Wellbutrin?

Just curious if anyone has had any experience with Wellbutrin?

My doc prescribed it for me last month for weight loss - I put off taking it because reading the side effects freaked me out. I was also on Zoloft. I've since weened off the Zoloft and had been taking the Wellbutrin for a week or so until last night I experienced some not so nice side effects (itching out of control - jittery etc.) and decided it wasn't worth it.

Wondering if anyone else has taken it and lost weight and/or what side effects you had? For now I'm weening off it - the more I learn about these meds the less I want to be on them.

I took it about 5 yrs ago and hated it.  It made me loopy and I couldn't concentrate at all!  I take Effexor and it's much better for me.  I don't remember any weight loss with Wellbutrin - if there was, it wasn't worth it, in my opinion.

my doc wanted to prescribe it for quitting smoking.  i didn't try it either (after i bought it) b/c i read the possible side effects and it freaked me out too.

I am taking wellbutrin xl but it was not prescribed for weight loss.  My doctor gave it to me because I have been overwhelmed with stress from work and building a house.  She did tell me that I might lose weight taking it because it might suppress my appetite and of course my thinking was..........alright!!!  But I haven't noticed that it is suppressing my appetite.  I haven't had any negative side effects from it yet but I haven't been put on a large dosage, only 150 mg.  I think most people take around 300 mg.  I have noticed that it has lowered my stress level and it seems to me that I'm not getting quite so overwhelmed with all of the decisions that go along with house building. 

My husband was on Wellbutrin for a little while, but he was on it for anxiety and panic attacks.  Sounds like there are lots of uses for it.  It made him sleep alot, so he weened himself off of it too.  My husband and I have both went on a counting calories and exercising type of diet if you want to call it that.  We just watch what we eat and exercise. 

Wellbutrin has saved my life.

I've been on it for 3 months now-i've lost 20 pounds, have finally come out of my decade long depression and have energy finally.  It has significantly reduced my appetite and I have suffered zero side effects. 

Huh - very different experiences ... thanks everyone - I appreciate it!
For me - being on Zoloft for so many years - I'm just tired of not only be on these drugs but also being told outright by doctors that I need them. My doctor prescribed it for me after upping my Zoloft dose - and I'm constantly told by her and other health care prof. that its no different than being on a blood pressure med. I don't buy it. I know some people have done very well on it but I'm tired of being on them. For me the Wellbutrin being on it after a week cause out of control itching and insomnia - enough of a reason for me to go off of it. ETA - I'd just like some guidance on how to do it - because unfortunately my doctor is so into it - but I'm seeing her tomorrow and will tell her straight up I want off of it and my Zoloft - which I've already weaned myself off of.

I took Wellbutrin for depression for about a year, and it helped me a ton with that. I finally got out of my depression which I had been in for a few years, and I was finally able to take control of my life.

I definitely didn't lose any weight in that year, though - I wish I had! I actually gained, but I think that was lifestyle and not anything to do with the meds.

I didn't have any negative side effects that I can remember.

I was on welbutrin for awhile for anxiety/panic attacks. I had a lot of negative side effects from meds at that time, but lord knows which was causing them. I'm pretty sure it was the Seroquel though. I was on like 5 different pills at that time.

Just curious... was welbutrin the really nasty smelling/tasting one?

and Weight loss? Damn, I gained so much weight when I was on those meds! Again, probably the Seroquel.

i've taken wellbutrin, don't remember the dose b/c it was so long ago but it was 3 of the yellow immediate release pills/day (this was before they came out w/ the sustained release formulation, or maybe they just didn't give it to me.  i was about 15, but i only took it for a few months.  i've since combined it w/ other ADs + psych meds, never had a great effect off it, but never had any side effects either).

i wouldn't let the side effect list freak you out.  if you're experiencing jitteriness or anxiety, that often subsides over time (and can occur w/ SSRIs, NRTIs + other ADs + is nothing compared to the side effects from TCAs + MAOIs) but talk to your doc - he can probably give you a benzodiazepine to take the edge off while you're getting accustomed to it.

