![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 108 to 132 of 159. Go back in thread:
Posted by jaby on June 7, 2007, at 14:41:35
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Ladybug56 on June 6, 2007, at 19:12:46
I've only used one, but know there are several.
I'd be curious if some are having better luck with one over another. I know people have had troube with all, however.
Posted by Michelle Schultz on June 8, 2007, at 5:53:51
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by donaldduck on May 10, 2007, at 9:02:12
Would you please check your medication. There are two generics out there. One is Budeprion the other is Bupropion. They are very different generics of Well butrin. There have been few complaints with Bupropion however many for Budeprion.
I also think that posting something indicating that those of us who had bad experiences are crazy is in very bad taste and insulting. These are our personal experiences. We never claim the whole world with have this reaction. We are saying if you are then you are not alone.
Posted by Ladybug56 on June 8, 2007, at 10:09:20
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Michelle Schultz on June 8, 2007, at 5:53:51
I'm really glad that someone brought it up that there are two different generic types of Wellbutrin and that one has worse side effects than the other. Unfortunately I was prescribed the one noted for the bad side effects, I have BUDEPRION XL. And I for one am glad there is a place like this we can come to for support about the experiences we have in common, it helps to be able to see how other people in the same or similar "boat" handle some of the same problems you have.
Hang in there everyone!
Ladybug
Posted by grinch on June 9, 2007, at 9:10:01
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Ladybug56 on June 8, 2007, at 10:09:20
Yes, I agree this site has been helpful to me. It is very difficult to find information about different medications. I thought it was just me that was experiencing differences with the Budeprion XL. After working in a pharmacy for over 10 years I was very accepting of the idea that generics are exactly the same as the brand. I struggled with this belief while feeling the generic wasn't working in the same way for me. After a full month on the generic I went back on the brand. I have been back on the brand for over 2 months. Brand Wellbutrin is the right choice for me.
Posted by cynomom on June 9, 2007, at 18:23:23
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by nutmeggins on August 18, 2006, at 13:06:14
I have been taking generic wellbutrin for 3-4 months now. I started with 75 mg. of bupropion, then 100 mg. of bupropion taken twice a day. this seemed to be helping but not quite enough, so the dr. went to 150 mg. of budeprion twice a day. I have been taking this for a month and feel worse. It's like taking nothing at all or worse. Nausea, dizziness, extreme fatigue, All I want to do is sleep, and the depression is back. The dr. has upped the dose to 200 mg. twice a day. I don't know if this will make the side effects worse or not. I guess we'll see.
Posted by Mclscotts on June 9, 2007, at 19:10:59
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Michelle Schultz on June 8, 2007, at 5:53:51
I FOUND THIS WEBSITE WHILE LOOKING UP GENERIC WELLBUTIN XL AND HAVE BEEN READING THESE POSTS FOR AWHILE AND THOUGHT I WOULD POST MY EXPERIENCE. I USED TO TAKE WELLBUTIN SR ABOUT 7 YEARS AGO, THE NAME BRAND. I USED IT FOR ABOUT A YEAR AND HAD NO ILL EFFECTS.
LAST APRIL(06) I WENT BACK TO MY DR BECAUSE I WAS HITTING ROCK BOTTOM WITH NO ENERGY AND NOT BEING ABLE TO WORK WELL. HE PUT ME ON EFFEXOR XR AND THIS STUFF DID NOTHING FOR ME. WHEN I TRIED TO GET OFF OF IT, I HAD REAL HORRIBLE WITHDRAWL SYMPTOMS. I WAS ON IT FROM APRIL THROUGH NOVEMBER OF 06. WELL, I HAD ASKED FOR WELLBUTRIN AND THE DR SAID EFFEXOR WAS BETTER. NO WAY!
