Wellbutrin?

[Jason G.]

I've been on various drugs for GAD and panic attacks.  From Zoloft, to Paxil, to Buspar, and had no real benefit from any, and some of the usual sexual side effects from Paxil and Zoloft, and couldn't handle Buspar's lightheadness.  My psychiatrist currently has me on.25mg of Xanax 3 times daily, and as needed for specific panic attacks.

I have started taking Wellbutrin 100mg time released.  I have not been able to find much info on this drug on the Net.  I know it is not an SSRI, and affects dopamine.  I was surprised to find it is also used to help quit smoking.  My question/concern is side effects.  I have read it can cause jitteriness, and act as a stimulant, which frightens me, since with the GAD, any additional stimuli would, I think, make it worse.  I wonder if you could list the most common side effects of Wellbutrin, and any other helpful info.  I searched the archived questions, and only found a few posts about it.

Thank you,

Jason

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

Wellbutrin is a good antianxiety drug, but not very good for panic phase of GAD. The main side effects are headache, nausea, and dizziness. There are reports of minor degrees of restlessness, but that may actually be the underlying anxiety, rather than the medication.

[[email protected]]

Hey! I have been on wellbutrin for about 6 weeks, and it's worked well in conjunction with mood stabilizers. I actually felt a decreased in my anxiety when I used it, but some people do feel a TEMPORARY increased in anxiety and agitation, but this should abate with time. Some other common side-effects include: headache, dry-mouth, increased blood pressure/heart rate (you know, all the standard anticholinergic side-effects), weight lose or some people actually gain weight, agitation/excitement, early activation syndrome (you feel almost manic for a while when starting), nausea (it will go away), etc.
a good site to look at other people's experiences is:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble
you can do a search for "wellbutrin" and thousands of posts will come up.
I hope this helps.

-Chris

[Jason G.]

Thanks for the info!  I've been on enough meds, and had a few bad experiences on them, that I am very cautious and like to be well-informed about what I'm taking.

Thanks for the web address, Chris!  It looks great; I don't have time today, but plan on looking it over tomorrow.  Glad to hear you're having a good experience with Wellbutrin.  I hope it helps.  So far, no bad effects; let's just hope the good effects kick in, in the next few weeks!

[CCB]

Another good place to look is www.rxlist.com has the final printed labeling and everything you would find on the food and drug administration website (www.fda.gov) like it will give you the percentage of patients that experienced each side effect.