Meds Experiences Thread!!

So I'm just gonna like file this away in case it's ever needed if I notice things going wonky for me in the words department.

 

With the symptoms you're listing, I'd vote for talking to the doctor first before stopping the medication. In my very limited experience, full-on serotonin syndrome is *really* uncomfortable. I'm not a doctor, though, so take this with a grain of salt.

 

Thank! I did message my doctor last night on an online site she gave me for future communication so hopefully i hear back soon; ive got a history of freaking out at nothing and i'm feeling a lot less nervous about everything today :P

 

so. update: gabapentin is shit! either i'm thinking too much to sleep (200mg) or i can't keep a big picture together coherently in my head (300mg). this drug needs to Stop.

i'm probably starting strattera or another hypertension/ADHD combo drug in that family next time i'm in (1/18/17). i am side-eyeing this super hard because vyvanse nearly sent me to the hospital with GI problems after 4 days. i also do not have diagnosed adhd. but apparently that could help my exdys issues or something? i still have another two and a half weeks before i start it though. also apparently strattera does not play well with wellbutrin, which i am also on, and will remind psychiatrist of.

 

ok, so, I started Wellbutrin again on Dec 19th. I'm currently on lowest dose 150mg/day. I'm still feeling some of the effects (I think?) but the productivity has dropped a bit, and the irritability/anxiety (my 'panic attacks' basically look like angry hissy fits) has come back a bit ... debating going up to the next dosage level (300mg/day) ... anybody have thoughts? I mean, I've got a doctor's appt next Wednesday, but I'd rather see what it's gonna do before going to talk to the doctor, rather than talking to the doctor just to have her say "sure go for it", and then have another month before I talk to her ... thoughts? *stresses*

In other news - school started. It's scary.

 

I'm currently on Wellbutrin 300mg and it doesn't do much of anything for me. I mean i guess it makes my depression slightly less awful, but im still anxious/antsy/lethargic all of the time without end. It was markedly worse when i was on a lower dose age, so i suppose going up helped me not want to constantly die all the time, but past that, meh. The doc told me it'd help with my inattention issues and anxiety but it really doesn't. Are you taking it with any other medication?

 

@kino, I can see how Wellbutrin might be thought to potentially help with attention issues. It acts on norepinephrine and dopamine, as do many stimulants used to treat ADD/ADHD. I don't know how effective it is at increasing norepinephrine and dopamine concentrations compared to, say, Ritalin. I'd guess significantly less effective, but perhaps it's enough for some people.

I don't have the faintest idea why this medication would be expected to help with anxiety? For a small percentage of people it seems to increase anxiety; I see agitation, anxiety, and insomnia all listed under precautions for the drug, based on the frequency of their occurrence in clinical trials. As far as I'm aware, Wellbutrin has done no better or slightly worse than SSRIs in studies testing its ability to alleviate anxiety in patients with depression.

In any case, the crucial test of a medication is whether or not it works to your satisfaction. If you're not satisfied, all the molecular diagrams and peer-reviewed journal articles in the world won't make it any more useful to your personal treatment.

(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or a pharmacist, all my knowledge is spotty and not up to date.)

 

Apparently, at least some medications don't actually directly do what they do.
They instead massively amplify the placebo effect.

Those ones are the ones that don't work if you don't know if you've taken them.

 

@kino thanks for your thoughts! The 150mg is actually making a difference for me - and I'm just wondering if the 300mg would make a 'bigger' difference, or if it would be more of the same ... I'm not on anything else right now (except nicotine, haha) so it's just the Wellbutrin.

Also fwiw, I've gotten to the point where I can sleep without melatonin (so insomnia side effect greatly diminished - I still don't need as much sleep as before, but I'm not awake forever and ever amen). The appetite suppression is interesting - it's no longer a "I'm not hungry", and more of a "I'm hungry, but after approximately three bites I'll be full". Which I'm honestly okay with. Headaches are gone, as is the hyper-productivity that hit when I first started, so I have to rediscover the balance between productivity and laziness.

@Verily I'm on Wellbutrin for PTSD - my psychiatrist says it'll work for my anxiety because my biggest problems are hypervigilance, and my anxiety is also a physiological rewiring of my brain rather than a true chemical imbalance. For me, messing with my serotonin levels was TERRIBLE (my moirail can attest to this because she had to put up with me when I was going through med-hell), so the fact that Wellbutrin messes with NOT serotonin is kinda great for me. I'm also a smoker, and Wellbutrin hits the same part of the brain that nicotine does, which is GREAT because I'm smoking less now too. I think different types of drugs are effective against different types of anxiety :)

(As I'm sitting here typing this I'm realizing I forgot to take my meds this morning so I should probably go do that before I forget again ...)

 

wellbutrin is like the uppers of the antidepressant world i swear to god. i nicknamed them my 'pep pill' a long time ago. i generally get a surge of "i can do this" after i take my afternoon dose, which helps with everything. also, i think wellbutrin is also used (off-label maybe?) as a stop-smoking aid.

i'm sure there's some that do, but for things like SSRIs, NSAIDs, and SNRIs, we know how they work. we know the molecular structure and we know what they do. also, "don't work" for what? i'm so confused by this message. maybe if you'd included some drug as an example i'd understand it a little bit better. as it is, the wording of this is vague enough that it just makes me feel paranoid.

