2002, at 22:19:08
I took 150mg 2x a day for a few months but my anxiety and anger got really bad. The upside of the dose was my sex life was never better and I never got sleepy during the day! But I was the bitch from hell to be around. I stopped for a bit, then my shrink put me back on but at 100mg 2x a day and that seems to work. My moods aren't very stable though and my therapist told me he's noticed that a lot of his clients on wb have lots of ups and downs. My shrink wanted me to go on paxil with it to stabilize my moods but I had a tough time with paxil and it made me gain weight. So I'm trying the lower dose of wb and therapy.
Posted by EGR on December 18, 2002, at 10:14:22
In reply to Re: Wellbutrin: Has anyone had a bad reaction? » Tyler, posted by viridis on December 12, 2002, at 23:25:52
I had pretty similar reactions... my ears would start buzzing about 2 days after starting at 150... like a chain saw. Then 4 days later, I moved up to 300. I couldn't sleep, whenever I'd lie down I'd have the bed spinning... then I started feeling sick to my stomach. I had the desire for sex, but was too sick to want to attempt it. After 3 weeks, I quit taking it and feel much better. Now I'm on Lexapro, so we'll see.
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