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Wellbutrin for Anxiety-Help!
I am on day 8 of starting Wellbutrin SR 100 mg's twice a day for severe anxiety. I know I need to give this 6-8 weeks to work, but how long do I deal with the side effects...like increased anxiety and a little depression now too!? I really want to throw the towel in but will not. I also was given Xanax .5 mg to take 3 times a day as needed. I have been fighting to take it so I don't get addicted! If I would take the Xanax to help deal with the anxiety...let's say everyday, maybe 1 or 2 a day for the 4 weeks, will I become addicted? Somedays I haven't had to take it. I have also done the bad thing of going on the interenet and reading everyone's horror stories about how Wellburtin did not work for them...any success out there? Thanks for your input! I do have an appointment to talk to a therapist next week which I am looking forward too!
Thanks for the update! I'm glad to hear you figured something out.
Ahh, to feel "100%", that's a trick question (as you seem to know, lol). Are you doing anything else to address the anxiety? Therapy? If not, I would recommend adding that to your list of tools.
As for the antidepressants. It's possible to achieve the same level of effectiveness on the same medication at a lower dose, but I think generally speaking, it seems that most people DO end up requiring close to their prior ending dose, if not higher.
An example, I was on Zoloft YEARS ago, and my ending dose was 200mg. I just restarted the Zoloft again in November, and my doc said he was predicting I would probably need at least about 100mg to be where I want to be. Ironically, he was pretty close. I felt much much better at the 100mg mark, and even ended up going up to 150mg, which has been a great dose for me.
It's ALL trial and error unfortunately. I wish there was more of a hard and fast rule, but we've all discovered that we're all very different, and the rules change all the time.
I hope you continue with your progress, post an update when you can!
Ahh, to feel "100%", that's a trick question (as you seem to know, lol). Are you doing anything else to address the anxiety? Therapy? If not, I would recommend adding that to your list of tools.
As for the antidepressants. It's possible to achieve the same level of effectiveness on the same medication at a lower dose, but I think generally speaking, it seems that most people DO end up requiring close to their prior ending dose, if not higher.
An example, I was on Zoloft YEARS ago, and my ending dose was 200mg. I just restarted the Zoloft again in November, and my doc said he was predicting I would probably need at least about 100mg to be where I want to be. Ironically, he was pretty close. I felt much much better at the 100mg mark, and even ended up going up to 150mg, which has been a great dose for me.
It's ALL trial and error unfortunately. I wish there was more of a hard and fast rule, but we've all discovered that we're all very different, and the rules change all the time.
I hope you continue with your progress, post an update when you can!
Hi! Thought I would update! I have since gone off of the Wellbutrin and now am back on the Zoloft. I am at a lower dose than I initially was. I am doing loads better! I have been on the Zoloft about 8 weeks now. I am feeling great, but do feel like I could be better!? I was initially on 100 mg., I am now on 50 mg. Once a person has been on this before, do you think you have to be at the same dose as before or higher to feel 100%...if a person ever can?
Thanks everyone! I see the therapist on Tuesday. After I talk with them I am hoping I will have a better idea as far as what to do about the Wellbutrin! I had a great day yesterday...I was able to go into 4 different stores and I made it out alive! My husband was with, so that helped. Small steps and lots of positive thinking...and maybe the Wellbutrin is helping?!
Very well said above, and it IS hard to be patient. I concur with Paxiled's advice about Wellbutrin, that typically it isn't the most optimal choice when anxiety is the primary diagnosis. That being said, it HAS helped people as an anxiety treatment. It's also hard to distinguish between what is symptoms of your anxiety, and what could be side effects of the medication, that line is often blurred for us.
I think talking to your doctor is a good idea, and if you decide to stick it out, really any of your symptoms that are start up side effects should start to improve soon.
Keep us in the loop!
I think talking to your doctor is a good idea, and if you decide to stick it out, really any of your symptoms that are start up side effects should start to improve soon.
Keep us in the loop!
My anxiety right now is the anxiety of having another panic attack and never being able to go in a store again, and always feeling this way...also the physical reactions my body goes through when I have an attack. It is a vicious cycle. I know I will not feel better over night and this will take time...this too shall pass, I just wish it were sooner rather than later!
Hang in there until the therapist visit to see if they can give you some help.
I was hypnotized to get rid of my fear of flying - it was just light hypnosis, and use of positive thinking about what would happen when I reached my destination instead of what I was used to thinking about that someone would blow me out of the sky. Afterwards I realized that since I wasn't an African dictator no one cared about me or any other passengers enough to blow my plane up so I probably could have got over it on my own. A professional makes it so much faster to get to a solution though.
