u/Aggressive-Guide5563

Like the title says. Today I started to going down to 150 mg Xl. I was on 300 mg XL for years, but recently 300 mg started to overstimulate me in various ways and also caused some side effects I didn’t used to get before or to this extent. Those side effects were frequent thirst, frequent urination , dizziness, vertigo, headaches, hot flashes, burning sensations, heart palpitations, rapid heartbeat, insomnia, you name it. I talked to my psych about this and he told me I could try lowering down to 150 mg XL and see if the side effects improve.

So today it was my first day of going down to 150 mg and to be honest it’s not good at all. The side effects have definitely improved and almost disappeared and I feel quite relieved because of that. But depression has gotten worse and I feel extremely suicidal. I also have no energy or motivation to do anything. SCT and executive dysfunction has gotten worse. Focus and mental clarity is bad. Everything has gotten worse ever since I lowered the dose.

Right now I just feel so sad and so down. I feel like I just want to die and all the suicidal thoughts have started to come back and I feel terrible. I can’t function at all and everything else has gotten worse. I just don’t know what to do anymore. Should I just wait and give the 150 mg some time or does this mean it’s not the right dose for me?

Wellbutrin is the only antidepressant that ever did anything for my depression and I suspect it was the weak dopaminergic effects that helped my depression in the first place. It also helps my SCT and executive dysfunction tremendously. And that’s the reason why I’ve stayed on it for such a long time now. It helps me function on a daily basis and makes me more capable of doing things.

But now recently it has started to overstimulate me in various ways I’m afraid I can’t tolerate it anymore. It has started to give me some weird side effects I didn’t used to get before or to this extent and some these side effects seem to be clearly related to its noradrenergic effects. And those side effects are frequent thirst, frequent urination, dizziness, vertigo, headaches, nausea, hot flashes, burning sensations, heart palpitations, rapid heartbeat, increased sweating, insomnia, you name it. When I used to take it with Prozac a while back at the exact same dose I had none of these side effects. Prozac must have removed the anxiety and masked all of these adrenergic side effects all along.

Before anyone tells me to wean myself off of Wellbutrin completely. I have tried several times to stop taking it because of these side effects, but I did not last for more than a few days. Without it everything else gets worse. SCT and executive dysfunction plummet. I just lie in my bed all day because I’m unable to function whatsoever because of the brain fog and mental fatigue. I have hypersomnia that won’t go away. I get this mental shutdown and can’t even start basic tasks without it. I stop taking care of myself completely and depression gets even worse without it. But when I’m on it it causes physical symptoms of anxiety and overstimulation that is getting unbearable.

I dont know what to do anymore. I’m so sad right now because no one seems to understand how huge of a dilemma this is for me. The med that is making me function normally is starting to turn its back on me and it’s starting to overstimulate in various ways I could never imagine was possible. I’ve talked to my psych about this and the only idea he had was to lower the dose. I can absolutely try 150 mg and see if these side effects and anxiety improve. But I’m just afraid it won’t be enough for SCT, executive dysfunction and depression. He doesn’t seem to have any other ideas unfortunately. I just feel stuck right now.

But can someone explain to me why Wellbutrin used to work great for me in the past, but now recently has started to cause these side effects?

Like the title says. Are there any supplements out there that can reduce norepinephrine levels? The reason I’m asking is because I take Wellbutrin and it helps my SCT and executive dysfunction tremendously. Unfortunately I think it sometimes spikes my norepinephrine levels too much, which makes go into panic states. It causes sometimes physical symptoms of anxiety like uncomfortable jitters and agitation. I do get motivation and slight drive to do things from it, but it just feels like sometimes I can never put it out to good use at all because the physical symptoms of anxiety and uncomfortable jitters and edginess is too distracting. It makes starting unpleasant tasks sometimes difficult. And this is bothering me a lot. I think overall it would be better for me if it just worked on the dopamine and not so much on the norepinephrine.

So I’m wondering if there are any supplements that can keep norepinephrine in check and lower its levels?

Like the title says. Is there anyone who knows why caffeine and nicotine helped my apathy, avolition and anhedonia, but Wellbutrin did not? Caffeine and nicotine are the only drugs helping my apathy, avolition and anhedonia when I used them short term until I developed tolerance to using them too much. But atleast they relieved it temporarily.