SO AFTER SUFFERING FOR A FEW MORE MONTHS, I WENT BACK IN MARCH OF THIS YEAR AND TOLD HIM TO GIVE ME WELLBUTRIN AGAIN. I STARTED OFF ON 75MG OF THE NAME BRAND FOR ONE WEEK. THEN I WENT TO 300 MG ONCE A DAY. SINCE I HAVE NO INSURANCE, I WAS MORE THAN HAPPY TO GET THE GENERIC WELLBUTRIN XL. I HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT POSITIVE RESULTS. I GET UP EVERY MORNING AT 6 AM FEELING GREAT AND RESTED AND ABLE TO WORK WITH NO TROUBLE. HAVE GREAT ENERGY ALL DAY AND HAVE EVEN LOST 20 MUCH NEEDED POUNDS. MY SEXUAL DESIRE EVEN CAME BACK. THE ONLY SIDE EFFECT I HAD WAS DRY MOUTH.
SINCE I HAVE NOTICED PEOPLE KEEP SAYING THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS, I LOOKED AT MY BOTTLE AND HERE IS WHAT IS ON THE LABEL. BUDEPRION XL AND UNDER THAT IT SAYS buPROPion HCL(SPELLED LIKE THAT) AND THE MAKER IS TEVA. SO HOW CAN THERE BE TWO VERSIONS IS BOTH NAMES ARE LISTED ON MY BOTTLE? THANKS, MCLSCOTTS
Posted by Mclscotts on July 4, 2007, at 12:03:01
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Mclscotts on June 9, 2007, at 19:10:59
WELL, I HAD HOPED TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE CONCERNING MY FIRST AND EARLIER POST ON JUNE 8. I HAVE SOMETHING NEW TO ADD. WHEN I WENT AND FILLED MY MONTHLY PRESCRIPTION MONDAY FOR GENERIC WELLBUTIN XL 300MG, I DIDN'T LOOK AT THE BOTTLE UNTIL I GOT HOME. WELL, MUCH TO MY SURPRISE, IT WAS A DIFFERNT BOTTLE FROM MY PREVIOUS ONES. THIS BOTTLE HAS ONLY BuPROPion HCL ON THE FRONT AND THE MAKER IS ANCHEN. THE PILLS ARE ALSO DIFFERNT. THESE ARE SMALL ROUND WHITE PILLS WITH A102 ON THEM.
I WAS A LITTLE WORRIED AT FIRST ABOUT THESE DIFFERNT PILLS. I HAVE BEEN TAKING THEM FOR TWO DAYS NOW AND CAN'T REALLY DETECT AND DIFFERNCE FROM THE OBLONG YELLOW ONES FROM TEVA. BUT I DO INTEND TO ASK MY PHARMIST ABOUT THIS CHANGE IN PILLS WHEN I RETURN TO FILL MY PRESCRIPTION AGAIN. JUST WONDERING WHY THEY NEED TO GIVE DIFFERNT PILLS.
Posted by Ladybug56 on July 4, 2007, at 16:07:08
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Mclscotts on July 4, 2007, at 12:03:01
Wow, I can't believe they changed Wellbutrin to yet again, the giant nasty yellow one is bad enough, hopefully this smaller white one works better for you. Let us know. I'm about ready to run out of my last bottle of the yellow generic Wellbutrin and am going to have my doctor write "no substitutes" on my next prescription". I just do not like this crap.
Cindy
Posted by Mclscotts on July 4, 2007, at 16:13:15
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Ladybug56 on July 4, 2007, at 16:07:08
> Wow, I can't believe they changed Wellbutrin to yet again, the giant nasty yellow one is bad enough, hopefully this smaller white one works better for you. Let us know. I'm about ready to run out of my last bottle of the yellow generic Wellbutrin and am going to have my doctor write "no substitutes" on my next prescription". I just do not like this crap.
> CindyCINDY, DID YOU READ MY FIRST POST FROM JUNE 8? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY GENERICS FOR WELLBUTRIN XL ARE OUT THERE? I HAVE USED GENERICS WITH OTHER MEDS BEFORE AND I WAS ALWAYS GIVEN THE SAME GENERIC DRUG EACH TIME. NOT UNDERSTANDING THIS WELLBUTRIN STUFF. THANKS
Posted by sdworaczyk on July 5, 2007, at 8:46:29
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Ladybug56 on July 4, 2007, at 16:07:08
Just an FYI...I asked my doctor to fill my last prescription for "name brand only" for the 300mg which was more expensive, this month we tried writing it for me to take two 150 mg and it was significantly cheaper, since there is no generic for the 150mg yet, most insurance companies will pay more because it is not a special request...just wanted to pass this along..also I called around to several pharmacies and found that there is actually a big difference in price between the pharmacies.
