1. < Depression & Anxiety

Recently started Bupropion (Wellbutrin)

Posted by lalyfa @lalyfa, Jul 3, 2018

3 months ago I started taking Bupropion XL 150mg. It seemed to help me in several ways and I was happy with it. No “fuzzy” brain feeling, I woke up in the morning feeling refreshed, eliminated no reason crying spells, etc. I thought I could use a little stronger strength but I didn’t want to increase unless I really needed to. Since I made progress with the 150mg I decided to stay there! Then about 10 days ago a family situation occurred which sent me in a tail spin! Finally, settled done from that then I had a big issue with my mentally-challenged brother who lives with me (I am his caregiver). Since then I feel like the Bupropion is not working as it was. Crying a lot for no reason, waking up in the morning feeling terrible, no motivation. Is it normal for this to happen where I felt better than have a set back? I am now going to increase to 300mg to see if that helps. I don’t like to have to increase my anti-depressant dose but hopefully this will be the right dose for me! Again I’m just curious if anyone else went through something like this?

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lioness | @lioness | May 13, 2019
In reply to @jodiev35 "Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and..." + (show)
@jodiev35

Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and nobody really understands. My dad passed away in May last year, and I could not get over the grief. I became depressed and developed anxiety. My pcp put me on cymbalta in January. It worked for the most part. I was neutral. I was not happy or sad. I gained weight and in turn became more sad. My dr switched me to Wellbutrin last week. Coming off cymbalta and starting Wellbutrin for the most part has been “okay” but lately my anxiety is always present. I can’t shake it. It’s a weird feeling. Like a calm anxiety. Has anyone had experience with starting Wellbutrin? How long does it take to notice change or feel better? Has anyone had Wellbutrin success? And if so can you tell me your timeline. First week, second week, month etc? Please someone tell me it gets better.

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@becsbuddy I had RLS in the past but since I'm drinking more water and taking magnesium I don't have them anymore. Pickle juice in an Emergency .

REPLY
suecreader | @suecreader | May 13, 2019
In reply to @jodiev35 "Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and..." + (show)
@jodiev35

Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and nobody really understands. My dad passed away in May last year, and I could not get over the grief. I became depressed and developed anxiety. My pcp put me on cymbalta in January. It worked for the most part. I was neutral. I was not happy or sad. I gained weight and in turn became more sad. My dr switched me to Wellbutrin last week. Coming off cymbalta and starting Wellbutrin for the most part has been “okay” but lately my anxiety is always present. I can’t shake it. It’s a weird feeling. Like a calm anxiety. Has anyone had experience with starting Wellbutrin? How long does it take to notice change or feel better? Has anyone had Wellbutrin success? And if so can you tell me your timeline. First week, second week, month etc? Please someone tell me it gets better.

Jump to this post

@becsbuddy: I'm always glad to connect with a fellow 'sufferer' with RLS. While I'm not aware of any new research, I think Neupro is one of the newer drugs (since it is quite expensive . . . $1,400 without insurance, but with that kind of cost, I ended up in the Gap category with the insurance company pretty quickly - now it is about $80.00, but it was $600 and then $400 per month before dropping to the current price of $80 last month; just to prepare you if you are prescribed it as well). It is considered to be in the same family of drugs as Requip, and even though the side effect of brain fog or interference with cognitive processing is not listed on the insert with the presecription, that is one of the great drawbacks of taking Neupro for me. I had trouble with remembering when I was taking high doses of Gabapentin (about 2,100 mg daily), and the doctor dialed that back to the current level of 300 mg at 4:00 p.m. to stop the RLS from starting, and then another 300 mg at 9:00 to help me fall asleep. That has worked out pretty well. With the addition of Neupro, the brain issue is that I will have a complete and utter blank sometimes about something I just said or did, where I put something, or about something that happened anywhere from last week to a few years ago. Sleeping is so beneficial I've been willing to put up with that, but it is frustrating to experience nonetheless. People will tell me things like it is part of aging, but I also know what my mind is like (and I can be forgetful at times too that's for sure) now, and how it operated before I started Neupro. My doctor understands and doesn't try to minimize that symptom by dismissing it as age related - which is a great relief. Also, I don't know if this is helpful, but I was taking Reuip for about nine years, and then it stopped working, and so I then started having to increase dosages every two weeks. After each increase and for about five-six days, I would be dizzy to the point of passing out, and I would wake up with a massive headache. The neurologist I was seeing here wanted me to just keep increasing and increasing the dosage, and that it what drove me to seek help from Rochoester. I too have an autoimmune disease, but I have not been able to take prednisone since it tends to amp up the RLS.

