Posted by Shawn. T. on July 26, 2002, at 0:39:53
In reply to Hardcore headache on Wellbutrin, posted by MarkCSF on July 25, 2002, at 22:18:23
That is a possible side effect; I'm not entirely certain why it happens to some people and not others. I'll give it a shot though. One idea is that it could be a result of increased activation of alpha-1-adrenergic (noradrenaline type) receptors. Repeated activation of this receptor could result in a constant headache like the one you describe (as a result of vasoconstriction perhaps). Perhaps this receptor has become more sensitive in the recent past. If you have recently developed a problem with hypertension, then that could definitely lead to the change. You should either decrease your dosage or try something else. If you're taking say 300mg/day already, then that is definitely too much. I didn't increase my total daily dosage over 150mg/day until more than a month after I began taking Wellbutrin. Your headache should go away after a while, but I wouldn't want to wait it out either. It takes a certain amount of time for neurons to adjust to various changes in the synapse; Wellbutrin is a drug that often seems to take a while for a change in gene transcription to occur.
Shawn
poster:Shawn. T.
thread:113744
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020725/msgs/113760.html