Wellbutrin and appointment

I stopped taking wellbutrin xl 150 mg and lamictal 200 mg 3 days ago cold turkey because there is no way to cut thewelbutrin tablet in half and take it safely. The first day wasn't bad at all. I felt better than I have felt in years and years. Then yesterday I felt okay, but not as good as I did on the first day. Today I woke up feeling like I have the flu. Every single bone, joint and muscle in my body aches. I feel fine one minute and the next minute the room feels like it's spinning and the body aches return. My psychiatrist started me on all of this poison,,, oops, I mean, medications 2 years ago. I had lost a child and had gone into a deep depression which led to severe anorrhexia. He started me out on Lamictal and Lexapro and after a year of awful side effects from the lexapro(especially sexual side effects=no desire at all) he finally switched me to the wellbutrin xl and told me that it would help better than the lexapro. At my last appointment, 1 week ago, I asked him when and if I would ever be able to go off of these meds. And he told me that I am probably a "lifer". He refused to hear anything about my stopping or weaning off of these meds. So, after my 3 minute office visit and prescription refills written out I left the office. I did not take the prescription to the pharmacy because I decided then and there that the only reason he and a lot of other psychs put people on these outrageously priced prescriptions(the lamictal is $140 a month and the wellbutrin xl is $170 and that is for the generic per moth) is because they get HUGE incentives from the pharmaceutical companies to keep us on them. I will not go back on the meds ever again. I am tired of living in a drugged up state. I want to feel alive again like I felt before I ever started taking this crap.

I have been on Wellbutrin for a couple of years & it has been a life saver. But it is very possible my hair loss is due to it. I have always had a full head of hair & no hair loss in my family at all. I'm also experiencing hearing loss but don't know if this is due to the Wellbutrin as my Father & sister have had hearing loss. My doctor intends to lower my dosage next month & I am going to ask him if air loss is a side effect.

This is the 3rd time I have been on Wellbutrin. Once in 1999, then in 2004, and just started taking it again 3 months ago. The first two times I took it I had joint pain and a lot of muscle inflammation. This go around is different... Just recently, within the past few weeks, I started breaking out with hives, after taking it with no problems for three months! Started on my head and progressively got worse. I break out all over my body, head, legs, back, hands, etc. For some reason it seems to happen more frequently when I lay down in my bed to go to sleep (weird!) One other scary side affect is, I frequently stop breathing when I start to fall asleep, and wake up gasping for air. Has anyone else experienced this?
Since I had never experienced problems with hives the first few times I was on Wellbutrin, I didn't think it was the medication causing the hives. So, I cut my dose in half (50mg/day). The hives didn't go away, so I stopped taking it all together 3 days ago, but still continue to get hives. Does anyone know how long it takes to get it out of your system?

I had been taking the brand name Wellbutrin SR (150mg) 2x per day. My doctor changed my dose to 200mg 2x a day, and the pharmacy filled it with the generic Bupropion SR. I have noticed my symptoms have been coming back (depression, etc.). I even have had lots of water retention, which makes me feel terrible. I would love to know if anyone has had the same problems with generic vs. the brand name. I know the pharmacy will tell us it is the SAME, but I wish now I would have requested the brand name, even if I had to wait until they shipped it in (they don't have it in stock).

Thanks!

I have been taking Wellbutrin generic 75mg for 5 days. Today...WOW!! I feel like I did 10 lines of cocaine. I feel so speedy and upbeat. I don't have any other bad side effects. I notice at night, I feel the need to stretch out my legs because I feel agitated. SO far so good. I think this stuff is a lot better then the SSRI's. I had horrible side effects and suicidal thoughts. My only curiousity is, why would my DR. put me on this if I have anxiety and not depression? Weird. I have an appointment with him today and I think I want to stay on this dose and see how it works for me. I don't want this Dr shrinking my brain. LOL I'm really scared about drinking on this.