Posted by Cybele on April 24, 2005, at 10:52:01
In reply to Re: WOW I LOVE WELLBUTRIN, posted by xxNightOwl28 on April 23, 2005, at 8:31:32
> Dont you guys think that it might be just a thought in your head that you suddenly are expecting a drug feeling so you think that the drug is working so fast just because you expect it??
Wellbutrin definitely has effects right away, altho they are not necessarily the positive effects of "Wellbutrin the Antidepressant," which might take a few weeks to kick in (if they kick in at all). It's like WB is two meds: the side-effect starting med and the long term AD med.
WB is used to help people stop smoking and to help with other addictions. I have "gone back on WB" 4 or 5 times in my life, and it always helps me get a handle on tendency to self-medicate with carbs (and to a lesser extent, alcohol: a big glass of wine when the kids start stressing me out in the evening). This effect goes away within a few weeks, but it gives you a boost in developing new good habits or just forgetting about bad habits long enough that you might drop them for good.
It can also give you more energy right away, and for people who have been depressed for a long time this can have an immediate positive effect on their frame of mind, to help break the cycle of depression and to try new things/make changes in your life. Get out of town! Start taking a walk every morning! Start going to Weight Watchers meetings! Declutter your house! Stop watching so much TV!
For a few people, starting WB can also trigger 1-3 days of a state called 'hypomania' which is positively intoxicating for most people, and can help you get your life back on track if used productively. You feel incredibly creative, you are witty again, you are fun, you don't want to sleep, you might think of sex a lot, you might get the courage up to quit a soul-sucking job... If you've had a medication-induced hypomania this will sound familiar (as it will be familiar to people with bipolar). People can also make bad decisions in a hypomania, of course, but I can't help but think bad decisions are better than coasting along in life making no decisions or changes.
Last, some people do not react well to starting WB and may find themselves cranky and unable to sleep. I have a sort of unusual reaction to WB in that I must not be metabolizing it in the evening, or my REM sleep latency is reduced--literally--to zero. This means that if someone wakes me up 5 minutes after I fall asleep, they will wake me up from a dream. As a result, I cannot take WB-SR 2x a day (or take WB-XL) or else I am sleepy all the time from lack of non-REM sleep. I am (currently) taking 200mg of WB-SR in the mornings.
HTH...
poster:Cybele
thread:484347
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050423/msgs/488753.html