Posted by i4gotmy_sn on July 10, 2007, at 4:12:54
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by sdworaczyk on July 5, 2007, at 8:46:29
Last night was the last time I took budeprion XL 300mg and it will be the last time ever. What a joke! Unfortunately I'm financially disadvantaged at the age of 20, so I can't purchased the name brand. I had been taking Wellbutrin XL 300mg for a while now and I was fine while on it. I can even so far as to say that I was decent on bupropion 300mg. It had little to no difference. I felt like I was just not getting a full effect of 300mg, that's all. It was okay and not horrible to deal with.
Considering I get my meds free or really cheap, I felt I had nothing to complain about. I told my psychiatrist, who's a total jerk for the record what had been going on when I took this weird, big, yellow pills that looked nothing like the name brand or the other generic I had. He made me feel like some sort of alien, as if what was coming out of my mouth was mindless babble. I knew what I had been feeling, but somehow to him, I was a lier. Like many others I thought my pharmacy made a mistake.
Tomorrow or within the next few days I have another refill to pick up. I flushed the remainder of what I had down the toilet. If I receive the same thing (yellow budeprion), I'm going to just hand it back to them and say "you guys obviously need the money, more than I need this". Why take something that's makes me worse off than I normally am?!
I really didn't want to experience side-effects of coming off of it, that's why I didn't stop taking the budeprion. It made me extreme edgy, easily prone to bouts of anger, and unhappy. Feeling like there was no reason to live. I felt that I was dependent on these pills and it played a toll on my self-esteem.
I almost lost some "friends" from the handful of episodes that I had. I had a complete mental breakdown and crying wasn't enough anymore. I had to hit pillows or squeeze the closest thing to me as hard as I could. I don't know if what I'm saying is making sense to any of you reading this, but hopefully. I apologize for the long entry. Long story, short: Wellbutrin XL 300mg = Excellent! Bupropion XL 300mg = Pretty good. Buderprion XL 300mg = Unbelievably unnecessary and not worth it!
Posted by i4gotmy_sn on July 10, 2007, at 4:18:20
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin » sdworaczyk, posted by i4gotmy_sn on July 10, 2007, at 4:12:54
Last night was the last time I took budeprion XL 300mg and it will be the last time ever. What a joke! Unfortunately I'm financially disadvantaged at the age of 20, so I can't purchased the name brand. I had been taking Wellbutrin XL 300mg for a while now and I was fine while on it. I can even so far as to say that I was decent on bupropion 300mg. It had little to no difference. I felt like I was just not getting a full effect of 300mg, that's all. It was okay and not horrible to deal with.
Considering I get my meds free or really cheap, I felt I had nothing to complain about. I told my psychiatrist, who's a total jerk for the record what had been going on when I took this weird, big, yellow pills that looked nothing like the name brand or the other generic I had. He made me feel like some sort of alien, as if what was coming out of my mouth was mindless babble. I knew what I had been feeling, but somehow to him, I was a lier. Like many others I thought my pharmacy made a mistake.
Tomorrow or within the next few days I have another refill to pick up. I flushed the remainder of what I had down the toilet. If I receive the same thing (yellow budeprion), I'm going to just hand it back to them and say "you guys obviously need the money, more than I need this". Why take something that's makes me worse off than I normally am?!
I really didn't want to experience side-effects of coming off of it, that's why I didn't stop taking the budeprion. It made me extreme edgy, easily prone to bouts of anger, and unhappy. Feeling like there was no reason to live. I felt that I was dependent on these pills and it played a toll on my self-esteem.
I almost lost some "friends" from the handful of episodes that I had. I had a complete mental breakdown and crying wasn't enough anymore. I had to hit pillows or squeeze the closest thing to me as hard as I could. I don't know if what I'm saying is making sense to any of you reading this, but hopefully. I apologize for the long entry. Long story, short: Wellbutrin XL 300mg = Excellent! Bupropion XL 300mg = Pretty good. Buderprion XL 300mg = Unbelievably unnecessary and not worth it!
