anyone else treating with bupropion?
my new psychiatrist gradually took me off of ritalin+venlafaxin and introduced bupropion, first 150mg while cutting the venlafaxin dosage in half, and now 300mg of bup alone, completely removing venlafaxin
it's been 4 days i think since this last update and it's been fucking rough. i'm not sure if it's just the venlafaxin withdrawal or if the bupropion is contributing to it, but i feel like shit, i'm getting constant brain zaps unless i remain completely still with as little stimulation as possible, been having nightmares every single day, am extremely irritable and im not even sure the bupropion is even helping at all
is anyone else under the same treatment? it feels like a fringe/experimental treatment, but id like to confirm this from other adhders
thanks
Not what you asked and I don't take bupropion, but I did come off of venlafaxine, and it was a horrorshow of brain zaps and nightmares until I went onto fluoxetine.
i knew venlafaxin withdrawals were nasty, but i didn't know they could last so long. i thought id be fine after 2-3 days
I have been on both of those and I don't think you'll notice the bupropion helping until you're out of the withdrawing stage. Venlafaxine is a really wicked one to quit, I'm a bit surprised your doctor didn't do a longer taper off schedule.
For what it's worth, I really loved buproprion, and it's done wonders for my bff who also has adhd.
my venlafaxin dose was originally 75mg, so he planned to reduce it to 37,5mg for a month then take if off completely. reducing to 37,5 was fine so i thought taking it off would be too ig
fwiw not feeling that annoying ritalin anxiety anymore last month did indeed feel pretty good. your comment gave me a little bit of hope, so ty
Bupropion is rough. I took it for nearly a decade for depression. Headaches, shakes, and fuzzy memory. It didn't help my ADHD (then-undiagnosed), but it did wonders for making me feel less physically exhausted during periods of depression.
When I was put on bupropion it made me dissociative, but I'm also bipolar which may have played a role. My psych prescribed it bc she didn't want to put me on a classical stimulant specifically because I'm bipolar. I ended up on Ritalin though, which didn't have significant adverse effects
Yeah as the others have written, the withdrawal off venlafaxin is rough. If I could change one thing in my life it would be to taper it off for half a year or more. I took it out too quickly I think and dealt with the symptoms of withdrawal for months.
Bupropion for me was the first antidepressants that seemed to really work while still making me feel human. Lots of bad stuff didn't happen. Now I'm slowly getting rid of it. It's gonna take me months this time... Good luck with it. Everyone's experience is gonna be different.
My doctor cut my dose way too fast as well and it definitely sucked but I adjusted after a couple weeks. She did raise my bupropion at the same time though.
Bupropion is the only antidepressant that works for my mood. The SSRIs and SNRIs make me feel numb and dumb, so I hate them. However, bupropion doesn't have any noticeable impact on my adhd. I gotta take ritalin for that.
Bupropion was by far the most effective med I ever took, but I personally got really bad side effects and I had to stop really quickly. None of the side effects you got though. Just extreme tiredness and getting over emotional. I also might have had a mild seizure, but it's not known if it was the bupropion that caused it. I was in the ER pumped with a load of other drugs that also could potentially cause it, but my psychiatrist took me off it anyway just to be safe.
My bupropion was jacking my blood pressure to the point where at an ER visit (for headaches from eye strain), the nurses were looking at me like I was the walking dead. I switched ultimately to a low dose of Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq) which does the trick, without too awful sexual side effects. Also 20 mg Adderall ER.
My doctor took me off Venlafaxine which was paired with bupropion and raised the dose on the bupropion. I actually like it. I it nixes my anxiety, gives me energy, and treats my suspected executive dysfunction and attention issues too.
I was given escitalopram first but it didn't help enough so I asked for an SNRI and the psych doctor gave me Venlafaxine which helped but caused weight gain and lethargy so they added bupropion and now my PCP changed over to just bupropion and it works like a charm. I guess instead of an SNRI I needed an NDRI.