Vicious_Circe Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Weaning off of Zoloft and increasing Wellbutrin slowly over a month. All going well until major hypomanic attack yesterday followed by my worst depressive episode since my original diagnosis. First time I had suicidal thoughts in fifteen years. Gave my husband my meds and my car keys and took enough Valium to sleep it off, but I am still shaky today and badly scared. Obviously I will call my doctor tomorrow, but I am wondering if anyone has had a similar experience? At the time I was taking 25 mg of Zoloft (down from 100mg) and was Introducing a second Wellbutin pill a day. I felt great, no need to nap for the first time in weeks, and then this happened. I don't want to give up the Wellbutrin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianthus Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 You may need to either taper the Zoloft more slowly (or not at all) or the Wellbutrin may not be the right dose for you. Or it may just be breakthrough symptoms that happen every now and then, especially when you're changing meds. I'd give it at least a few days or a week or two before I made any changes. Are you typically an ultradian cycler (multiple mood states in a span of a few days? That's not a typical presentation of bipolar disorder, but it occurs. I'm just wondering if this is a change for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 It might be typical Wellbutrin mood swings. My moods were pretty strongly jerked around while I was titrating up on Wellbutrin, and I don't have bipolar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicious_Circe Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 I have never been a rapid cycler, maybe one or two hypomanic episodes a year while mostly depressive. I knew Wellbutrin was activating but since I had done so well for weeks slowly titrating, I figured I was in the clear. Seemed if anything was going to happen, it would be a hypomanic episode, but the suicidal aspect caught me completely off guard. I did dearly love having the energy to get through my day without sleeping whenever I wasn't actively working so hopefully we can work something out. I went back up to 50 mg Zoloft and down to 150 mg Wellbutrin SR and will ask the doctor to give me a smaller dose of the latter so I can titrate in smaller steps. And am taking my Valium and propranolol so I can't get worked up again in the meantime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianthus Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Many people are on both an SSRI and Wellbutrin. It's pretty popular for depression. It really could have been a blip, or withdrawal from the Zoloft, or anything, really. I think your plan is a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicious_Circe Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Update: doc approved of returning to 50 mg Zoloft, and switched me to 100 mg Wellbutrin so that I can progress from 100 to 300 in baby steps with the additional use of the 150s I have already. Biggest change is the increase in my lithium dose, which makes sense given that I am on an activating antidepressant for the first time ever. Doc applauded my use of crazyboards to get feedback and support. Still not dealing fantastically with stress, but am much better than last weekend. Thanks to everyone for their comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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