Posted by CamW. on September 8, 2003, at 14:06:45
In reply to Wellbutrin: how long?, posted by Marginal on September 8, 2003, at 11:39:21
Marg - I have been taking 300mg of Wellbutrin SR™ (bupropion) to augment my 225mg of Effexor XR™ (venlafaxine) for a couple of years now, and had taken Wellbutrin alone, a few years before that. I have found that the Effexor really worked for me at 300mg and 450mg, it was just that I could never stay awake. I think (although I have no proof, just experience) that the Wellbutrin sorta decreases the "fuzziness" caused by Effexor, rather than the Wellbutrin working by directly stimulating noradrenergic receptors.
I have also followed several people who have taken Wellbutrin (or it's perfect clone, Zyban™) in my work and have to agree with Susan about the couple weeks spontaneous anger. After taking bupropion (either as an antidepressant or for smoking cessation) for 3 to 8 weeks, many people begin to get angry at anything (and I do mean anything) for no reason at all.
About 6 weeks after starting Wellbutrin for the first time I found myself deliberately cutting off people in traffic during rush hour, just so that I could yell at them. Once you do realize that it is the drug causing this misplaced anger, you can remove yourself from whatever situation causes a flare-up and are able to calm yourself down through rationalization. The "easy-to-rile" feeling lasts only a couple of weeks, though. I use this side effect as a sign that the bupropion has begun to work (again, I have not seen this in print, but is just my experience). Knowing that the bupropion can cause (more or less) irrational outbursts and knowing that this side effect only lasts a couple of weeks, a person is less likely to stop the drug because of the anger.
At one place where I worked the second in command was taking Zyban to stop smoking; she lost it one day after taking the drug for about 4 weeks. During lunch hour #2 stormed into the COO's office and started berating her for playing solitaire during work hours. I mean, up one side of her and down the other. It was rather frightfully amusing (or was that amusingly frightening); no one in the office said a word, the three secretaries looked like statues. The COO had sent a memo (ememo?) relating that the playing of computer games would be restricted to before work and at lunch. Well, it was 2 minutes after 12 noon when #2 went ballistic. She then stormed out leaving behind this very silent, but very perplexed, office. The COO stood at her door with her mouth open and just stared at me with a "what just happened" look on her face. I lost it at that point, I couldn't stop laughing. This was the second case of bupropion-induced anger that I was directly involved in; the first being mine, although I had heard psychiatrists talk of it. BTW - #2 stopped taking the Zyban that day. Although she can ordinarily be a beeotch, she did withstand the barrage of non-stop taunting and teasing (some of it uncomfortably truthful) for the next month like a trooper.
Some of my experiences with bupropion. - Cam
poster:CamW.
thread:258058
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030907/msgs/258102.html