Wellburtin feels like adderall?

[dolssa]

Hey all

I am at 10 months tomorrow. I am mostly happy with my decision to quit adderall, yet i am still really struggling with depression.  I started Wellburtin almost three weeks ago and while my doctor reassured me that it was NOT a stimulant, i feel much the same affects as adderall. A burst of energy after taking, and huge decrease in appetite. along with increased anxiety. I am going to continue it for the month because I guess thats how long it takes to work, however I am concerned with its parallels to adderall. Anyone else try wellburtin and feel this way?? 

[dolssa]

nvm i found alot of posts with this information! thanks xx

[EricP]

It is IMO a stimulant and even prescribing info says it does have stimulating effects. I'd Google it! I took Wellburtin for a few weeks in attempt to fight what you are going thru. I didn't notice much on my initial 100mg dose, once I bumped to 200mg I had a little of that adderall feeling. For me was a bit more jittery feeling and just a reminder of what I wanted to get away from. Also only felt minor improvements in the depression and stopped before I got in the same situation with another medication

[dolssa]

exactly its just more jittery. Did you switch to a different antidepressant?  @EricP 

thanks for the reply!

[SleepyStupid]

my experience with Wellbutrin was on and off over a 5 year period, almost all of it under 200mg a day. it mostly had a very subtle, energizing effect for me, but the biggest effect it had was helping me to quit smoking cigarettes. Bupropion (generic for Wellbutrin) is often prescribed as a smoking cessation aid in addition to depression. some of the effects may have also been placebo which i was also fine with! i came off it completely about 6 months ago and frankly felt no withdrawal or side effects, or much of a difference at all. i was probably on it longer than necessary.

FWIW, i have tried other antidepressants but never had a positive experience until Wellbutrin. i think perhaps our specific brand of post-Adderall depression is linked closer with dopamine deficiency, while other antidepressants like SSRIs or SNRIs target different neuro-chemistry. 

i would agree with @EricP that the more aggressive stimulant properties kick in over the 200mg threshold - this is the range that people start reporting anxiety, restlessness, etc. if you decide to try it out for another month or so, perhaps you can talk to your doctor about lowering the dosage, or switching from instant release to extended release?

 

[EricP]

18 hours ago, dolssa said:

exactly its just more jittery. Did you switch to a different antidepressant?  @EricP 

thanks for the reply!

Unfortunately nothing I tried worked. I tried both SSRIs and SNRIs. It is documented in many places that increasing serotonin depletes dopamine. As sleepy stupid said our issue is more of a dopamine deficiency. The SNRI may help as it has a slight stimulant property however it comes with jitters also. Both tend to have sexual side effects (diminished desire). 

The best things for me seemed to be a healthy balanced diet; also research foods that help support your body producing dopamine. Hydrate a lot and do your best to exercise even if it is 15-30min a day a few times a week, keep pushing yourself to exercise more and you will start to feel better after 1-3 months.

[speedracer]

Hey guys, I am comming up on 15 months and I still suffering without motivation. My good days seem to be less and less and it worrying me too. I need to function at work and I am getting nervous. After reading all the posts, I feel comfortable trying Wellbutrin to see if it works. I WANT TO BE FREE FROM THIS DISABILITY.  I am waiting for a call from my doctor to discuss it. 

[speedracer]

I spoke to my doctor who initially wanted to try me on Celexa, but after I told him about this site and the consensus for Wellbutrin, he agreed to go with that route instead. I will keep you posted. 

[EricP]

1 hour ago, speedracer said:

I spoke to my doctor who initially wanted to try me on Celexa, but after I told him about this site and the consensus for Wellbutrin, he agreed to go with that route instead. I will keep you posted. 

I think if you are going to try a prescription Wellbutrin is the way to go, I know it has helped others here.  Celexa could possibly lift depression a slight bit however from my experience SSRI's will also make you very lethargic. Wellbutrin will help with depression and give you a slight lift. Some doctors stack the Wellbutrin on an SSRI however I never went that far.

[sweetupbaaby]

My doctor recently prescribed Cipralex for anxiety and depression. I am on day 12 and have mixed emotions. It has SIGNIFICANTLY reduced my OCD thoughts and General anxiety. It has also given me a significant energy boost and I do not feel tired while on it. I feel so much calmer and able to sort through my thoughts. I feel like I can control my anxiety now as opposed to the other way around. It's like a part in the clouds. Or like I have just been lifted from a pool of anxiety and now I sit on the shore just watching the thoughts instead of being in them. Lol.

However, it has exasperated my social anxiety. I feel really awkward all the time. But I don't care because the effects it has on my overall mood is superb. People say to wait at least 6 weeks to see if it works, which I will do. Apparently it makes anxiety worse at the beginning so I am willing to wait it out. So far, so good. I am going to see my doctor on Monday and I hope he can prescribe me a low dose benzodiazepine for the anxiety.