Posted by i4gotmy_sn on July 10, 2007, at 4:20:03
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin » sdworaczyk, posted by i4gotmy_sn on July 10, 2007, at 4:12:54
Posted by Michelle Schultz on July 10, 2007, at 12:43:04
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin » sdworaczyk, posted by i4gotmy_sn on July 10, 2007, at 4:12:54
Your story completely mirrors mine. I work for an insurance company that regularly tells people the generics are exactly the same as the RX. We know how wrong they are. No one listens to us because we have "issues" I bet if we were diabetic they would listen.
Good luck and hang in there.
> Last night was the last time I took budeprion XL 300mg and it will be the last time ever. What a joke! Unfortunately I'm financially disadvantaged at the age of 20, so I can't purchased the name brand. I had been taking Wellbutrin XL 300mg for a while now and I was fine while on it. I can even so far as to say that I was decent on bupropion 300mg. It had little to no difference. I felt like I was just not getting a full effect of 300mg, that's all. It was okay and not horrible to deal with.
>
> Considering I get my meds free or really cheap, I felt I had nothing to complain about. I told my psychiatrist, who's a total jerk for the record what had been going on when I took this weird, big, yellow pills that looked nothing like the name brand or the other generic I had. He made me feel like some sort of alien, as if what was coming out of my mouth was mindless babble. I knew what I had been feeling, but somehow to him, I was a lier. Like many others I thought my pharmacy made a mistake.
>
> Tomorrow or within the next few days I have another refill to pick up. I flushed the remainder of what I had down the toilet. If I receive the same thing (yellow budeprion), I'm going to just hand it back to them and say "you guys obviously need the money, more than I need this". Why take something that's makes me worse off than I normally am?!
>
> I really didn't want to experience side-effects of coming off of it, that's why I didn't stop taking the budeprion. It made me extreme edgy, easily prone to bouts of anger, and unhappy. Feeling like there was no reason to live. I felt that I was dependent on these pills and it played a toll on my self-esteem.
>
> I almost lost some "friends" from the handful of episodes that I had. I had a complete mental breakdown and crying wasn't enough anymore. I had to hit pillows or squeeze the closest thing to me as hard as I could. I don't know if what I'm saying is making sense to any of you reading this, but hopefully. I apologize for the long entry. Long story, short: Wellbutrin XL 300mg = Excellent! Bupropion XL 300mg = Pretty good. Buderprion XL 300mg = Unbelievably unnecessary and not worth it!
Posted by BME on July 12, 2007, at 9:37:47
In reply to Re: Budeprion XL (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Michelle Schultz on April 24, 2007, at 11:01:48
I'm so glad it occurred to me to google Budeprion XL...I thought it was just me. It had gotten to the point where I just stopped taking it becuase there was no difference on/or off. Many thanks to each of you for posting your experiences. I jsut called the pharmacy to switch back to Wellbutrin XL (which I was on for years, but I was trying to save a few bucks). Thanks.
Posted by stargazer2 on July 17, 2007, at 20:26:08
In reply to Budeprion XL versus Bupropion HCL XL, posted by Wildflower on February 15, 2007, at 17:19:16
I just filled a prescription with the generic wellbutrin SR and got Budeprion. Why is it called Budeprion if the active ingredient is called buproprion. And how do I know these pills (yellow with the letter 'G' on one side and the number '2444'on the other side) are really buproprion when the generic manufacturor changes the name from Buproprion to Budeprion. How's that for making a situation more confusing.
I wish I read these posts before filling the prescription with the generic brand. Why is there a 'G' on the pill , what does that stand for????
I think the manuacturor is Teva (why no 'T' on the pill)...What if the pharmacist tech filled the bottle with another drug how would you know it if the pill is not identified with the name 'Buproprion', this is really upsetting to me.
We are being messed with again and again with these generics not being identical to the brand names, happened with Nardil in 2003 and people got worse, seemingly related to the new formulation.
