Wellbutrin and fog

I have been taking 150 mg Wellbutrin SR twice a day for about a month now. It has lifted and stabilized my mood to a lifesaving degree. I feel like I have "me" back and my life back after suffering through a very deep depression for approx. a year. My only negative side effects are a bit of cystic acne, which I haven't had since college (I am 45 now) and breast tenderness all month long rather than just before my cycle. I have started using Proactive for the acne and it is working well. I guess I'll just live with the breast tenderness if it means having my life back! I have also had a few positive side effects, namely, my libido which was completely dead has started to re-emerge, and I am eating less, although I haven't lost any weight yet. (I used to have a compulsive desire to binge and that has waned.) I have more energy but whether this is due to the Wellbutrin or just ot being in a fog of depression, I can't say. Overall, Wellbutrin has been a very positive medication for me. I have used Prozac and Zoloft in the past and they neither worked as well on my mood and also had many unbearable side effects (weight gain, loss of libido, inability to orgasm to name a few). I'm hoping once I have been stabilized for a while the doctor will allow me to lower my dose and perhaps then the breast tenderness will go away.

I've been on Welbutrin for about six months, along with Zoloft. I had tried it because of the lack of motivation and the lithergy I was feeling (I suspect) as a result of the Zoloft. I came across this site after a search for memory loss connected with Welbutrin. I believe I'm having that problem. I don't seem to have the quick grasp of words I did. In a phone conversation today, I could not remember a certain medical term that I have been using rather frequently over the past six months. There are some other cases, but that incident put me on the trail of memory loss research. I actually suspected that it was the Ambien I had been taking for sleep (I have not completely ruled that drug out). But all the posts here seem to indicate that the welbutrin could be at fault.

I'm on 150mg, twice daily. However, in the morning, I will actually take one and a half pills (225mg) to get me going. I have noticed CONSIDERABLE jitters, hand tremors, enough that if I'm doing delicate work of some type, I have difficulty continuing ti complete the task. At the 225mg, I do seem to become over amped a bit, but it improves my motivation. A St. Johns Wart capsule will usually calm that, but you see the problem of one drug, helping one problem, but causing another, so you take a third! I have tried numerous other antidepressants and they all caused more side effects than they were worth.
Celexa cause an eventual complete lack of ANY motivation! Plus SERIOUS sexual side effects. Zoloft has been the best with the least side effects and I have always returned to it. But the sleepiness can just be extreme with me.

I have run out of Welbutrin and the result is return of the lithergy. I also believe that the Welbutrin may be causing my occasional up tick in anger. Possibly spreading the dosage will help. Not mixing it with caffiene may also help because caffiene can make me explosive if I don't limit my intake to about a cup of coffee. Most of you know that Zoloft, Prozac and the like increase the available seritonin in your brain, a calming neurotransmitter. Welbutrin increases the available norepinephrine, a stimulating neurotransmitter, akin to adrenalin. (Research for yourselves those facts, remember, I posting this because of a problem with MEMORY! :) So it makes perfect sense that people can become overstimulated with Welbutrin. The memory aspects of it, I don't yet understand. I'm going to experiment with dosage reduction and possibly replacing the Welbutrin with the amino acid L-phenylalanine. I hope this little post can help some of you as much as the other posts here have helped me!

Burt

I have been taking the generic form of Wellbutrin (social anxiety with a touch of ADHD) for just over six months and as much as I hate to admit it, I believe that the bad is finally, convincingly, outweighing the good.
The good things that came along with 150mg of the SR every morning at 11:00: Weight loss (but only after an initial one month period of eating every form or carbohydrate I could find), it seems to brighten the whites of my otherwise cloudy eyes, helped me maintain conversations with people that I would have normally cut off early, and possibly--but only possibly--helps me focus (although the hyper focus that I used to get via the ADHD is gone. Completely. Non-existent.)
Which brings me to the bad: This goes against most of what I've read other people experience on Wellbutrin but lethargy has set in. And it feels like it's here to stay. It's not really a sedated lethargy but more of a false contentment that everything is just fine the way it is. No progression, no improvement, and looking to the future is almost impossible through the fog. I too, during the first two or three weeks, had the speedy, productive reaction to the medication. But that has subsided. Next, hair loss has become a concern. I'm in my thirties and it could be just how it goes but I truly doubt it. Mild constipation may seem bearable but I miss regularity more than I have time to describe. Ringing in the ears. Impaired memory. Confusion. Forgetfulness to a fault. Mild hives on the back. Irritability. A marked shortness of breath. After one month on Wellbutrin, I could barely run a mile on the treadmill when I've been accustomed to flying through three to five with ease. I feel weak, vulnerable even. Working out has therefore fallen to the wayside. And last, but probably the worst, this medication has seemed to cultivate a serious craving for other drugs. I can't explain it but I can't take it anymore either.
Like most people on a medication, I have read numerous posts and some people share some of my concerns but mostly, it seems that the people who report in are the speedy folks on day two or week two. That is, in my opinion, only a bit helpful, since these effects are usually short-lived. Wellbutrin started out with promise but while parts of me look into the mirror and see an improvement, underneath it all, I know that it is purely a nicely dressed form of prescribed avoidance.
I haven't posted this to discourage anyone. If it works for you--great. Really. But I also haven't read anyone's experience that matched my own so I figured it might help someone who is going through any of the same. Good luck.