wellbutrin not working

[lysergia]

please forgive that i can't be succinct, i can't be all that organized out loud either. i'm too confused because i am depressed and anxious and lamotrigine makes me dumb anyway.

okay. i've stopped taking WB manufacturer's samples and started taking the prescribed version over three months ago. same dose, supposedly same drug, nuh uh. not for me anyway.

so i'm done now with the pretending to believe the bioavail version of WBXR is equivalent to the GSK version that was so good to me for so long. it isn't. not only does it not obliterate most of my anxiety anymore, i'm having huge mood drops/swings that are too severe to cover up (or endure).

the bad news i discovered today is that GSK is no longer manufacturing the drug. if i'm gonna take WBXL, i have no choice but to take the version that does not work (it may actually be making me worse, i don't know at this point).

WBSR was good but the mood drop after mid-day was too much - the XL version fixed that issue for years. the original version, that is. this one has the same crash, but from a way higher baseline, so i'm hitting the ground from six stories rather than two. and then i can't get back up so easily. it really hurts and i cry a lot.

i've been on various ssri/mri meds in the past with terrible results. i've been taking lamotrigine for almost 18 months now and it is a miracle drug for me. i function outside my home now. i couldn't do that for ten years.

i do not think i need to tinker with my lamotrigine dose. i think it is fine. when i'm not swinging, i'm still at an acceptable baseline - i can think and feel normally. it just doesn't last even half the day anymore.

i have to figure this out with a gp who has never seen me before nor me him. i want to be prepared for what may be a good idea and what sounds like he is smoking crack. i'm desperate and terrified this doctor will be like my last, and the issue will be ignored or disastrously medicated. i have a job now and i don't want to mess that up because my head is fucked up from meds that make me crazier than i already am. it's the most important thing keeping me sane, being able to work again.

i am thinking that a few different courses of action might sound reasonable but i too may be full of crack because i'm not all that rational today, i can't stop crying about this long enough to figure it out. but i'd better be rational tomorrow when i see that doctor because these are the decisions that can make or break whether or not i can leave my fucking house (sorry)

- stop taking the WB altogether and see what happens. see whether or not the drug is causing the mood swings, or just not taking care of the existing moods very well. potential outcomes are that i get better really fast once the drug is gone, or that i go completely nuts because i need whatever it is WB gives me.

- try splitting the dose to 150mg bid. potential outcomes are that the WB level will stay more stable and therefore so will i - or that since all versions are being made by bioavail now, it's going to slam me into the ground twice as many times a day.

- try a new med. i DO NOT wanna. but i am willing to hear it out if the other options aren't good ideas or if they don't work. but i CANNOT consider any other antidepressant on the market that i'm aware of, because they're all involved in the SRI thing which makes me batshit.

what acts like WB and isn't an SRI? anything at all? i feel really dumb for even asking this but i really cannot figure it out right now and i just can't blindly trust this doctor, not after the last one nearly killed me more than once because i was ignorant of all possibilities and obviously so was he.

i'm going to get what i get, regardless. i'm not the one with the little yellow-striped pad in hand. but i need to know what sounds totally BAD and what i might suggest if i get nothing but a blank look. if i get the blank look or teh stupid, i'll move on to another doctor. but um, i kinda need to do this sooner rather than later, so i don't want to do nothing in the interim if he sucks tomorrow. my fault, i let this go on to the point where i'm teetering instead of addressing it while it was a small issue. what's done is done though. i still have to get some treads in this slippery slope or i'm in big trouble.

thank you for listening if nothing else. please pray or cross your fingers for me that i get help that works tomorrow because i'm feeling really hopeless and scared right now.

[water]

the bad news i discovered today is that GSK is no longer manufacturing the drug.

Lysergia,

After I read this I immediately called GSK and they said that they are definitely continuing to manufacture Wellbutrin - IR, SR and XL. I don't know who told you this, or if your insurance just won't pay for it, but I am pretty positive that GSK is still making it. Since her insurance won't pay for the brand, my cousin is sending her scripts to Canada and buying the brand there. If you call GSK they can tell you if your pills were made by them by the lot number if you don't trust your pharmacy.

what acts like WB and isn't an SRI? anything at all?

I don't think this is a dumb question at all, I would LOVE to know the answer to this. I've been told that Wellbutrin is in a class by itself, but being a worry wort anxious type I am so afraid that one day it will stop working for me and then what would I do?

I feel for you. I hope that you like the new GP. I imagine nothing I can say will help, but I am listening, my fingers are crossed and my prayers are going out.

[scatty]

Other drugs that seem to in a class by themselves are effexor, cymbalta, and I think remeron. They all work differently though. None act exactly like wellbutrin, unless I am mistaken. I would think pristiq is in a class by itself too, but I don't know too much about it except it didn't work for my man and now he is back on generic wellbutrin xl.