How are we to know that the generics are as good as the brand name? Too much uncertainty surrounds the generics that I may go back and get Buproprion rather than Budeprion. Is Buproprion still available as a generic or has Budeprion replaced all the previous generics I knew as buroprion?
Stargazer
Posted by cynomom on July 18, 2007, at 19:19:15
In reply to Re: Budeprion XL versus Bupropion HCL XL, posted by stargazer2 on July 17, 2007, at 20:26:08
Well folks, some weeks ago I posted a message about taking budeprion. I took it for 3 weeks and before finding this website, thought that I was going "crazy" if you know what I mean. I was regressing and didn't know why. I decided to insist that the pharmacist give me the generic buproprion, which he did and I began to get better. I told my shrink what had happened and he put no susbstitutions on the next script for wellbutrin SR 200 mgs. I have a medicare plan and generic meds are 1 dollar for each script. When I filled my next script for the real thing it cost me only $3.10. I've been taking the name brand for about 2 weeks and boy can I tell the difference. The effects of the generic bupropion comes close to the brand name but not quite. I know everyone's body chemistry if different, but I am doing the best on the brand name Wellbutrin SR. I thought it might be all in my mind so I tried drinking a cup of coffee while taking the generics and then a few weeks later while taking the brand name. With the generics I felt like I had about 10 cups of coffee and was jittery and anxious for about 4-5 hours. With the brand name I didn't feel any side effects at all.
I don't know if anyone else has had this same experience, but for me it's the real thing or nothing.
Posted by Ladybug56 on July 19, 2007, at 11:59:33
In reply to Re: Budeprion XL versus Bupropion HCL XL, posted by stargazer2 on July 17, 2007, at 20:26:08
My generic Wellbutrin XL are large yellow oblong pills with the number 682 written on one side and blank on the other. It spells out BUDEPRION XL then underneath says (buPROPion HCI). Is this what some of you are on?
Cindy
Posted by al cann on July 30, 2007, at 9:00:35
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by smom on January 17, 2007, at 10:16:55
Hi everyone,
I am new to psycho-babble and rather than searching through all the posts on generic Budeprion vs Wellbutrin, I thought I'd ask the question. Sorry if this has been asked somewhere along this thread.
I have been taking Wellbutrin probably for about 5 or 6 years with positive results, no side effects. For the first time, I tried Budeprion and I am not happy with the results. I don't feel as I did on the Wellbutrin but most importantly I am experiencing sexual side effects such as not being able achieve an erection. Sorry for the graphic nature of this post, but I really need to know if anyone else out there has experienced anything like this. On the Wellbutrin, nothing like this ever happened.
Thanks -- AC
Posted by sheofthemoon on August 22, 2007, at 11:52:28
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Michelle Schultz on June 8, 2007, at 5:53:51
Hi Everyone,
I used to take Budeprion XL 300mg (TEVA) until four days ago. My experience with the generic was not a pleasant one.
A summary of my own side effects: complete loss of appetite, extreme mood swings, hallucinations and heightened touch and vision (note: not better, just more intense), spacial distortion, dizziness, "zoning out", sexual dysfunction, paranoia, significantly increased desire to commit suicide, severe depression, extreme tearfulness lasting hours, alternating with a feeling of numbness. This is the short version. Everything below is an explanation of these side effects as far as how much they impacted my life. Be forewarned: it's a novel!
Within the first four days of starting Budeprion XL I had hallucinations and heightened sensory experiences of touch and sight. It takes a quarter of a page to tell the whole story but this is how my psychiatrist summed it up. This is supposed to be one of the "rare side effects" of the drug. My doctor explained that hallucinations are thought to be caused by excess dopamine in the brain, and since bupropion is a dopamine agonist, it is possible this could explain my experience. However I am now on my fourth pill of my new Bupropion XL 300mg (WATS) rx, and have not had this experience. Nor did I on the 100mg, 3x a day original formulation bupropion I took initially which was also made by Teva.
