Posted by Bob on September 12, 1999, at 20:35:14
In reply to Re: Wellbutrin??, posted by dj on September 12, 1999, at 18:02:04
> Are you still on Wellbutrin, Bob? If so how long has it been and how are you doing with it? Does it also perform as an AD for you??
It was the third med I tried after paxil being a complete disaster for me, 1.5 years ago or so. While the paxil was still in my system, the two of them together worked really well. It was one of my most productive times I can recall since being on meds. Once the paxil washed out, however, the effect died off ... not completely, but it kept me afloat. My big problem with Wellbutrin was that I would fly into blind, incontrollable rages. They took a few minutes to really get going, and in those few moments of sanity I knew enough to isolate myself from whatever triggered it. It really worried me since my girlfriend, as much as she is a wonderful person overall, used to be a lawyer and has a lawyer's disposition when it comes to arguments. There were a few times where I would warn her that she was making me dangerously angry, but she would keep on pushing! Geez, louise!
My pdoc put me on perphenazine (Trilafon, an anti-psychotic) at a *very* low dose, and that held the rage at bay. After a few more months, it was apparent that the Wellbutrin wasn't working well enough as an AD, so my pdoc put me on prozac as well ... since the WB/SSRI combo seemed to work better but avoiding paxil and zoloft because of their poor response and effect on my cholesterol.
That combo (prozac, wellbutrin, perphenazine) worked pretty well for a month or so. Then, very gradually, I started cogwheeling and my anxiety level started to climb. It was a very confusing time -- I was convinced I was doing better, but I was becoming stiffer and more wooden *and* terrified of being away from home or from my girlfriend. Eventually, I wound up in the ER one day--my therapist took me in. The prozac had blocked the enzyme that breaks down perphenazine, and it had been slowly building up in my system, causing all the trouble. Apparently, its a commonly known interaction, but my pdoc didn't give it a thought because its documented to occur with dosages of perphenazine 20x what I had been taking.
So, there goes another one of those long-odds events that I would rather have happened while playing the lottery! Ack! 8^P
So, that's my six month or so history of being on wellbutrin. Not a happy story -- but I'm sure if you check some of the other threads, you'll find folks for whom wellbutrin is working well as an AD.
Cheers,
Bob
poster:Bob
thread:11464
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990829/msgs/11500.html