Anxiety coming off of Wellbutrin

[browri]

I'm coming off of Wellbutrin because it was causing me quite a bit of anxiety. But I'm finding that coming off of it my anxiety is getting worse. Has anyone else experienced this?

[water]

How quickly are you tapering down the dosage?

 

[browri]

Here's the trickier part. I was taking 348mg of Aplenzin and was titrating off with 150mg of the generic Wellbutrin XL instead of filling for 174mg of Aplenzin. And I took 150mg for 4 days and yesterday was my first day off of it. I also started 10mg of Prozac at the same time as the lower dose of bupropion. At this point, the anxiety has MOSTLY gone away. But even with switching brands of bupropion and adding in Prozac, I would have never expected crippling anxiety like I experienced. You know that feeling when you're sitting waiting for the principal because you did something bad and they call your name and your chest and stomach get tight. I was feeling that pretty much every second of the past few days. And I was waking up in a panic from distressing dreams. It just seemed like a very unusual reaction.

[water]

I am not at all surprised. I get VERY strong reactions to Bupropion whether going up or down.

You switched up dosages, manufacturers - all of that will make subtle changes in your chemistry. And if you are someone who is sensitive to meds, then yeah, side effect alley.

GREAT! it went away. Call your doctor if it comes back. Have you taken Prozac before? 

 

[browri]

I've never taken it for an extended period of time. One time I was having a serious mixed episode on Cymbalta. My doctor was titrating me up on Lamictal, but I needed to come off Cymbalta more quickly. My doctor gave me Prozac for a short period of time because I was having withdrawal from the Cymbalta and the long half life of Prozac was helping with that. I was only on it for maybe a week or two.

The anxiety has completely gone away at this point. And arguably I'm a bit hypomanic. However, hypomania usually runs its course and I even out after a few days. I see my pdoc again on the 24th. If it becomes a problem I'll call him, but at this point I'm motivated so I'm going to use it.

Funny thing is, with the hypomania in the way I can't actually tell how much of what I'm feeling is hypomania and how much is Prozac actually doing its job. So confusing being bipolar lol.