Loss of appetite is completely uncharacteristic of me. It has never happened, even when I had food poisoning, I still had the hunger signal but couldn't eat. I love food as a general rule. While taking the Budeprion, I would forget to eat, not have any hunger signal from my body at all even if I went more than a day without food. When I had my favorite foods in front of me I would feel nauseous at the thought of eating. Towards the end of the month even my morning coffee appeared disgusting to me. My doctor expressed concern because while taking bupropion it is very important to eat on a relatively consistent schedule multiple times a day to help avoid the seizure risk. I felt I could not.
Extreme mood swings while taking this medicine had me going from comfortably balanced emotionally and very productive at work (which happened four days of the month), to euphoric with very pingy nervous energy and too distractable to work at my most effective; to completely, distraughtly depressed, tearful for hours which caused very painful headaches and a feeling of physical sickness, and also the feeling of being too weighted down to move, more so than the "lead weight" symptoms of atypical depression, which under normal circumstances I can deal with effectively enough to continue on with daily activities. In this case I missed four days of work.
Spacial distortion includes not only altered depth perception but things appeared bigger, closer to me, or otherwise disproportionate to how they "should have been". That persisted off and on for the entire time I was on the medication, exactly one month. I haven't experienced it yet on my new rx.
I "zoned out" especially when starting the Budeprion XL but the side effect persisted although not as noticeably for the entire month. It was specifically noticeable when people pointed it out as they were trying to talk to me, or had to repeat what they said to me.
Sexual dysfunction included significant decrease in desire and responsiveness throughout the month, which my fiance noticed but I did not, because my attentions were focused on dealing with the other side effects and trying to find a healthy evenness.
I fought with paranoia moreso than usual. I haven't been diagnosed with clinical paranoia, it's usually so little of an issue because under normal circumstances I can think and reason my way out of it very effectively. Fighting with this consistently and nearly all the time became steadily more of an issue towards the end of the month. I am still dealing with it as the remnants of the Budeprion are leaving my body, or so I tell myself because there is no clinical proof that this is true.
The increased depression and suicidal tendencies go hand in hand and are related to the mood swings. The four days I missed work were the worst of the month, and I feel they were the cumulative result, seeing as they were the last days of that rx. I had phone sessions with a doctor three of the four days. The first day I had been in my psychiatrist's office. The last day, at which point I was hopeful that the next day I could return to work, I requested an extra session asap which would be very early the next morning, before I would return to work.
There were no genuine suicide attempts to land me in the hospital although it was suggested that I go. I have fought with ideation before, but there were times this month where I had to consistently talk my way down from it.
So that's it. That's my novel about my experience with Budeprion XL last month. I feel like I am doing better now, four days into the new rx. I guess I may see whether the pill was really the culprit or not, over time. I just thought this info was worth posting here, and I saw the article written on The People's Pharmacy website, which I know many of you wrote into. The article says that the FDA "assured them that it will analyze the drug and the reports it received." The link to this:
www.peoplespharmacy.com/editorial/generic_antidepressant_raises_questions.asp
I have researched into what could be the difference in inactive ingredients between the two generics and the brand, but with no luck. I found the inactives on Wellbutrin XL and that's it.
I hope that everybody is feeling better and moving forward much easier now, and I wish everyone the best! Thanks for your posts which helped me realize that this could be an issue!
Posted by pollyjean on September 6, 2007, at 13:16:14
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by sheofthemoon on August 22, 2007, at 11:52:28
I've been taking Wellbutrin XL 300 mg for about 5-6 years now. Initially I had the standard jittery feeling side effect along with dry mouth, and soon after that I had extreme loss of appetite and nausea. Thankfully the jitters and dry mouth went away in just a few months, though the appetite came back much more gradually. The nausea went away as soon as I was able to consistently take the pill with food. A few months ago when the generic Budeprion XL 300 mg became available my insurance automatically switched me, which I was happy about because it's so much cheaper. I didn't have any side effects so I thought everything was the same, but after about a month I had obvious symptoms of depression (which I haven't struggled with *at all* on brand, except for a brief attempt to go on the Pill for birth control -- sudden extreme depression that went away as soon as I stopped taking it). Anyway, after 2 months on Budeprion I was ready to make an appointment with the doctor. My depression isn't that extreme unless something bad happens but by this point I was just generally sad, tired, trouble sleeping, crying for no apparent reason, feeling worthless, unproductive, you know the rest. However, a switch in health insurance resulted in them putting me back on brand without me requesting it. I decided to wait and see if that made a difference before calling the doctor, and within a week I was back to normal. I've been back on brand for about 3 months now and all is normal. I had some of the jitters and dry mouth again when I went back on, but they're gone now. I can't believe Budeprion is marketed as "the same thing" as Wellbutrin, because clearly it's not! I'm glad it works for some people, though, and would love to be able to take a generic myself if it worked!
