I am 20 and have been on Wellbutrin XL for the past 3 months but ...

mysticaldroplet -

So...I never heard of this website until today, when I started searching for side effects of the generic form of Wellbutrin, which is Bupropion. I started taking Bupropion in February. 200mg/day. Then in March the dose was increased to 300mg/day (150mg 2x daily). I knew that 400mg/day was the maximum that a patient should be prescribed because of the potential of seizures occurring (I researched Wellbutrin before it was even prescribed to me).

The reason I started looking for side effects is because of something really weird happening with my vision.

Twice now, this has happened. Suddenly, my eyes went cross-eyed. (In order to understand what I'm saying, cross your eyes...feel the pressure/strain it puts on your eyes?) It felt like I was crossing my eyes, but I was not intentionally doing it, and I had no control over it...I couldn't stop it! The first time it happened was a week after my dosage was increased (3/28/09). It lasted for about 45 seconds...a very scary 45 seconds. I thought it was just due to lack of sleep, so I just brushed it off like nothing was wrong. The second time it happened was about a week and a half ago (4/20/09). So, this time, I kinda freaked out because none of the circumstances were the same...I had plenty of sleep, etc.

I made an appointment with an ophthalmologist (4/22/09), thinking maybe there was something seriously wrong with my vision. All eye exams came back normal, and the doc looked at me like I was an idiot when I explained what happened, and she said she had never heard of such a thing. She referred me to a family doctor, to have a physical done (4/24/09), to see if there were any other health issues to be concerned about. I still have yet to receive the results of my blood tests, but the family doc also looked at me like I was crazy and said she didn't know what could be causing this. BOTH of these doctors knew about me taking the Bupropion.

So, I had a regularly scheduled appointment with my psychiatrist yesterday morning (4/28/09). I explained to her what had happened. She immediately reacted to what I told her! She said it was most likely that I had experienced MINI-SEIZURES!!!! I have never ever had a seizure! She said that we need to decrease the dosage immediately to 200mg/day (100mg 2x daily), and she also wants me to add a small dosage of Prozac along with it.

My point of all of this is that you NEED to talk to your psychiatrist about this ASAP!!! I was looking up seizure information today, and I found several instances like what you describe!

I'm not trying to make you scared, but you should definitely talk to him/her about the experiences you are having! They will be able to change your medication entirely, or decrease the dosage or whatever they need to do.

Good luck to you, and I hope that you will talk to your doc ASAP and they can help you!

Hey
I will see my psychiatrist asap its just that he's out of town and i don't want to go to someone new!! I still have that feeling but its a little better. Good luck to you and thanks for replying :)

its "brain quakes" and its not totally uncommen.

but you would be best served by a different medication, i had this problem, as well as insomnia. and when i did sleep, dreams so incredibly real they felt like reality, i was in a total fog. also, unending paranoia/nervousness, and what i can only describe as joint pain all over my body.

I have heard more of these bad side effects reports from women then men for what it's worth, hope you found something that works better for you :D I switched to Celexa,

i had this too. it was like my brain was doing flip flops. that was the only way i could describe it. or like someone was squeezing it and twisting it around. scared me so i stopped taking it.