Wellbutrin and couple of days

During the three weeks I was using 150 mg. Wellbutrin, ringing in the ears gradually increased, mild headaches on top of my head, occasional light spasms around my mouth, constipation, and bladder problems. My sleep was unaffected, and my depression did not lift. My dose was increased to 300 mg, and by the fourth day, I was having serious facial spasms, intense headaches, louder and constant ringing in the ears, almost 'round-the-clock wakefulness, anxiety, difficulty thinking and completing sentences, pounding heart, amplification of sounds, jitters and quaking. I felt like a car, perpetually idling so roughly that all my parts were about to rattle right off the chassis. On the fifth day I took nothing. I've had some chills, a little nausea, headache, neck-ache (Isn't that weird?!) and some ringing, but at a lower volume that's hardly noticeable. This is the fourth day with no Wellbutrin, and I haven't had facial spasms at all in the past couple of days, have less nausea, and the very funky smell produced in my urine from the second week I was on the meds has calmed down. If I'm still in a depression it's been overshadowed by the most awful side effects I could have imagined. It felt like the spector of death was overtaking my body by day four of that 300 mg. dose. I had been on a hefty dose of Zoloft daily for almost ten years and never experienced anything unpleasant other than weight gain, my reason for trying to switch meds because I couldn't quit putting on weight no matter what. I am going to try SAM-e, and suggest that anyone looking for a natural alternative, with the prospect of few and insignificant side effects, do an online search. Whether I find success with the SAM-e, or if it falls short of what I need, I'll post here to let you know what happens. A month ago I thought the depression was the end of the world; I think the cure was worse than the disease.

My 70 yr. old mother started taking wellbutrin on March 26 2008. just to quit smoking. 150 mg. in the morning and 150mg. in the late afternoon. she did not quit smoking. I was noticing she was starting to kind of stagger when she walked almost as though she were drunk. and she would shuffle her feet and almost trip over them. keep in mind my mom is a very active, walks everyday very fast and looks 50! On April 17th she woke up in the morning and told me she felt very tired and just wanted to sleep. this worried me because this is not her norm. so I let her sleep. well she kept on sleeping. I went to work..came home and she was still sleeping!! I woke her up and she said she felt very panicky and was shaking very bad. I looked into her eyes and they looked jittery. She even said her left eye was very blurry. something was not right. I took her to the ER. They kept her for 3 days. did every test imaginable. every test came back perfect. no stroke,, NOTHING wrong!! she was sleeping the entire time in the hospital. They released her and said the only thing they could find was a slightly elevated thyroid. we have an appt. for that may 4th. so..as her heart is pounding and she is still very weak and can barely walk..they release her. she comes home and forces herself to walk to regain her strength. still on the wellbutrin. hospital still gave her it because we had no idea that wellbutrin was the problem. she had taken it many years ago and it was fine. she sometimes forgets to take it and she remembered yesterday that she had not taken her wellbutrin for a couple of days. so she took one. a couple of hours after that she began to shake again..her eyes looked weird again. she was very unsteady in her walking. very scared. well. today she is sleeping again. I am on here reading ALL THESE SIDE EFFECTS!!! I told my mom to gradually stop taking this pill!!! I really think this is what is causing all her problems. NO MORE WELLBUTRIN!! I will let you know how she is doing as she gets off this pill.

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?