Weaning from Wellbutrin SR

My boyfriend was diagnosed with depression a couple years ago and has been taking Wellbutrin SR (150 mg once a day).  Just after the holidays, when he was also starting a new job after a very stressful several-month search, he reduced his medication to taking a pill every other day instead of every day.  He told me that this was in consultation with his doctor, but this didn't strike me as the wisest time to make a change (given the stress of the holidays and starting a new job).  A couple weeks later he went into a huge and drastic depression slump, going from "everything's fine" to incredibly low pretty much overnight.  This is the worst and longest slump that I've seen him go through.  Could the change in medication be the cause?  Is "every other day" (instead of reducing the dosage and continuing to take it every day) a normal way to do this?  Am I right to be concerned about the wisdom of the timing?

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

In the extended release form, many doctors recommend the every other day routine, so that does not seem to be the problem. The timing is another issue, and it sounds like your judgement was better than his, although its hard to make that call without knowing a lot more about it.  It sounds like the combination of high stress and decreased medication is  what caused the flair up.