Posted by mattw84 on April 10, 2005, at 23:10:41
In reply to Re: What is wellbutrin (bupropion) pharmacological, posted by sdb on April 10, 2005, at 16:54:27
Sdb,
Glad to know my advice is helping in some way. =)
Yes, bupropion has the potential to be abused -- however it most likely would induce seizures and be a rather unpleasant experience, but not unheard of. It is not scheduled by the DEA, yet the following is found in the monograph:
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The potential for abuse or misuse of bupropion is unclear, but most evidence to date suggests that the potential is low. On several scales measuring feelings of euphoria and drug desirability, there was limited evidence of abuse potential. There also was some evidence of stimulant effects in clinical studies. However, findings from clinical studies are not known to reliably predict the abuse potential of drugs. Although the potential for abuse of bupropion is likely to be low, possible development of dependence on the drug should be considered in deciding whether to use it as an adjunct in smoking cessation in individual patients.
Some increase in motor activity and agitation or excitement occurred in clinical studies in healthy individuals, patients with depression, and individuals with a history of multiple-drug abuse. Based on single-dose studies, bupropion when dosed and administered as recommended is unlikely to be especially reinforcing to abusers of amphetamines or other stimulants, although such individuals may find higher than recommended doses, which were not studied because of seizure risk, to be modestly attractive. No evidence of psychostimulation was observed with single bupropion hydrochloride doses of up to 200 mg as determined by auditory vigilance and visual analog testing.
In multiple-drug abusers who received a single dose of bupropion, dextroamphetamine, or placebo, 400 mg of bupropion hydrochloride produced mild amphetamine-like activity (e.g., feelings of activation, general feelings of well-being) as indicated by a measure of general euphoria in the morphine-benzedrine group subscale of the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI). In addition, these individuals rated 400 mg of bupropion hydrochloride with a score intermediate between those of placebo and the amphetamine on a measure of the drug desirability on the Liking Scale of the ARCI.
Bupropion has been shown to exhibit dose-related CNS-stimulant effects. In animals, some pharmacologic effects common to cerebral stimulants were manifested with the drug, including increases in locomotor activity and the production of a mild stereotyped behavior as well as increases in the rates of responding in several schedule-controlled behavior paradigms. In addition, drug discrimination studies in rats showed stimulus generalization between abusable psychostimulants (e.g., amphetamine, cocaine) and bupropion at high doses.Rhesus monkeys were shown to self-administer IV bupropion.
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***************************************************************************At any rate -- best of luck with the trial! You should know with 8 to 10 days if it agrees with you or not, but if no serious side-effects at that point you might want to continue as most will diminish with time.
Regards,
Matt
poster:mattw84
thread:481676
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050408/msgs/482626.html