Posted by Ritch on March 5, 2005, at 0:37:54
In reply to Does Norepinephrine cause anxiety?, posted by MM on March 4, 2005, at 21:20:14
> I don't mean to repeat myself, but I am thinking there are people on the board who might know the answers to my questions but just aren't reading my posts because I'm not labeling them correctly. I am wondering if Wellbutrin causes anxiety because of the increase in norepinephrine, yet helps with depression because of the increase in dopamine. Does anyone know what it specifically does? Like at lower doses does it only effect one of them or anything like that? I'm sorry if my questions seem really simple or something but I have looked and haven't found the answer so...
> MM
I couldn't enlighten you as to what WB is *actually* doing.. but my experience with it (over several years, at lower, higher dosages, and with combos with other meds) is that it seems to mimic the noradrenergic (norepi) effects of stimulants. It reminds me of how I felt when I took phentermine (a weight loss drug). It *doesn't* feel much like dexedrine or methylphenidate to me. There is an effect that felt a *little* like Adderall (the l-isomers??- who knows?). There is a sister drug to WB that's called Didrex (I think) which IS a weight-loss med. WB breaks down to active metabolites which have different effects than the parent drug. It seemed like every time I *retried* WB it always seemed to work really well for a couple of weeks or so, then my anxiety started going up slowly but surely a lot thereafter. I developed fear of heights that I never had before, etc. So... I think that I could say that norepi tends to *cause* VIGILANCE, and that individual folks may get worsened anxiety as a result of their subjective interpretation of that vigilance.. just a guess. I haven't heard diddly about someone who had panic disorder and found WB to work wonders for their panic disorder.... Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors such as desipramine, nortriptyline, etc. *are* good for panic disorder and they do increase norepi which leads to down-regulation of adrenoreceptors ... maybe WB doesn't do that and that's why it is lousy for panic?
poster:Ritch
thread:466710
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050304/msgs/466786.html