To answer your question about who I see for RLS, it is a Sleep Center doctor at Mayo. At my first appointment, she took me off Celexa which I was taking for depression, and put me on Wellbutrin which someone else has already observed in another post, is in a different class of drugs than the SSRIs that are often used to treat depression. She also noticed that my ferritin levels were low in my iron count, and she put me on iron supplements until it stop going up and down. That helped immensely, but I find the RLS continues to get worse as time goes by. So, I'm particularly grateful and appreciative of the Sleep Center doctor, and she is very approachable. For the first time since RLS has continued to get worse and worse, she seems to have strategies or different medications to try when something isn't working or has stopped working.

I hope all of the above helps since it is quite long. Good luck with your treatment. . . . I'm always interested in what other people are using for RLS, so if you have any insights, I'd love to hear those too.

REPLY
1 reply
Mentor
Becky, Volunteer Mentor | @becsbuddy | May 14, 2019
In reply to @suecreader "@becsbuddy: I'm always glad to connect with a fellow 'sufferer' with RLS. While I'm not aware..." + (show)
@suecreader

@becsbuddy: I'm always glad to connect with a fellow 'sufferer' with RLS. While I'm not aware of any new research, I think Neupro is one of the newer drugs (since it is quite expensive . . . $1,400 without insurance, but with that kind of cost, I ended up in the Gap category with the insurance company pretty quickly - now it is about $80.00, but it was $600 and then $400 per month before dropping to the current price of $80 last month; just to prepare you if you are prescribed it as well). It is considered to be in the same family of drugs as Requip, and even though the side effect of brain fog or interference with cognitive processing is not listed on the insert with the presecription, that is one of the great drawbacks of taking Neupro for me. I had trouble with remembering when I was taking high doses of Gabapentin (about 2,100 mg daily), and the doctor dialed that back to the current level of 300 mg at 4:00 p.m. to stop the RLS from starting, and then another 300 mg at 9:00 to help me fall asleep. That has worked out pretty well. With the addition of Neupro, the brain issue is that I will have a complete and utter blank sometimes about something I just said or did, where I put something, or about something that happened anywhere from last week to a few years ago. Sleeping is so beneficial I've been willing to put up with that, but it is frustrating to experience nonetheless. People will tell me things like it is part of aging, but I also know what my mind is like (and I can be forgetful at times too that's for sure) now, and how it operated before I started Neupro. My doctor understands and doesn't try to minimize that symptom by dismissing it as age related - which is a great relief. Also, I don't know if this is helpful, but I was taking Reuip for about nine years, and then it stopped working, and so I then started having to increase dosages every two weeks. After each increase and for about five-six days, I would be dizzy to the point of passing out, and I would wake up with a massive headache. The neurologist I was seeing here wanted me to just keep increasing and increasing the dosage, and that it what drove me to seek help from Rochoester. I too have an autoimmune disease, but I have not been able to take prednisone since it tends to amp up the RLS.

To answer your question about who I see for RLS, it is a Sleep Center doctor at Mayo. At my first appointment, she took me off Celexa which I was taking for depression, and put me on Wellbutrin which someone else has already observed in another post, is in a different class of drugs than the SSRIs that are often used to treat depression. She also noticed that my ferritin levels were low in my iron count, and she put me on iron supplements until it stop going up and down. That helped immensely, but I find the RLS continues to get worse as time goes by. So, I'm particularly grateful and appreciative of the Sleep Center doctor, and she is very approachable. For the first time since RLS has continued to get worse and worse, she seems to have strategies or different medications to try when something isn't working or has stopped working.