Water gave you some good info. Maybe you could look into getting your old wellbutrin back. I wish you luck with this new pdoc. I am seeing a new one too on Wednesday and I'm very nervous and stressing about what I'm gonna say!

[Velvet Elvis]

what acts like WB and isn't an SRI? anything at all? i feel really dumb for even asking this but i really cannot figure it out right now and i just can't blindly trust this doctor, not after the last one nearly killed me more than once because i was ignorant of all possibilities and obviously so was he.

Nothing works exactly like Wellbutrin. Nobody really even knows how it works.

As for as meds go that act on NA without touching serotonin, Desiprimine is a TCA that acts almost as a pure NRI. That might be worth a shot. There's also Strattera, an SNRI commonly used as an ADD med.

Stimulants might also be worth considering.

[null0trooper]

Nothing works exactly like Wellbutrin. Nobody really even knows how it works.

Some of the study results seem to concur that it's a strong NARI, poor DARI, and crap SRI, but when you look at how people react to it that cannot be the whole story.

As for as meds go that act on NA without touching serotonin, Desiprimine is a TCA that acts almost as a pure NRI. That might be worth a shot. There's also Strattera, an SNRI commonly used as an ADD med.

Desipramine is selective enough as an NRI that I've been able to take it long-term. Vivactil is supposed to be an even stronger NRI. Strattera ... may also belong in the "no one's entirely sure what it's doing" category. As an ADD med it's an OK antidepressant, as an antidepressant, it's an OK ADD med.

[maybetinymaybesad]

were you taking the SR twice a day? i take 200 mg in the morning and then 200 mg 6-8 hours later. i also had trouble with budeprion (the generic wellbutrin XL), but i don't crash from the SR on this dosing schedule.

[lysergia]

thank you so much everyone

it seems that it's in my corner of the world that nobody has the GSK anymore. i'm going to look at how i might go about ordering from the US, if i'm allowed, and how that works. i want to keep this med THAT badly.

that being said (and if it turns out impossible), going back to the SR twice a day is probably the best idea. it wasn't very stable a dosing schedule at the time, but now that i think hard, i wasn't taking lamotrigine either. i was still on effexor which was horrible for me, so that might make all the difference in the world. i forgot about that until this morning. i'm still nervous though because bioavail is making the SR version now too, and i took GSK the first time.

i'm still really scared but i feel less dumb now knowing there isn't a replacement for WB that is current. i'll be keeping the norepinephrine thing in my head though, that messing with that seemed to work well but i'm not real sure about the dopamine. and no serotonin messer-uppers. but if he says "oh so and so is the same thing" i'll know to say thank you and go away now.

it would be easier if i could pin down what exactly it is i get from WB that i need, because i don't know anymore. all i know is that when i got to 300XL my anxiety went way down, i felt like getting up in the morning, and i felt motivated to do something (not move mountains, but at least do something besides sit there). it gave me more stamina/energy. (it did not however make me want to quit smoking or any other bad habit).

i just wouldn't know where i'm at with those "needs" anymore now that i'm on an AC and not an AD. if it came to switching meds, that would be the challenge. what is it that i am looking for?

i will definitely come back here today, and probably cry about what happens (negative much lysergia?). but i'll have an answer i hope, at least a temporary one.

[meg]

hey- thinking of you,

I hope the doctor is helpful today and you can get things sorted out.

most doctors (that I've met) do get that brand/generic can be different for people but just need us to remind them HOW different it sometimes is. It's really good that you're an educated enough patient to figure out what's going on because that makes fixing it um, about a...gazillion times easier.

I'm really glad that people have confirmed that GSK isn't pulling the plug on WB XL (why would they when they can get $400+ monthly from thousands of thousands of people? does not seem like a drug company move) because I was pretty alarmed when I read about them stopping.

we're kinda med-buddies (dorky, I know ) in that the wellbutrin xl + lamictal thing was working pretty well and I totally understand how the generic crp could mess with you. I hope you can get the real wellbutrin back today. I had a short stint with the teva generic and luckily was able to get my pdoc to do the 'brand name only' thing on my rx before I had enough time to figure out exactly how bad it had the potential to be.

hang in there,

am sending 'god-don't-give-her-a-dumb-quack-dr' vibes.

m

edited to add: uh, yeah I totally didn't refresh the page and therefore didn't see your new post until I was done rambling. I'm sorry that the gsk version isn't where you are but hope you can at least try the sr again..if nothing else I bet it'll be better than what you were taking, you know? it might not be magic and *poof* back to pre-xl-generic-crap mood right away, but at least a vast improvement. luck today.