It is best to go without meds if you can, but if you need them, then enjoy your life while on them and figure it out later. It is also easier to figure things out when you aren't worked up but anx is so confusing that it is often hard to figure whether it is improving or not.
You didn't mention what makes you anxious, other than fear of being anxious making you get more anxious. If that is the only problem you might want to think about it for a while because from the outside here the solution seems simple (although I am not saying that it is simple for all people but a therapist might help to find a solution.) Here is a cnn article about an anxiety sufferer who can't get his anx to go away.http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/list/676326?personal_page_id=890501
Does your stomach still bother you?
I was hypnotized to get rid of my fear of flying - it was just light hypnosis, and use of positive thinking about what would happen when I reached my destination instead of what I was used to thinking about that someone would blow me out of the sky. Afterwards I realized that since I wasn't an African dictator no one cared about me or any other passengers enough to blow my plane up so I probably could have got over it on my own. A professional makes it so much faster to get to a solution though.
It is best to go without meds if you can, but if you need them, then enjoy your life while on them and figure it out later. It is also easier to figure things out when you aren't worked up but anx is so confusing that it is often hard to figure whether it is improving or not.
You didn't mention what makes you anxious, other than fear of being anxious making you get more anxious. If that is the only problem you might want to think about it for a while because from the outside here the solution seems simple (although I am not saying that it is simple for all people but a therapist might help to find a solution.) Here is a cnn article about an anxiety sufferer who can't get his anx to go away.http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/list/676326?personal_page_id=890501
Does your stomach still bother you?
Or, just resign myself that I need to be on something and stick it out...when is too soon to call the doc and ask about changing? Give it 2 weeks and see how I feel?
I really just want to quit the med and see how I do... and have the xanax as needed...and just do this by different thought processes, exercise, etc...am I crazy?! :-)
You might want to call the pharmacy now to get more background info about wellb and anx in order to be more prepared for your conversation with doc. It is easier to argue with your doc when you can state what the pharmacy says, rather than saying you got the info from the net
I think I will just call the Dr. on Monday and see what she thinks...I feel worse and worse on this med.
If the Z worked other than the sweats and you did it for 10 months you know that likely some med is going to work all the time but it isn't going to be Z. Hopefully that gives you some peace while you continue searching.
If you stay med free but can't get back to that peaceful state you were in on Z, you might find that you need a long term med. Can you try to remember how nice it was on the Z and perhaps calm down while meditating on that subject? Whenever I was on Celexa and I encountered a big negative emotional event I would just falter for a half second then think "I am on a powerful med that will pull me through any negative situation." Now that I am off it I say this when a negative shock appears. "The difference between a human and an animal is a human can choose what he thinks about. I have the most powerful brain in the animal kingdom which can pull me through any negative situation."
If you stay med free but can't get back to that peaceful state you were in on Z, you might find that you need a long term med. Can you try to remember how nice it was on the Z and perhaps calm down while meditating on that subject? Whenever I was on Celexa and I encountered a big negative emotional event I would just falter for a half second then think "I am on a powerful med that will pull me through any negative situation." Now that I am off it I say this when a negative shock appears. "The difference between a human and an animal is a human can choose what he thinks about. I have the most powerful brain in the animal kingdom which can pull me through any negative situation."
Thanks for the comments everyone! I had started Zoloft in December of 2012 and I felt it worked really well. Like birdie said after looking at previous posts of mine...I had such horrible night sweats from it that I was not sleeping well. I had been to the cardiologist and found a few small benign things that I am at peace with. In September of 2013 I decided to go off of the Zoloft, I was feeling great, except for the night sweats. I did really well being off of the Zoloft until I had a horrible panic attack about 2 weeks ago in Kmart while in line! Now my anxiety is through the roof because I am worried about having another attack anytime I go to a store! So...I decided I should probably start back on something and my Dr. wanted to try Wellbutrin. I feel on edge all of the time, anxious and now depressed because I feel this is something I am always going to feel like! I am looking forward to talking to a therapist next week. In the meantime, I want to call the Dr. and ask to go back on the Zoloft as it did work...but, I am thinking she will want me to wait this out??? I don't know...just tired of fighting the thoughts and feelings...really trying to have a more positive attitude...just have to be more patient!
That is interesting. I asked my pharmacist about it at the time because I considered dep to be my main problem and she told me the anx and dep go hand in hand feeding off each other discussion. She said lots of drugs are trialed for one thing but docs know if it works for one it will likely work for the other.
It was my first ssri and the second one worked well so I was satisfied with her answer when the Celexa kicked in. Wellb barely took much if any edge off my anx and I took Ativan here and there all day to cope but it nicely flattened the dep until around 5 each day. Wellb would wear off each day around 5 for me and it was always a frightening and hopeless experience when the black clouds would descend again, however that is just me and might not apply to sandra.