i don't remember losing weight on wellbutrin, personally.  some people will always gain weight when recovering from depression, regardless of the specific pharmacological effects of the meds they're taking (because many people don't feel like eating when depressed, recovery from depression entails a return to normal eating habits and subsequent weight gain).  but wellbutrin is associated with weight loss, in depressed and non-depressed patients alike: average of 2.5 lbs lost in a 12 week study where patients weren't dieting or exercising; patients not taking it gained weight; 28% of people who took it lost 5lbs or more; in another randomized double blind study that put two groups of non-depressed obese people on the same moderate exercise regimen + reduced-cal diet, the group that also took 400 mg of Wellbutrin per day lost 10.1% of their body fat, while the group that took a placebo lost only 5% - a pretty big difference.

good luck! if you need to know more about the fx of various psych meds, let me know + i'll tell you what i can. 

I took Welbutrin for a few days, 6 or 7 I think, to help me quit smoking, and I got huge sores in my mouth.  Needless to say, I quit taking it.  It really did help with the urge to quit smoking though.  My oldest daughter recently took it for a brief time for anxiety, but it caused her really severe tremors in her whole body.  She's a chef and couldn't really have that!  She is on Zoloft I think now.

mindy - it is so much more likely that your mouth sores were caused by some aspect of nicotine withdrawal than by an allergic reaction to wellbutrin.  mouth sores are a common symptom of nicotine withdrawal, owing to several mechanisms that i won't go into.  they are also a common side effect of nicotine gums (don't know if you were using those). 

it is possible, but under the circumstances, very unlikely that they were due to the wellbutrin.  i assume that you came to the conclusion because the wellbutrin prescribing insert lists 'painful sores of the mouth (and eyes)' as a symptom of a severe allergic reaction?  though it wasn't explicit, this was a reference to Stevens Johnson Syndrome, an iilness which is often caused by adverse drug reactions that can be fatal and requires immediate medical attention - if you'd had it, you would have known it.  It is also very rare.  anaphylactic reactions are similarly not subtle.

wellbutrin can cause dry mouth - if you're susceptible to sores, this may have created an atmosphere in which they were more likely to occur.  if you look at the wellbutrin rx'g info, you'll see that mouth ulcers don't make the list of events that occurred more often in wellbutrin over placebo, but that they were observed in somewhere between 1/100 and 1/1000 patients who took the drug (this is based on only 5000 or so patients observed - real numbers would be nice, as a factor of ten is a huge difference) - of course, this does not show that they were caused by wellbutrin, since 1000 of those patients were taking wellbutrin for smoking cessation, like you, and it's much more likely that nicotine withdrawal was the cause.

talk to your doc - i'm surprised he didn't tell you this. 

They use Wellbutrin and Neurotin for everything but they are really anti-depressants. I have been on them ALL. I hated both drugs. I will tell you what never to take if you are trying to lose weight: Depo-prevera. I packed on 6 lbs every 3 months between shots. After 5 years on it between kid #2 and #3, 3 years between kids #3 and #4, I switched to the patch. I am now fixed. after kids #6 and a extra 80 lbs.

Thanks everyone ... very thoughtful responses. I've done a TON of internet and library research on all the AD meds - I was on zoloft for over 10 years and just weaned myself off and other than being a tiny bit more tired I feel the same which shows me that I didn't need them to begin with. I'm really beginning to feel that many people do not NEED these drugs - although I know many do and for that I'm glad they exist and people get help from them - I do think alot of people take them and don't need them. My doctor (I think I've already said this) just threw the perscription at me - and so many other docs are like that as well.

Anyway ... I was only on the Wellbutrin for 6 days and I stopped taking it on Monday - I feel a little gross but I'll work out tonight, keep eating well, and ride it out - I want these meds out of my body. No need to chance it with any side effects I don't need.

THANKS!!!

http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/2040 0.html  please read this!