I hope all of the above helps since it is quite long. Good luck with your treatment. . . . I'm always interested in what other people are using for RLS, so if you have any insights, I'd love to hear those too.

Jump to this post

@suecreader Thanks for responding! I could probably deal with the RLS better if it weren’t for everything else. I had mild RLS until I got this autoimmune disease. Now, it’s awful. I usually take 0.5 mg in the late afternoon and another if I’m going crazy. Last night I took CBD oil and slept all night! Hope it works tonight. I guess I should look into changing my antidepressant 😑 This current one has worked beautifully for 20+ years. Thanks for all your input. It is nice to have someone to talk to who knows what you’re talking about! Becky

REPLY
suecreader | @suecreader | May 17, 2019
In reply to @jodiev35 "Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and..." + (show)
@jodiev35

Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and nobody really understands. My dad passed away in May last year, and I could not get over the grief. I became depressed and developed anxiety. My pcp put me on cymbalta in January. It worked for the most part. I was neutral. I was not happy or sad. I gained weight and in turn became more sad. My dr switched me to Wellbutrin last week. Coming off cymbalta and starting Wellbutrin for the most part has been “okay” but lately my anxiety is always present. I can’t shake it. It’s a weird feeling. Like a calm anxiety. Has anyone had experience with starting Wellbutrin? How long does it take to notice change or feel better? Has anyone had Wellbutrin success? And if so can you tell me your timeline. First week, second week, month etc? Please someone tell me it gets better.

Jump to this post

You’re so welcome @becsbuddy. I know what you mean about having someone who really understands what RLS is really like. I’ve learned that so many people I’ve talked to, who think they have restless legs have leg cramps or the jerking or movement that occurs with sleep apnea. While I know these are serous, uncomfortable, and interfere with sleep also, they’re not the same thing. They don’t have the need to get up and walk at night & that horrible jittery feeling that is so hard to explain. I think the best explanation I’ve come up with is that it feels like I’m shot full electricity since at it’s worst, it turns into a whole body sensation. When I’m really tired because of not sleeping I find myself impatient as those individuals share their “cures “ for what helps them.... and I feel bad since I know they are only trying to help. I think some of that feeling is because it is so miserable & we have that human need to be understood..... I should know more about CBD.... is it a tincture that you use or does it come in a pill form? When you expressed the hope that it would work tonight, I sympathize since I have found I dread bedtime, sometimes all day long

REPLY
1 reply
lioness | @lioness | May 17, 2019
In reply to @jodiev35 "Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and..." + (show)
@jodiev35

Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and nobody really understands. My dad passed away in May last year, and I could not get over the grief. I became depressed and developed anxiety. My pcp put me on cymbalta in January. It worked for the most part. I was neutral. I was not happy or sad. I gained weight and in turn became more sad. My dr switched me to Wellbutrin last week. Coming off cymbalta and starting Wellbutrin for the most part has been “okay” but lately my anxiety is always present. I can’t shake it. It’s a weird feeling. Like a calm anxiety. Has anyone had experience with starting Wellbutrin? How long does it take to notice change or feel better? Has anyone had Wellbutrin success? And if so can you tell me your timeline. First week, second week, month etc? Please someone tell me it gets better.

Jump to this post

@suecreader That's what I have to do when RLS starts Get out of bed and March then I take Mirapex perscription for it rub winter green alcohol on my legs ,go back to bed. The pickle juice I drink when it's cramps thanks for pointing this out.

REPLY
suecreader | @suecreader | May 17, 2019
In reply to @jodiev35 "Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and..." + (show)
@jodiev35

Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and nobody really understands. My dad passed away in May last year, and I could not get over the grief. I became depressed and developed anxiety. My pcp put me on cymbalta in January. It worked for the most part. I was neutral. I was not happy or sad. I gained weight and in turn became more sad. My dr switched me to Wellbutrin last week. Coming off cymbalta and starting Wellbutrin for the most part has been “okay” but lately my anxiety is always present. I can’t shake it. It’s a weird feeling. Like a calm anxiety. Has anyone had experience with starting Wellbutrin? How long does it take to notice change or feel better? Has anyone had Wellbutrin success? And if so can you tell me your timeline. First week, second week, month etc? Please someone tell me it gets better.

