Anyone on Wellbutrin?

@bllagrce Okay thank you!! I think I’ll try to make a list with questions first and numerate them so it’s easier to answer! 1. How long did it take for you to notice a difference? I’ve heard that Wellbutrin works much faster than other antidepressants, but apparently some also start with the side effects rather than the main effects 2. What side effects did you experience? When did you start to experience them and for how long/did they stop eventually? 3. Did you experience brain fog at any point and did it stop? 4. How long did it take for you to fully regain focus and energy? 5. How did it affect your sleep? 6. Was coming off them easy? 7. (The weirdest one probably) Did your hair start falling out during or after you stopped taking them? 8. Did it affect your OCD negatively (if you were taking them for another reason such as Depression) or did it worsen Panic and Anxiety symptoms? I think that’s all for now!

@sarah.ek Those are great questions! I want to preface by letting you know that A.) I didn’t know I had OCD yet when I was on it and B.) I’m not the best person to ask about antidepressants’ efficacy because I much, much later learned my depression is treatment resistant due to no activity in the enzymes that metabolize those medications, so please don’t take my case and think it’ll be the same way for you; it very very likely won’t. 🩷 And anything I’ll say is just my personal opinion and based off of experience, not professional or researched advice. :) 1. I believe it took the usual (for me) 2-4 weeks for me to notice their effect, starting at 150mg and later increasing to 200mg. I’d personally give it a good 1-2 months or so on the medication if you can for your body to get used to the first couple weeks and see how it works afterwards, when your body gets more used to the medication after the initial two weeks, because medication effects tend to get less noticeable after that initial period imo. 2. Again I’m not the best person to ask about side effects because my experience with medications is at one far end of the spectrum, but Wellbutrin was definitely one of the most if not the most “tame” of the 10+ antidepressants I’ve tried. I noticed a bit of congestion, sinus pressure, and dry mouth, which allergy medications helped with. It took 2-3 weeks for me to notice the effects, and about 2-4 months for me to realize some more covert mental health effects. 3. Unlike most antidepressants I’ve tried, Wellbutrin DIDN’T cause dizziness, or muscle weakness for me, but I was very low energy and fatigued, and the brain fog was very real. (I also have a few chronic conditions which can cause that as well so not sure how much was due to the medication) It might’ve gotten a bit less noticeable after several months, or I might’ve gotten used to it. 4. I’m not sure how long it took me to regain energy, I had to be on a stimulant to kind of counteract the fatigue I was experiencing, and was also dealing with untreated sleep issues which made that a lot worse 5. It never affected my sleep at all! I have DSPD so my sleep has always been off, but none of that was influenced by that medication! 6. Coming off of them was also one of the most tame/easy part, as long as done with the advice of your doctor :) 7. No, I never had any issue with that! 8. I didn’t know I had OCD at the time and was taking them for depression. It never worsened my anxiety at all! I don’t want anything I said to steer you away from the medication as my inability to metabolize a lot of medications is not normal, I’d honestly recommend Wellbutrin over Zoloft, Lexapro, Prozac, Celexa, and Remeron because in my experience, it was more preferable than the aforementioned medications. :D Wish you the best of luck!

@bllagrce Thank you, this was actually really helpful:)

@Anonymous Thank your for sharing! If you eventually start experiencing side effects and you happen to remember this comment feel free to update me haha, but best of luck for recovery!