Dysthymia, Wellbutrin (effect, system, problems, causes)

[Nighteyes]

Originally Posted by jasper12

My opinion on depression and dysthymia, is that there is something dysfunctional in your life, that causes the depression, identify that, change it, and amazingly, your life will improve. I am not a fan of psychotropic medication, for many reasons. I suggest CBT therapy, and some self help books, to really do a through self examination of what is making you feel unhappy, and when are times in your life that you were happier. Your body is systemic, and health is part of feeling happy, if you think of your body and entire life, like a huge system of weights, each piece added or removed from the scale affects the entire balance, the goal is to have more or less perfect symmetry, health, stress level, mental health, external factors and internal factors can also cause changes...anyway, I wish you luck on your journey, and hope you will not expect a pill to make changes, that need to be made of you to feel better.

jasper12,

Yours is a well-thought-out, well-expressed post. Thanks!

Now, in the interest of balance, I need to say that depression is often caused or worsened by one or more neurochemical imbalances. The older the age of initial onset, the greater the likelihood that neurochemical imbalance is at least a contributing factor if not the sole cause.

I am trained and experienced in humanistic behavioral counseling, and I was also successfully treated for later-onset depression (triggered by C-PTSD, incidentally). Therefore I can say with a fair amount of certainty that, for depression caused or influenced by neurochemical imbalance, CBT alone is not effective. That was the pathway we originally tried. It was only the addition of Buproprion HCL (Wellbutrin) that helped me turn the corner and, over the course of three years, achieve a complete recovery. I haven't taken Wellbutrin for a coupe of years now, and the depression hasn't returned.

Careful diagnosis is the key.

-- Nighteyes

[jzeig104]

Wellbutrin is an NDRI drug or Norepinephrine Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor

Lexapro is an SSRI

The only meds that have worked for my depression are SNRI's. The other two types did not work.

OP may want to consider talking to a psychiatrist. Most General Practioners are not familiar with the various types of psychotropic meds and how they work.

[nightbird47]

One warning if weight is an issue.

A lot of drugs will cause weight gain, and to many doctors it is a 'minor' problem. To many patients it is a major one. Do your own research on weight gain associated with any particular drug, and if you don't want to gain more or shouldn't, speak up. On Welbrutain, which wasn't supposed to cause it, I ended up gaining some fifty pounds. It gave me this insatiable need for candy/sugar/anything sweet. My apartment didn't really have AC, the unit not cooling much beyond the window, but there was a Walmart across the street where they didn't care if you windowshopped for an hour if you bought something. Candy, cookies, all that was cheap....

It also elivated a low level of depression into bouts of mania. Since I quit all of them I don't have problems with weight and I don't have mania. I do feel borderline sometimes but have things like music which push me out of it. Or I may be really quiet that day and just have stuff on my mind.

Remember all drugs have effects and do not expect the doctor to tell you all of them. Do your OWN research. And don't feel that you can't insist on change or stopping a med due to them. If they are 'worth tolerating' is your choice.

[Giesela]

I think this low level of...whatever... may have a genetic component. My mother is prone to anxiety (but then she had a truly sh**ty life and has what I consider PTSD from WWII and living under Soviet rule so its hard to tell) and has some other personality disorders. My father had old age what they might call melacholia and Parkinson's. I know that know amount of exercise has ever made me feel good. The few times in my life when I was exercising regularly (because the military made me it was always hard, never got any kind of good feeling, stopped as soon as I could. Same with sex actually.
Its not so much that I feel bad its that I have absolutely no up. Like I make no dopamine or seratonine or whatever it is.
Which scares me to death that I'm going to develop Parkinsons.

I wonder if a lower dose of Wellbutrin would help.

[Nighteyes]

Originally Posted by jzeig104

OP may want to consider talking to a psychiatrist. Most General Practioners are not familiar with the various types of psychotropic meds and how they work.

That's exactly what my therapist, primary care physician and I decided to do. The physician made the referral, the therapist filled in the assessment/treatment information, and the psychiatrist met with me three times. The first time was to do his own workup and prescribe the med, and the other two (at 2-week intervals) were follow-ups. Then he referred me back to my primary care physician.

As jzeig104 stated, modern anti-depressants work by modifying neurochemistry in several different ways. In other words, a bit of trial-and-error may be necessary. Too, they have to accumulate in the body tissues before their effects begin to show up, so don't expect immediate results.

I was fortunate that we got it right the first time. Even so, I had a two-day "bumpy ride" as my neurochemistry started to change. Thank goodness the psychiatrist alerted me to the possibility.

-- Nighteyes

[Giesela]

I did go to some sort of psychologist type a couple of years ago, about 4 sessions. She didn't seem to think much was 'wrong'. There was no where to go with any discussion? I was not considering meds then.
Perhaps I should ask my GP for a referral to discuss pharmaceutical approaches but honestly I don't want to get on that try this try that train. I tried the Wellbutrin because it sounded right, gives an energy boost, helps with addictive compulsions (food in my case which replaced nicotine when i quit in 2000). It wouldn't hurt to discuss I suppose but so many Dr.'s get mad if you don't just do what they tell you. I make up my own mind.

[Stagemomma]

Originally Posted by Giesela

So here is my latest.

I quit taking the Wellbutrin about a week ago.

The first couple of weeks I thought I could detect a small but nice difference in mood and energy. While I could eat through it I wasn't as interested in food and my weight gain stabilized.

Then some side affects started.

-An intermittent roaring in my left ear (only ever my left which is odd, whatever). Sort of like the seashell sound. That eventually went away but I felt i could have lived with it anyway.