Jump to this post

Thanks for the info about wintergreen alcohol @lioness. I’ve tried the pickle juice that you recommended before too, but I’ve never heard of wintergreen alcohol . Do you mix it yourself or buy it somewhere, and if so where? Also, I do take more magnesium now as you recommended also, and I find that does help as well. So thank you.

REPLY
lioness | @lioness | May 17, 2019
In reply to @jodiev35 "Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and..." + (show)
@jodiev35

Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and nobody really understands. My dad passed away in May last year, and I could not get over the grief. I became depressed and developed anxiety. My pcp put me on cymbalta in January. It worked for the most part. I was neutral. I was not happy or sad. I gained weight and in turn became more sad. My dr switched me to Wellbutrin last week. Coming off cymbalta and starting Wellbutrin for the most part has been “okay” but lately my anxiety is always present. I can’t shake it. It’s a weird feeling. Like a calm anxiety. Has anyone had experience with starting Wellbutrin? How long does it take to notice change or feel better? Has anyone had Wellbutrin success? And if so can you tell me your timeline. First week, second week, month etc? Please someone tell me it gets better.

Jump to this post

@suecreader Your welcome not all stores sale it ,it's already mixed The only stores are the drugstores RiteAide Walgreens I don't know about CVS You probably could mix the Wintergreen essential oil in regular but not sure it would be the same .This is a good forum to share ideas also.

REPLY
suecreader | @suecreader | May 17, 2019
In reply to @jodiev35 "Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and..." + (show)
@jodiev35

Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and nobody really understands. My dad passed away in May last year, and I could not get over the grief. I became depressed and developed anxiety. My pcp put me on cymbalta in January. It worked for the most part. I was neutral. I was not happy or sad. I gained weight and in turn became more sad. My dr switched me to Wellbutrin last week. Coming off cymbalta and starting Wellbutrin for the most part has been “okay” but lately my anxiety is always present. I can’t shake it. It’s a weird feeling. Like a calm anxiety. Has anyone had experience with starting Wellbutrin? How long does it take to notice change or feel better? Has anyone had Wellbutrin success? And if so can you tell me your timeline. First week, second week, month etc? Please someone tell me it gets better.

Jump to this post

Thank you @lioness for the places you can buy Wintergreen alcohol . . . .I'm sure the quantities of each ingredient is important as you pointed out. I'll check those stores out since we do have a Walgreens here. Is it wintergreen alcohol or an essential oil?

REPLY
1 reply
lioness | @lioness | May 17, 2019
In reply to @suecreader "Thank you @lioness for the places you can buy Wintergreen alcohol . . . .I'm sure..." + (show)
@suecreader

Thank you @lioness for the places you can buy Wintergreen alcohol . . . .I'm sure the quantities of each ingredient is important as you pointed out. I'll check those stores out since we do have a Walgreens here. Is it wintergreen alcohol or an essential oil?

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Suecreader It's the alcohol and it's green I use it all the time The essential oil Wintergreen is different then the wintergreen alcohol

REPLY
suecreader | @suecreader | May 17, 2019
In reply to @jodiev35 "Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and..." + (show)
@jodiev35

Hello. I am new to this chat. I have reached out to people I know and nobody really understands. My dad passed away in May last year, and I could not get over the grief. I became depressed and developed anxiety. My pcp put me on cymbalta in January. It worked for the most part. I was neutral. I was not happy or sad. I gained weight and in turn became more sad. My dr switched me to Wellbutrin last week. Coming off cymbalta and starting Wellbutrin for the most part has been “okay” but lately my anxiety is always present. I can’t shake it. It’s a weird feeling. Like a calm anxiety. Has anyone had experience with starting Wellbutrin? How long does it take to notice change or feel better? Has anyone had Wellbutrin success? And if so can you tell me your timeline. First week, second week, month etc? Please someone tell me it gets better.

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OK good @lioness . . . got it! Thank you again

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