It was my first ssri and the second one worked well so I was satisfied with her answer when the Celexa kicked in. Wellb barely took much if any edge off my anx and I took Ativan here and there all day to cope but it nicely flattened the dep until around 5 each day. Wellb would wear off each day around 5 for me and it was always a frightening and hopeless experience when the black clouds would descend again, however that is just me and might not apply to sandra.
Wellbutrin is generally not considered an anti-anxiety antidepressant -- it is a stimulating antidepressant. If anxiety is your main problem, this drug may therefore increase anxiety; if depression is your main problem with the anxiety caused by depression, and that's more common than any of us know, it might work in time. I assume you got to this drug because you had problems with ssris, or at least Zoloft as mentioned above, but again, this drug isn't usually used for primary anxiety.
I see you have suffered from anx for a few years. In April you were on xoloft that worked in the day but you said there were night sweats so I presume you quit that as you were contemplating doing.
Also you have health anx and saw a cardiologist. How did that go - are you in the clear?
Is your stomach issue ok now? In April you said you get eating upsets frequently.
I would write up a journal or print out every everything you can think of for that appointment with the therapist next week, so it is clear how you are feeling and what you have done to deal with anx.
Also you have health anx and saw a cardiologist. How did that go - are you in the clear?
Is your stomach issue ok now? In April you said you get eating upsets frequently.
I would write up a journal or print out every everything you can think of for that appointment with the therapist next week, so it is clear how you are feeling and what you have done to deal with anx.
I missed the part about searching the net and reading horror stories - so it seems you have enough energy to read up on the situation.
Good luck and try only to focus on the positive stories because the bad ones are a different person's experience and you may get a good one. Don't google if it depresses you or makes you fearful though, because if you think you might die from something and google long enough about that subject you will always find something that says you will die.
Good luck and try only to focus on the positive stories because the bad ones are a different person's experience and you may get a good one. Don't google if it depresses you or makes you fearful though, because if you think you might die from something and google long enough about that subject you will always find something that says you will die.
Xanax depends on the person so I will speak for myself. I started on one every 5 days or so but as my anxiety progressed I kept taking more to deal with it until 4 months later when my ssri started to kick in I was taking 3 or 4 per day and spending 50 seconds of every minute fighting the anxiety. I was the world's worst employee but no one knew what I was doing in my office.
I did not have any dependency and as the ssri gradually cut through the dep and anx more and more each day, I was able to take less and start them later on in the day. Eventually I stopped using them and that was it.
If you just use sparingly then you have less chance of dependency. You should talk it over with doc or the pharmacist if you become concerned that you are not able to go without them for very long periods.
Anx and dep go hand in hand feeding off each other and increasing each other's hold on you, so it might be hard to figure if you are getting depressed from the ssri or you had some undiagnosed dep before you started taking it that you overlooked since the anx is so powerful it seems to be the only problem. That is the problem with anx - you have to self assess how you are feeling and explain it to doc so you can get on the right meds, yet that is difficult to do when you are torn up inside.
Here is my story which has some similarity to yours - I told doc I didn't want an ssri when wellbut couldn't do the job because I figured life was just going to be that way forever but doc said I needed to learn how to be happy again so "Get on a med that will make you remember." Don't read it if you are too stressed because I know how dreary and pointless everything can seem when suffering from anx and deep dep - It is the last journal called experiencing each..... http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/list/676326?personal_page_id=308570
I did not have any dependency and as the ssri gradually cut through the dep and anx more and more each day, I was able to take less and start them later on in the day. Eventually I stopped using them and that was it.
If you just use sparingly then you have less chance of dependency. You should talk it over with doc or the pharmacist if you become concerned that you are not able to go without them for very long periods.
Anx and dep go hand in hand feeding off each other and increasing each other's hold on you, so it might be hard to figure if you are getting depressed from the ssri or you had some undiagnosed dep before you started taking it that you overlooked since the anx is so powerful it seems to be the only problem. That is the problem with anx - you have to self assess how you are feeling and explain it to doc so you can get on the right meds, yet that is difficult to do when you are torn up inside.
Here is my story which has some similarity to yours - I told doc I didn't want an ssri when wellbut couldn't do the job because I figured life was just going to be that way forever but doc said I needed to learn how to be happy again so "Get on a med that will make you remember." Don't read it if you are too stressed because I know how dreary and pointless everything can seem when suffering from anx and deep dep - It is the last journal called experiencing each..... http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/list/676326?personal_page_id=308570
Different medication works for different people so you have to trial which is best for your anxiety.
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