-I noticed that after long weekend driving tips I felt really sick. At first I didn't associate it with the Wellbutrin but eventually I decided that it was giving me some low level motion sickness even driving around town and 500 miles on a weekend just left me miserable like it never had before. Still, I could cope.

- Intermittent scalp tightening and numbness on the back of the head. This did not go away like the ear noise. It came on a few times a day and sometimes it was really really painful. I associate this sort of sensation with anxiety. I used to have a really stressful job and it would sometimes exhibit in this scalp sensation but never to this painful extent and I'm not stressed at this point in my life.

This caused me to go off. Since you can't cut up XL pills I just quit cold turkey. First few days I actually went back to the mildly elevated feelings of when I first started and then sort of lost. About halfway through the week one morning as I was getting ready for work I felt some exhaustion. And yesterday the ear roaring came back. I'm sort of assuming that this is due to the drug leaving my system.

Anyone know how long it takes to completely clear?

I'm kind of disappointed. The impacts weren't huge, like I still have sleep troubles, but I did feel it gave me a little more....resolve? energy? brightness?

Already, with no change in eating or other habits my weight jumped a few pounds

Not sure where to head next. During that stressful job period years ago I mentioned I tried Lexapro and feel no need to revisit.

Years ago in the mid 90s I briefly experimented with St Johns wort and then something else. I may give the St. Johns wort a try as the only other drug I'm taking is synthroid and it seems the main drawback is drug interactions but I dont see synthroid on the list.
The something else I wish i could remember - maybe that eSAM or SamE? Whatever it was I remember having a flash of intense anger over something that felt so foreign immediately stopped. I was thinking about trying the 5HTP stuff but it has some serious warnings/side effects issues and I'm a bit frightened of those alone and am not completely sure it wasn't what I tried before (was it around in the 90s?)

I wondered about smaller doses of Wellbutrin in the SR type (mutiple times a day) but am not sure and honestly I don't think I trust general practiceners to really know either.

oooohhhhhkkkkaaayyyy....so you felt better on the wellbutrin. You lost weight, arguably one of the MOST IMPORTANT things you need to do to improve your health. BUT you decided that some symptoms you had must be side effects so you, with no medical supervision, weaned yourself off.

And now you are considering trying some other stuff with no documented benefits.

Please go back to your doctor.

[Giesela]

Originally Posted by Stagemomma

oooohhhhhkkkkaaayyyy....so you felt better on the wellbutrin. You lost weight, arguably one of the MOST IMPORTANT things you need to do to improve your health. BUT you decided that some symptoms you had must be side effects so you, with no medical supervision, weaned yourself off.

And now you are considering trying some other stuff with no documented benefits.

Please go back to your doctor.

I felt a LITTLE bit better
I stopped gaining weight
the side effects are all listed known side effects of wellbutrin and not my imagination - gee thanks for trying to make someone on a mental health forum feel like its all in their head
Wellbutrin has a low probability of issues when stopping or decreasing and I did call my Dr's office, the nurse on the phone didn't seem to care
Go see my Dr., a GP, who spends 10 minutes with me once or twice a year

The reason I posted here

1) to share my experiences with this drug for others who may be considering taking it
2) to hear about experiences from others who have taken it
3) to hear from and share with people who have Dysthymia or dysthymia like symptoms.

Forums are for sharing not getting up on a snark box and telling someone to go to their Dr.

[Doll Eyes]

I am dysthymic and wellbutrin seems to be the first one they try on us. I am off it because it did nothing, at least try it though. I take Celexa and Abilify and it sorta works but not really, I don't think meds can help me anyways.

[MissSoBelle]

Originally Posted by Giesela

For the last few plus years Dr's (GP, DO's, sleep specialist, who see me for about 10 min a year) have suggested I take an antidepressant. I guess I look depressed I have so far said, you know, I'm unhappy, unhappy with my life. I don't think that's a chemical imbalance in my brain and hence can't be fixed with a pill.
And mostly I do think that's true. I did try Lexepro for over a year for sleep issues and it didn't really do much except screw up my gut a little and make me fall asleep while watching TV (but not in bed). I think maybe I worried about things a little less. After about a year, year and a half I slowly stepped myself off it and hardly noticed.

I'm self diagnosing here but its possible I have that sort of.........low grade depression/Dysthymia which I think of as - this is just how I am and have always been. I mean some people are super cheerful, some hardly ever, some brim with energy and sleep through the night and most falling somewhere in the middle right? I have sleep problems and have had for years, always been on the low energy side and also on the slightly depressed side.

So at 58 and very overweight and not seeming able to do much about it I am wondering if I should be more open minded (I should insert here I did see a counselor for 5 or 6 sessions a little over a year ago and that didn't really go anywhere).

I'm thinking of asking the Dr to try Wellbutrin. I hate the idea of getting on the pill wagon. It seems like once on its a one way road with lots of stops for more. But if Wellbutrin can elevate my mood just enough to give me a little more oomph I might be able to do something about my weight and forestall future pill popping for problems caused by obesity.

I will add that my mother has anxiety issue's and some other mental issue's but its hard to tell whether they were caused by a truly sh**** childhood or genetic or, mostly likely, both.

Any experiences? Input?

I'm retired now, but I worked as a psychiatric nurse for awhile. Wellbutrin is a medication that is often used to give people that added "oomph." It works particularly well as an add-on with another low-dose antidepressant, but it is used alone also. That would be up to your doctor.

Don't worry so much about the fact that you need to take some medication. Wouldn't it be worth it to feel more alive...to have that added oomph?? I saw a lot of patients who it worked for, and I have a friend who went on it recently. Her life has improved 100%. She said she felt like she was just existing before. I'm not saying it will work that way for you, but it's a great medication when used properly. Best of luck to you!