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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 12 of 12. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 25, 2013, at 22:41:40
So I am on Wellbutrin XL, or CR, or whatever the slow release form is called. I find I have frequent headaches. My bowels refuse to move, no matter what I throw into them. It's making me most unhappy and I guess I have to wonder: when do you decide it isn't worth it? That whatever benefit you might be feeling is offset by the side effects that have to be treated, in turn?
Five weeks on this really expensive med, and I cannot stand it. It is consuming my life, my livelihood.
This is the worst I have felt on a med since Zyprexa. Which was many years ago.
PC
Posted by Phillipa on September 25, 2013, at 23:16:17
In reply to When do you decide a med isn't worth it?, posted by Partlycloudy on September 25, 2013, at 22:41:40
Sounds like you already have decided it's not worth it. What was the last med that worked well for you? Phillipa
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 26, 2013, at 5:57:16
In reply to Re: When do you decide a med isn't worth it? » Partlycloudy, posted by Phillipa on September 25, 2013, at 23:16:17
The others I take are working well with no or minimal side effects. I don't have the list in front of me, but it's 4 antidepressants, antianxiety, and insomnia medications.
I give any med a full run before I access it. I thought five weeks was a reasonable amount of time. Am I incorrect?
Posted by doxogenic boy on September 26, 2013, at 7:57:18
In reply to When do you decide a med isn't worth it?, posted by Partlycloudy on September 25, 2013, at 22:41:40
I would have discontinued it with five weeks of those side effects. When I used bupropion against depression, I got more energy, but after some time it worsened my social anxiety disorder. The reason why I tried bupropion, was because of the sexual side effects of SSRIs, but it didn't get better with bupropion as monotherapy either.
- doxogenic
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 26, 2013, at 8:11:15
In reply to Re: When do you decide a med isn't worth it? » Partlycloudy, posted by doxogenic boy on September 26, 2013, at 7:57:18
> I would have discontinued it with five weeks of those side effects. When I used bupropion against depression, I got more energy, but after some time it worsened my social anxiety disorder. The reason why I tried bupropion, was because of the sexual side effects of SSRIs, but it didn't get better with bupropion as monotherapy either.
>
> - doxogenicThank you, doxogenic. When I started experiencing anxiety from the side effects, I figured it was time to toss this one back in the ring. Of course, I just had the script filled and it's the most expensive med I take!!
I am just so tired of taking pills.
Partlycloudy
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 26, 2013, at 13:18:11
In reply to Re: When do you decide a med isn't worth it? » doxogenic boy, posted by Partlycloudy on September 26, 2013, at 8:11:15
I put in a call to my pdoc to discuss it with her. We had already gone over the importance of it not being the generic version of the drug. (Which is why it cost so bloody much.) it feels like a lose, lose.
Posted by bleauberry on September 29, 2013, at 17:23:54
In reply to When do you decide a med isn't worth it?, posted by Partlycloudy on September 25, 2013, at 22:41:40
Well I don't know, since we are all different, but if it were me I would have probably been off of it already and I'm surprised you made it this far.
Generally I approach meds this way...
If the dose is neutral to slightly good, no matter what the side effects are, I will stick with it to see what happens.
If the dose is negative, too many side effects, feel like crap, then I will cut it in half, even if it is already the smallest dose, and if that still feels bad then I will cut that in half, as small as I need to go, no dose is too small. If it really is a bad drug for me, it will feel bad the whole time no matter what dose. On the other hand, if it could be a good drug for me, then by reducing the dose the bad side effects aren't there much and the bad feeling isn't there. I know from experience and my doctor's experience that even something as small as 1mg of lexapro can bring remission of depression to some people. And I believe the same observations cross over to all meds. We are sort of brain washed into thinking the doses they give us are the only doses and the best doses. Maybe in a lab with white coats and everything perfect. But this aint a lab. It's my body my body's got some problems.
Wellbutrin generally doesn't have a good track record. It does work like magic for some people, but I think more people than not have trouble with it.
Wellbutrin caused me a severe depression much worse than the natural one I had to begin with. Within 3 days I was in such dark hell. I bounced back quickly after stopping it, then retried at lower and lower doses, almost down to dust, but it just was not friendly to me so that was the end of that.
Side effects are one thing. But if a med causes you to feel worse than you were, then it has to be stopped completely, or stopped and redosed lower, but doing nothing and letting time go by is just too risky and too costly.
Posted by Partlycloudy on September 30, 2013, at 7:38:50
In reply to Re: When do you decide a med isn't worth it?, posted by bleauberry on September 29, 2013, at 17:23:54
Thanks for your response, bleauberry. Part of my reluctance to discontinue Wellbutrin was that I wasn't feeling any emotional change at all. I have a slow response to many meds.
But a quick conversation with my pdoc had me off of it immediately. By the end of the second day, I was back as "normal" as I can be. My other body parts are working well. And I have an almost full container of the blasted medication. Another one for the pile when our pharmacies have their "being out yer (dead) meds."
Now I just feel stupid. But not quite as stupid as I was while on the med. Lost words are also stuck in there.
pc
Posted by phidippus on October 1, 2013, at 9:05:36
In reply to When do you decide a med isn't worth it?, posted by Partlycloudy on September 25, 2013, at 22:41:40
Yeah, time to drop it.
Eric
Posted by Partlycloudy on October 2, 2013, at 19:17:54
In reply to Re: When do you decide a med isn't worth it? » Partlycloudy, posted by phidippus on October 1, 2013, at 9:05:36
> Yeah, time to drop it.
>
> EricThanks, Eric, for your input as well. I value the opinions I solicit here. And I would not for a moment act upon them without checking with my doctor first. I get the impression that this board is being treated as a diagnostic panel by some users.
That is not my intention at all. I come here to solicit opinions and find out what other people's experiences were (which, in this case, I heard of none). Only posters playing doctor.
I don't think I will attempt to post here any more.
Posted by Phillipa on October 2, 2013, at 20:28:55
In reply to Re: When do you decide a med isn't worth it? » phidippus, posted by Partlycloudy on October 2, 2013, at 19:17:54
Didn't you post that you called or discussed with your doc and went off the med. Just upset over the money spent on it? I didn't notice anyone playing doctor just saying what they would do if it were them? Phillipa
Posted by doxogenic boy on October 3, 2013, at 6:52:10
In reply to Re: When do you decide a med isn't worth it? » phidippus, posted by Partlycloudy on October 2, 2013, at 19:17:54
> I come here to solicit opinions and find out what other people's experiences were (which, in this case, I heard of none). Only posters playing doctor.
-----
In my post ...
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130828/msgs/1051327.html... I just said what I would have done, based on my experiences. A doctor doesn't use his own experiences with psychotropic drugs in treatment of his patients. Most of them probably have no personal exeperiences with psychotropics.
So I don't see how my post could be interpreted as I am playing doctor. What is Psycho-Babble for if we couldn't tell each other of our experiences?
> I don't think I will attempt to post here any more.
---I am sorry for that.
- doxogenic
This is the end of the thread.
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