Wellbutrin did not work for me though and I wonder why? I mean Wellbutrin is a NDRI and works both on norepinephrine and dopamine, so on paper it should relieve apathy, avolition and anhedonia. But for me it did not work for some reason. With long term use I actually noticed some form of anhedonia from Wellbutrin. It’s not the same type of anhedonia like you get from SSRIS though. It’s a different type of anhedonia. It’s not like it muted my emotions like SSRIS or made me not being able to feel anything good or bad, it was not that type of anhedonia. It was this type of anhedonia where I was constantly anxious and irritable all the time for no reason and that anxiety and irritability drove me into anhedonic states all the time. That anxiety and irritability made me avoid people all the time and just overly focusing on things that weren’t so important, but for some reason it was. It was like I didn’t care about socializing with people and didn’t want to because of the anxiety and irritability. People were bugging me all the time and I was always anxious and stressed about getting things done, but never had the actually time to sit and socialize and be friendly with people at work and everywhere else. It was just like work was more important and I felt like a mechanical robot that just wanted to do things right and perfectly and be overly productive with no meaning to it and then avoiding people as much as possible because of the anxiety and irritability that it caused. So Wellbutrin made me into a mechanical robot. That’s how I would describe it. It made me cold and not warm or friendly at all.

Caffeine and nicotine on the other hand though were different. They actually worked for my apathy, avolition, anhedonia and mood too, even better than either SSRIS or Wellbutrin ever did. They actually relived it in a good way. They made me sociable, friendly, warm, calm and overly happy and I wanted to socialize with people all the time. They just helped mood too and didn’t make me numb, cold or muted my emotions in anyway or irritable and anxious.

So can someone explain to me why caffeine and nicotine worked? But Wellbutrin never did. I mean all three of them work on dopamine to some extent. Why would the difference be so huge between them? Is there a scientific explanation behind this? It would be really interesting to know.

Like the title says. Is there anyone who find it to be enough for their ADHD on its own? I know Wellbutrin is not a stimulant and it’s not approved for ADHD either. It’s just sometimes used off label for it. It’s mainly an antidepressant though and should mostly help with mood. But did anyone find it to be enough for their focus or attention or motivation and energy? I do rarely hear about anyone having success with Wellbutrin all alone. But is there anyone out there who had and can tell me more about their experience? It would be really interesting to hear if someone with ADHD actually find it to be effective all by itself?

Edit: I’m asking because I have been diagnosed with autism and show some signs of SCT and executive dysfunction. I do find Wellbutrin to be somewhat helpful for some symptoms but I feel like it loses its effectiveness for brain fog and mental clarity if I take it everyday and it’s also really inconsistent in its effects. I do still need to have caffeine alongside it to make it work better. Taking breaks from Wellbutrin is the only way for me to make it work for my SCT and executive dysfunction. When I take it everyday it just helps mood and depression.

Like the title says. My new psych wants me to go off of Wellbutrin even though is the only med that ever did anything for my depression and helps my SCT and executive dysfunction tremendously.

The reason he wanted me to go off of it was because of the side effects it has started give me. These side effects are clearly related to its noradrenergic effects and those side effects are frequent thirst, frequent urination, dry mouth, dizziness, vertigo , heart palpitations, rapid heartbeat, hot flashes, burning sensations, headaches, insomnia and jitteriness. Even though I told him that Wellbutrin is essential for my daily function and helps my brain fog, mental clarity, energy, motivation and depression, he still wanted me to go off of it. He told me straight out that I should start reevaluating if this med is really necessary for me after being on it for a long time now and because of the side effects it’s giving me.

When I used to take it with Prozac a while ago. I was at the exact same dose and had almost none of these side effects at that time. The anxiety and insomnia weren’t there when I took it with Prozac. But the reason I removed Prozac in the first place was because I felt it was making my SCT and executive dysfunction worse. And removing Prozac made energy, motivation, functionality and productivity better. But at the cost of getting now chronic anxiety and insomnia and these other side effects that won’t go away. I don’t know if Prozac masked these side effects all along or if it was something with the combination that made it work better for me. Or if Prozac balanced out my neurochemistry overall. And I have thought about this for a long time now if reintroducing Prozac all over again is the only solution to get rid of my issues.

So my new psych won’t really listen to me and hear me out. I feel like he doesn’t take me seriously and doesn’t want to talk to me about how we can resolve these side effects in the best way possible without needing to remove the med completely. Because Wellbutrin is important for me and if I really didn’t get any benefits from it at all I would’ve stopped taking it a long time ago. I wouldn’t keep taking a med that gives me these side effects just for nothing. But it just seems like he doesn’t understand me and it’s not engaged or interested in helping me out at all.

I would really like to hear your thoughts and opinions about this. I appreciate all the advice.