 

Wellbutrin is used as a stop-smoking aid ... tbh that's the only reason my doctor convinced me to go on it in the first place!

 

I can't remember the name, but there's an anti-anxiety drug that doesn't have any positive effects when given to people coming out of surgery if they don't know they had it, but strong anti-anxiety effects (way stronger than normal placebo effect) if you know you're taking it. I found this out via the New Scientist book titled NOTHING.

 

@NatashaBezmena You mentioned something about hyper-productivity and... I think I'm experiencing that? Like I'm low-spoons, but I still need to be doing something lately (like cleaning). How long will it take to go away? I wanna make the most of it while I can before I get lazy again.

On an even more positive note, I feel like I can do two things - write and draw. I have only been able to do both those things literally a few times over the past several years. I just... wasn't able. But now I'm sitting here, itching to draw, and I've written several pages since starting the Wellbutrin. Does anyone have any experience with the creative energy? Do you think ot might stay? That would make me so happy. Writing and drawing are some of my favorite things.

 

@ZeroEsper yes - that sounds like hyperproductivity. My house was incredibly spotless for quite some time, and I was actually cooking things rather than eating low-spoon food, but anything that required LEAVING the house was tougher haha!

Also - I'm a musician, and I write. With the Wellbutrin I find that my focus is sharper. A lot of the time I can't write/create music because my focus is everywhere and I can't sit still long enough while maintaining motivation, but on the Wellbutrin I can focus well enough to do some longer stretches of practicing and writing. In my experience it comes and goes. If I'm super religious about taking the Wellbutrin at the exact same time every day it sticks around. If I'm even an hour late taking it, the balance shifts and I just feel ... blah.

Anyone else have thoughts on productivity/creativity and Wellbutrin?

 

Why!!! Do my meds!!! Cost $250!!!!!!!!
(parents are willing to pay for it for now while i try to fiure out if i can lower the price, i'm fine, just FRUSTRATED)

 

Are you a US resident? If so, you should be able to qualify for Medicaid and like, basically all of the meds I've been prescribed while on Medicaid have had a 0$ copay.

 

I'm a youngun, still on my parents' insurance, we've just still got a decent deductible that's skyrocketing the price i think??? shrugs. that or the insurance just really doesnt want to pay for antidepressants that much

 

jeez, bummer! I'm sorry to hear that. The only other thing I can think of is to ask your pharmacy/prescribing doctor to give you generics instead of brand names, if you don't already have that, and get a GoodRx card.

 

Thanks! I'll be calling my insurance and such tomorrow to see if theres any way to lower it; also i have a card that's supposed to take $100 off the price but it wasnt working right?? so i'm gonna call them tomorrow too @.@ i just want antidepressants. plz.

 

i got prescribed citalopram for anxiety a couple years back. it worked, except it completely wiped out my appetite. i'd wake up, go do stuff, and hit midafternoon before i'd realise i hadn't had anything to eat yet. lost three or four kg in just under a month. doc took me off that one quick smart. he switched me to escitalopram, which brought my appetite back. whatever anxiety I have is kinda stealth, so the only real effect either of them had was reducing the number of random crying fits i'd have.

(to clarify, i am 99% sure I have alexithymia - i quite literally can't actually tell what i'm feeling up until the point where i start crying or laughing or whatever. i still have the emotions; it's just kind of like trying to read a billboard approaching in the distance from a car on the highway.)

when i tapered the escitalopram dosage to come off it, i got spells of dizziness and lots of brain zaps, but thankfully nothing worse, and the effect died off after a month or two. i'm not sure how it would have been long-term, because a couple months later i saw a psychiatrist for an adhd diagnosis and he wanted to make sure whether the symptoms i was complaining about were not due to my anxiety, so put me on 50mg of sertraline.

again, this cut down on the number of random crying fits, but no other effect. it is also an asshole medication to come off - tapering the dose gave me a bit over a week of orthostatic intolerance bad enough that I was more or less stuck in bed. my friend with POTS told me I should get myself checked out for that; I googled it, and apparently there's been at least one observed case of SSRI withdrawal causing POTS-like symptoms. i ended up going back to my doctor and reinstated the old dose, because it was preventing me from working and i kind of need my job. i still want to come off it; i'll just need a month or so where i don't have to work, i guess lmao

finally, i've been on ritalin, ritalin-sr (20mg) and strattera (i forget the dose) for adhd. strattera just plain did nothing. ritalin gave me the racing heart and ability to concentrate on one thing for several hours at a time, but at the cost of heightened irritation and a period afterward where i'm unable to do much but sit there and gently vibrate. ritalin-sr does the same thing, but longer and less intense. (also i keep getting fixed on things like skype convos or wiki walks instead of what i actually want to do, but i figure this is probably something to do with the handful of other issues my brain has decided to throw at me, so for the moment i'm sticking with the ritalin.)