I feel my body was definitely lacking in serotonin and I am happy to have found something that gives me some sort of relief. I am no longer dragging ass, but I have the energy to get through the day now. It totally obliterated Adderall-cessation fatigue. 

My advice is not to rule any medication out. Yes, our brains may be depleted of dopamine, but it is probably depleted of serotonin too. We are not doctors (as far as I know) and from what I have learned over the years, sometimes I have ended up in worse situations from listening to people on Reddit to stay away from certain meds because of the possible side effects, when in fact it was the medication I needed all along. Maybe you do need an SSRI/SNRI, maybe you don't. Keep an open mind  It is definitely frustrating to go through the trial and error of finding what works but eventually you will find the right one.

Wishing everyone good health

[EricP]

@sweetupbaaby I’m so happy you found something that helped! There has been a strong consensus on this site that SSRI’s haven’t helped many with PAWS and honestly can say I have spent hundreds of hours researching what Adderall does to the brain and what remedies are out there to help recover. I literally have educated my doctors and they have thanked me for the insight I have given them for future patients. Doctors don’t spend that many hours specifically studying what we have all experienced and few even believe Adderall has a withdrawal period beyond 1-3mo. Yet you are right I am not a doctor.
 

In the end each person has to take the advice of doctors and others that have been thru this into consideration and decide which step is worth the time and effort to see if it works. Resorting to more meds is a hard one for me as it takes time to see if it helps and takes time to get back off it if it doesn’t. I hate the idea of what the process will be like to remove that drug from our lives down the road. Hard to know the end game and what is best. SSRIs like you are on are fairly harmless for most so it is great that it is working for you and one day you can likely taper with subtle side effects. 

[DrewK15]

Trusting doctors when it comes to psych meds is a tricky topic for me. I personally agree with both @sweetupbaaby and @EricP to an extent. I agree it’s good to keep an open mind when it comes to trying another med for depression, but only after you give yourself some time to see if it will clear up naturally. SSRIs make me crazy and suicidal, but a mild mood stabilizer helped me break through my depression. It’s complicated, and frankly really hard to predict how you will react to a drug before you try it, even for a psychiatrist.

To Eric’s point, in some ways I do believe we know more than doctors about Adderall, especially non-psychiatrists. When it comes to Alcoholism, AA is widely accepted as a better place for the alcoholic than a doctors office, I don’t think being an Adderallic is entirely different. Some long term users here have spent hundreds of hours of research on this one topic and experienced years of firsthand use/abuse and recovery. The challenge I see for doctors is that they gather most of their information about these drugs from anecdotal patient experiences. For something like an SSRI, anecdotes might be reliable, but in my opinion anecdotes are extremely unreliable when it comes to drugs of abuse.

There are quite a few twenty-somethings in my life at various stages of Adderall use. They think and want to believe it’s working although it’s obvious to everyone around them that they are spiraling slowly into isolation and erratic behavior. Their doctors think they are doing great because they are telling their doctor they are doing great. I used to shave and dress nice when I’d go in for my Addy refills to make it look like I was doing good. In large part psych meds are about how we feel, if something feels good, it’s easy to think it’s working and tell your doctor it is. Adderall feels really good. If doctors actually followed their patients around all day I think some of them would be surprised at what the drugs they prescribe are actually doing. 

All that said, I’m just another guy on the internet.

[sweetupbaaby]

Really valid points @EricP and @DrewK15

It's really frustrating dealing with the PAWS associated with Adderall abuse. To make matters worse, I don't know if some of the symptoms I am experiencing are from The Adderall cessation, underlying mental health issues (already diagnosed), life circumstances, the effects of COVID, are all 4 combined. It's hard to explain to my doctor how I feel and why I may feel the way I do because there are a million different potential contributing factors.

I like to think I'm pretty informed on many various medications from years of first-hand experience and research as well. And sometimes I feel like doctors are making the wrong diagnosis... but what do I know? Lol. As of right now, I am on a mood stabilizer, Cipralex, and was finally able to get myself a benzo script which I am thrilled about. Because benzos are the only type of drug that will give me any quality of life back. My anxiety runs my life without it. I really pride myself on not being on any medication at all, and I was completely unmedicated for 4 months or so but I had to humble myself and realize that at this point in my life...I need meds to help as a buffer to work through therapy. They help me open up and relay my feelings better. Of course, I am making every lifestyle change I can to better my mental health too. Because meds are not the cure-all, hard work needs to be done in all areas as well. Hopefully one day down the road I can ween myself off again, but for the time being, it is what it is.

I am finally feeling a lot better. I still need to find the balls to flush my Addy pills though because I stare at them every day but never take them. I feel like it makes me stronger every time I resist but it may even just be an unnecessary problem I create for myself by keeping them around. I believe its an emotional attachment and I have yet to overcome that.