Posted by zenhussy on September 6, 2007, at 16:33:50
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by pollyjean on September 6, 2007, at 13:16:14
>>>generally sad, tired, trouble sleeping, crying for no apparent reason, feeling worthless, unproductive, you know the rest.<<<
sounds very similar to what many have gone through on this generic.
sorry you had to endure that. how fortunate to have such positive results after returning to the namebrand Wellbutrin XL 300mg. bummer you suffered a few dismal depressed months on the generic Budeprion XL 300mg. after several years of effective medications one doesn't expect a generic to be as ineffective as a sugar pill! but for many this Budeprion XL has been just that.
somewhere in this thread is a link to FDA to report such reactions to medications (assuming you're in USA). many have reported their negative experiences w/ this generic this past year(2007).
generics can vary so widely. 4 of 6 meds in our cocktail are generics and have been for at least seven years w/o incident UNTIL this particular generic Budeprion XL 300mg back in the beginning of this year. thank goodness pdoc wrote rx for 'namebrand only-medical necessity' so the ins. co and pharmacy cannot swap out to save a few dollars at the expense of a patient's health.
glad you're back to being 'you' and the depression has been taken care of with the namebrand Wellbutrin XL 300mg.
Posted by Mark in SC on September 23, 2007, at 23:01:07
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin XL » darling, posted by darling on March 12, 2007, at 15:34:36
I just switched to Budeprion from Welbutrin because of the price savings.After I started taking Budeprion I thought that maybe I had been given something else besides Welbutrin. I have never been so irritable and agitated in my life: also am very depressed (I am not taking Welbutrin for depression anyways). I have been okay as far as getting things done though. Thank goodness someone posted a picture of what Budeprion looks like because like I said I thought the pharmacy had given me some other incorrect drug by mistake. I will definitely trash this Budeprion. I don't think its the same thing even though its supposed to be. I am also reporting what happened to my Dr, my pharmacy and the FDA site given in these postings. I hope you all do better with it than I have.
Posted by Mark in SC on September 23, 2007, at 23:05:50
In reply to Re: Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Arlene223 on April 3, 2007, at 1:30:42
I just switched to Budeprion from Welbutrin because of the price savings.After I started taking Budeprion I thought that maybe I had been given something else besides Welbutrin. I have never been so irritable and agitated in my life: also am very depressed (I am not taking Welbutrin for depression anyways). I have been okay as far as getting things done though. Thank goodness someone posted a picture of what Budeprion looks like because like I said I thought the pharmacy had given me some other incorrect drug by mistake. I will definitely trash this Budeprion. I don't think its the same thing even though its supposed to be. I am also reporting what happened to my Dr, my pharmacy and the FDA site given in these postings. I hope you all do better with it than I have.
Posted by DharmaBum on September 24, 2007, at 20:16:47
In reply to Budeprion (Generic) vs. Wellbutrin, posted by Daniel2000 on September 30, 2004, at 7:41:28
Just to add fuel to the fire, my pdoc believes there are definite differences between Wellbutrin and the generics. She put me on 75 mg generic bupropion for two reasons: 1) we are starting out and there is no 75mg version of Wellbutrin and 2) I am using bupe as an adjunct to a reduced dose of effexor.
Her thought was that, money aside, if your sole AD is bupe, that's a good reason to opt for Wellbutrin and if you are using a sustained release version, she feels that Wellbutrin is also a superior choice.
I suspect I might end up on 150mg of Wellbutrin XL. I sure as hell will avoid the budeprion.
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