Zoloft, effexor, all awful in terms of side effects compared to wellbutrin.  Wellbutrin works differently, so taking other drugs can't really give you a reference.

I was itchy for a few weeks when I started, but it DID go away completely and I just carried a travel size of pure aloe gel and it was a lot better.  If I take my pill after 1pm I can't sleep very well..... but other than that it's helped SO MUCH.

I feel better, I've all but stopped binge eating, the anxiety attacks have almost stopped and I've lost 15 pounds!

I just read your update.... glad to hear you are trying the non med route!

Erin, I did talk to my doctor, and she agreed with me that it was probably the welbutrin.  I had not completely quit smoking, I was still smoking some cigarettes during this time, about half as many.  I read nothing prior to taking this drug and I was taking my doctors word that it would be something I MAY be able to take.  Now then, since you were not there, perhaps you can take my word for it instead of making me look like a fool.

My husband was on Wellbutrin for about a year, and while he didn't lose weight it did allow him to eat an AWFUL lot more (maybe 3500 calories a day?) without putting on weight. He came off it about 3 months ago and experienced horrible withdrawal symptoms, some of which persist to this day (inability to concentrate, bouts of vertigo, etc). He was also forced to change his diet as, after coming off it, he put on 10lbs and would have put on more had he not.

It seemed, for him, to raise his internal body temp, as he sweat like a pig while on it, which is actually the reason he decided to come off it. He finds drinking green tea helps with the withdrawal, as does exercise.

Good luck to those of you on it, and those coming off. Anti-depressants really are a godsend for some people. They can make you feel "normal" for the first time in (sometimes) years because they make the brain is work the way it is meant to again. However, I agree with some of the earlier posts, as many doctors are paid by the pharmaceutical companies to push their product, there is a tendency to overprescribe some of these things.

I have been on Wellbutrin XL for three years now but I was put on it for a condition called neurocardiogenic syncope...it has been a godsend for me because I use to pass out occassionally due to this conditiuon and since being on the med I haven't had one episode..YAY!  I sure didn't lose weight in that time though.  However, my doc recently put me on Adipex to start my weight loss journey and I have had great success.  Ihave lost almost 30 lbs. and have decreased my BP, choleterol, and tryglycerides. I don't know if the Wellbutrin has helped with this in anyway or not.  As for side effects, I haven't had any but everyone reacts differently to meds so if it's not working for you then by all means stop taking it.  It also sounds like maybe you need a doctor who will listen to you..maybe a change is in order. Good Luck

Which anti-depressant/anti-anxiety will help you lose weight?  I am on Lexapro.  Are there any that help you slow down on drinking alcohol, which is related to weight gain for me, not just because of the empty calories, but because, if I have more than one glass of wine in the pm, I am likely to go for 'seconds' and eat some of dinner's leftovers before bed...not a good plan for weight reduction.  I need to lose 33 pounds and had good luck with Topamax (an Rx for migraines that helps you drop weight) so I have ordered more from Canada Rx.  Phentromine along with Topamax helped me drop weight so quickly a year ago when I took it.  Went from a size 10 to a 2/4 and sometimes wore zero.  (I am petite, so weight looks awful on me, but when I lose it, I can get pretty tiny).  Topamax/Phentromne (sp?) made it easy to select the right food choices for some reason, so I was healthier and drank less as well.  That made me happier and more active, so I was able to cut the Lexapro down quite a bit.  Mixing a calorie-free drink (like Crystal Lite) with my glass of chardonnay makes me feel like I am getting a full glass, quenches my thirst (unless it has sodium in it...add Splenda to the sugar-free type), and I can have 3 glasses, but end up drinking only 1 1/2 glass of the wine.  Reading the calories in the wine upset me, because walking to work was only burning the wine calories and not helping with my fat, so now I am ready to cut down...I have a reason that makes sense to me.

