Wellbutrin and Eating Disorder Q's

[Jamison]

Hullo!

I have been taking Wellbutrin XL 300mg for about 4-5 weeks now. It's okay as an anti-depressant, but it could be better. On a scale of 1 to 10 I was about 2 before Wellbutrin XL and now I am a 6 (maybe 7 on some days). Atleast I can tolerate life now, and the side effects are very minimal. If the antidepressant effect doesn't get any stronger should I ask my doctor to bump me up to 450mg a day? I'm glad I am feeling better, and I am happy that I can get out of bed and that I actually want to get out of bed, but that's not really enough. Now, my doctor has prescribed me 3 months worth of 300mg pills, so if she did decide to bump me up to 450mg how would she do that, since I have already paid for the other pills? Is there a 450mg XL pill? Could she just add a 150mg to it?

Also, I have (still sort of have) had an Eating Disorder for about 5 years. I have not been bingeing or purging in on a regular basis since about December of 2004 though. Is the risk of seizure still high? What, aside from taking more medications, can I do to keep my risk of seizure low?

Thoughts on Wellbutrin XL: I guess maybe I am kind of wierd, because I do not get the increased anxiety that a lot of people get from this medication. I would say it definetely didn't decrease my anxiety like other anti-depressants have done but it certainly hasn't made it any worse for me. I was really worried about that. When I first started taking it I was a little jittery in the morning right after I took it but that has gone away. The only noticeable side effect I have is waking up in the middle of the night. I go to sleep fine but I can't stay awake. It's bothersome, but not enough to justify not staying on the medication.

[lysergia]

my anxiety got SO MUCH BETTER on wellbutrin. exactly the opposite of what i was warned about. so you're not strange

if you haven't been purging for a long time and your electrolytes and stuff are good, and you don't have a seizure history, you should be fine (that's what i was told! i'm past the bulimic part of my illness too and am safe now to take these meds).

on WB, i too got better motivation and the ability to get the hell outta bed for once! but like you, it's not quite enough. i've added effexor to my cocktail and it helps. i also added risperdal. maybe you could talk to your doctor about augmenting your treatment with another AD, or else try the 450mg (i don't know how that works.... i've never taken more than 300).

good luck and let us know how you make out with the changes.

-lysergia

[Loon-A-TiK]

i gained a lot of weight really quickly last winter when i was taking zyprexa, so my pnurse helped me get my weight down.

along with weight watchers and the gym, he gave me 450mg WB and topamax. we started low on the topa and eventually worked up to 100mg, but that was more than i could tolerate.

anyway- that combination worked for me to help me lose weight. i think that without it, it would have taken me longer to lose the weight.

the increased WB did not improve my depression and did cause some anxiety, which i had not had before.

i'd look into augmenting with another med before upping the WB. it is likely you'll have moer side effects than help from it, and it is also not recommended for people with an eating disorder or history of one, as it can make you lose weight.

be careful wtih the wb. talk to your pdoc about alternatives to augment the WB.

loon

[Jamison]

if you haven't been purging for a long time and your electrolytes and stuff are good, and you don't have a seizure history, you should be fine.

but like you, it's not quite enough. i've added effexor to my cocktail and it helps. maybe you could talk to your doctor about augmenting your treatment with another AD, or else try the 450mg (i don't know how that works.... i've never taken more than 300).

Thank you.

My [old] psychopharmacologist told me that people who have had eating disorders are always going to be at an increased risk of seizure. The contraindication is for people who have or had an eating disorder. We sort of just decided together that the benefits far outweighed the possible risk. I was on the brink of doing something really stupid and this was the safest medication for me to take.

I think I would be more likely to ask for an increase in the Wellbutrin because I seem to react very badly to medications that inhibit reuptake of serotonin. I've never really had any positive effect from any of the SSRI's, but for some reason Cymbalta worked great. I have to be very careful of liver damage and hepatoxicity and at the moment it doesn't seem like the Wellbutrin XL is posing any type of threat to my liver. I am going to give it a few more weeks though to see if the antidepressant effect increases and then I will go to my GP to ask for an increase.

P.S. My GP is the one who is prescribing me my psychotropic medications now. She is an Osteopathic physician. I have fantastic insurance but they won't allow me to have any more psychiatric-type visits for the rest of the year.

[Jamison]

I have been on Wellbutrin for like 7 weeks now, and since I posted this I am feeling better then I was before. Shouldn't the full effect have been seen by 6 weeks?