Posted by Mila S on July 22, 2004, at 15:52:14
Hi folks any thoughts on the following would be greatly appreciated.
I am taking 150mg of Welbutrin and 150mg of effexor. After several weeks of no effect, I finally became activated and was able to maintain a regular sleep/wake cycle for the first time in years. My depression also receded quite a bit. This was huge for me as my screwed up sleep/wake cycle is a significant component of my depression. I have tried many drugs over the past 10 years including stimulants, but nothing has worked so perfectly as what I experienced last week.
Now suddenly, it has stopped. I am constantly sleepy during the day again. It seems I am more sleepy than ever actually.
I've been trying to figure out how this could happen, then I remembered somthing significant right before the the positive reaction occurred. For two or three days before it started, I had run out of effexor (I began to experience the awful withdrawal after about two days). So I was on Welbutrin alone for the three days before the positive reaction. One day after it started, I acquired and resumed taking my effexor. For the next six days I continued my usual dosage of both wellbutrin and effexor, and all the while my sleep/wake cycle and mood improved drastically. But it only lasted a week and I'm suddenly very sleepy all the time again and my mood is worse (though not as bad as before).
Could it be that my missing the effexor dose, allowed the wellbutrin activating effect to kick in? But why did it last a whole week given my resuming of the effexor one day into the positive reaction? Is it because I had stopped it for three days and now it needed time to increase the levels of seratonin/NE in my brain again? Is it possible that this could counteract the activating effect of Welbutrin?
I would love to be able to restore the positive effects I experienced that week. I am going to start by weaning off the effexor. If that does not help I will increase the wellbutrin.
Any thoughts on what might have happened here (such that I was able to experience one amazing week of normalcy)? I was so excited. I thought I had finally found the right meds for me. It was just amazing, so easy, so natural to get up in the morning and stay up all day without feeling too tired. Now I'm back to spending 16+ hours in bed.
Thanks,
M
poster:Mila S
thread:369044
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040719/msgs/369044.html