I HATED WELLBUTRIN! IT MADE ME FEEL LIKE MY HEAD WAS CONSTANTLY IN THE CLOUDS. I LOST A COUPLE POUNDS IN THE 1 WEEK I TOOK IT, BUT ONLY BEACUSE IT MADE ME SO NAUSEATED THAT I THREW UP LIKE, 3 TIMES A DAY! SOME PEOPLE TAKE IT AND LOVE IT, BUT I HOWEVER HAD WAY TOO MANY SIDE EFFECTS TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE!

mindy, i?m sorry if you thought i was making you look like a fool.  that was not my intention.  i was merely trying to provide information, as i had read your previous post on this topic, where you were still wondering whether it was likely that an ?allergy? had caused the sores or whether it was the cigarette poisons leaving your body:

#14

mindysmith

May 20 2007 07:53

dbacker...I have a question for you.  Were you taking welbutrin? (sp)  I tried to quit a few years back, took welbutrin and got those terrible sores in my mouth.  I had to quit the welbutrin becuz I thought that was what was causing the sores.  I told my Dr. that I thought I was allergic to it.  But if it was just the cig poison going out, then maybe I could try it again!

since nobody had answered your question there (and from this post, it appeared that two years later, your doctor had still not concluded that it was the Wellbutrin, since you were still looking for answers and were willing to consider taking it again, which a patient usually would not do after their doctor told them conclusively that they were allergic to a medication), i thought that you would appreciate the information.  i certainly didn?t mean it as an insult to your intelligence, and i was shocked that you took it that way (if anything, it?s a comment on your doctor?s thoroughness ? i certainly wouldn?t expect anyone without medical training to know what the cause of any sign or symptom was, and doctors are often just guessing.  i would never attempt to diagnose anyone over the internet, and obviously i wasn?t there and didn?t see the sores, and you didn?t give much of a description of how/when they appeared, but an allergy to Wellbutrin that caused sores and nothing else would be incredibly rare). 

there?s actually evidence that nicotine is beneficial in the treatment/suppression of apthous ulcers (canker sores), so even a decrease in smoking could have possibly led the sores to come out (many believe that canker sores are autoimmune reactions; for someone with your history of illnesses that may have autoimmune components, this might not be too large of a stretch). 

but, wellbutrin may have contributed to the situation.  a major cause of mouth sores is stress.  some people feel anxious/nervous/jittery while taking it ? if you felt that way, that alone could have caused the sores.  the stress of trying to quit also could have caused them. 

it could have been any/all/none of these things in conjunction.

the only way to know for sure whether it was the wellbutrin or the smoking cessation (and good for you for wanting to try again to quit; i?ve been smoking since i was a teenager, am up to two packs/day, have mixed and mashed together every med combo i can imagine ? even many with little or no data to back them up ? and haven?t had success.  guess i?m just not ready yet) would be to control for one of them: try taking the wellbutrin for a couple days while still smoking your regular amount.  since it?s your body, you just have to decide whether the potential benefit of wellbutrin is worth the possibility of getting mouth sores again.  your doctor can advise, but it?s really up to you whether the sores were just too painful to risk getting again.

one caveat to this experiment:  even if it wasn?t the wellbutrin that caused the sores in the first place, if you believe that it caused them, it will be much more likely to ?cause? them the second time around.  such psychosomatic reactions are common (and might be almost funny if they didn?t cause such unnecessary suffering; a good example of this is when people engage in sexual behavior and believe that they may have contracted HIV [oftentimes this is behavior which has a zero percent transmission risk ? like lapdances ? but they believe that the risk is higher] and suddenly start experiencing all of the symptoms of viremia ? flu-like symptoms, swollen lymph nodes, etc. ? even thrush).

you need to monitor your thyroid very closely when you?re quitting smoking (or even reducing).  i?m obviously not your MD and i?d expect her to go over this with you, but i?m just bringing it up b/c i just met another woman on this website w/ hypothyroidism whose MD didn?t explain the consequences of quitting smoking on her thyroid condition + she suffered some pretty uncomfortable consequences. 

again, i?m really sorry for any misunderstanding. 

best of luck! -erin