Wellbutrin and sleep

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.

would anyone who has experienced sleep apnea since being on wellbutrin, please let me know?

pitbull lover2

I have been taking a generic version of Wellbutrin SR 150mg for almost 2 months now. I also take Zoloft 50mg. Before I started the wellbutrin, I had been taking zoloft for over a year to help with depression. The zoloft was working very well for my depression, but it completely killed my libido and as a newlywed, I felt something had to be done as it was beginning to affect my relationship with my husband.
So my doctor prescribed the wellbutrin. For the first couple of weeks I experienced a lot of nervous energy, a shortness of breath, a bit of nausea, forgetfulness and confusion. I almost stopped taking it because I didn't feel it was helping my libido either. But I stuck with it and after 3 weeks, it felt like it was definitely having a positive effect on my sex life. My husband noticed it too. He mentioned how much more responsive I had become when we were intimate. After 2 months, I am absolutely convinced that it has changed our lives and our relationship.
It is not, by any means a miracle drug though. I have a few complaints about it, the main one being the CONFUSION that I experience for hours after I take it. I was taking it in the morning before I went to work and everyday I noticed that I was not as sharp and efficient as I usually am. I figured this was a temporary side effect so I kept taking it as usual, but it never went away! I kept forgetting everything, lost focus easily, had dull headaches, and generally felt as if I could not connect to what I was doing.
SO...about a week ago, I thought I would try to take it at night...when it's not as important to be sharp and focused (and more important to be turned on). And it has turned out great! I'm so glad I started to do it. It doesn't affect my sleep...in fact I think I sleep better. And when I wake up in the morning, my dull headache is gone and I feel less foggy. At work, I feel normal again. My short term memory has recovered and I don't get confused as easily.
If you suffer from a lot of memory loss and confusion from this medication, I definitely suggest taking it at night. It has really helped me! Thanks and good luck!

Was on WB 150 for about 3 years along with Lexapro 20 mg. Quit taking both and found anxiety unbearable. Tried taking both again and anxiety went through the roof. Unable to sleep or function during the day. horrendous anxiety.
Finally went back to doc who put me on Lexapro 20 with Lunesta (no WB) to get me through the nights until it "kicked in" (short term). Whew! What a relief. Much, much better.
Not a fan of WB. Takes away all emotion.

I have been taking Wellbutrin SR for about 6 weeks. I started out taking 1 per day then increased to twice a day 8 hrs apart as prescribed. I love this stuff. I am no longer depressed and a bonus is I am starting to shed some weight. I was going through menopause (I am 53) and did not have a period for about 6 months. I also had a decrease in sex drive ( actually none at all) and now my sex drive has returned along with my period. I had been having horrible hot flashes and those have stopped also. My energy level is fantastic. I feel 30 again except 3 nights ago I noticed a ringing in my ears. It only seemed noticeable upon laying down to sleep. Then the 2nd night it was louder. Last night it was almost unbearable and this morning the ringing is still noticeable even after getting up and busying myself. Anyone have this problem? I read side effects this morning on the online PDR and ringing, roaring and hissing is one of the possible side effects listed, but says nothing about what to do about it or if it is a sign of something more ominous. I would appreciate anyone that has experienced hearing changes while on Wellbutrin to let me know about it and how it was resolved. I would hate to have to stop taking this medications it has made such a wonderful difference for me.

Feb 2005 I was given Wellbutrin to ease with the stop smoking. I don't go to doctors and I don't take any medication-NONE. But I had to do something I couldn't stop smoking. May 10th I had a seizure, have never had one prior or have not had one since. Family took me to emergency room, then I had brain tests, sleep tests, MRI, CAT scans, over $10,000. later in medical bills, well they couldn't find anything wrong.
Not one Dr. would say it was because of the 3wk supply of the crap I took.
I refuse another Dr. and over my dead body will I put a prescription in my body.

Wellbutrin used to be my miracle drug!! I am recently back on it, and I feel paralyzed. I sleep well and soundly, but I feel all day like I move slowly and facial expressions are hard to make. I am so bummed out about this. I think off of the WB, I am more anxious than depressed. It's hard to tell. But I feel terribly emotionally flat on WB, The doc told me it isn't "normal" I think he meant "typical" to feel flat on WB, but I do this time. Like I said, I'm disappointed because it used to make me feel so energized, excited, unflappable and fun. This time, I have no libido, no energy, no new ideas.....nothing.

I have been taking Wellbutrin 200mg daily for about 2 weeks. I have taken prozac, which made me very violent, I've taken paxil and quit taking it when I got pregnant, and I've taken Zoloft, which worked wonderfully for me. Then, there is the Wellbutrin. When I first started it, I was tired and out-of-it. I figured I would give it a few days for my body to adjust. Now, I am tired, out-of-it, restless, annoyed at everyone, don't want to be touched, nervous, scared, emotional roller coaster, constant headache, muscle aches, stomach upset, smells are very pronounced, and to top it off, I thought I could quit smoking....but turns out I want to smoke more, however, they taste like crap, and smell even worse! I think I am going back to the doctor to switch back to zoloft. Wish I would have never started taking Wellbutrin!

I have been taking WB 150mg/daily for 3wks now and having strange side effects: headaches on right side of head returning, insomnia but once asleep I fall into a very deep sleep, neck pain, hungry one minute and not the next, decrease in intensity of menses, dizziness at times. Anyone out there with similar problems and if so what was done to calm them? I need to be on an anti-depressant but not wanting to take anything that causes weight gain or decrease in sex drive.

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.

Well I have been on it for about 3 weeks now.. I am taking it for depression along with Citalopram. Was put on it to give me an energy boost considering i feel tired all the time. Well the first week i could not fall asleep.. I'd lay there for 3 hours wide away!!! so the pharmacist told me to take Benadryl.. well i took that still took me awhile to fall asleep but not as long.. then was completely out like a light!!!! would sleep through my alarm!!!!But now.. I ITCH!!!!!!!! Behind the ears, back of my neck, my forearms... I'll break into little bumps on my forearms.... and also itch in between my thighs!!! So hopefully this will eventually go away!!! Have not spoke to the doctor yet about this.. The first couple weeks i felt down all the time.. but now I am feeling a lot better! so for the most part I think it is help.. besides the constant itching!!!!! I found that calamine and clear aloe have been helping some!

I am going through my CDL training, and am having a lack of sleep due to studying, but for all I know some of the things happening could be because I've been on Wellbutrin for about two weeks.

-Eyes swollen feeling
-Memory loss
-Rapid heart beat
-Increased my body temperature. I'm usually cold all the time. Now I'm heated well.

Started 9 days ago. 150 once a day.
Haven't smoked. Insomnia teh last 2 days were AWFUL!
Horrendous nightmares when i did fall asleep for 20 minutes.
Anxiety last 2 nights were painfully scary.
Is it really worth it to take this stuff?
Tylenol pm doesn't seem to work well for me when I am on Wellbutrin.
I have had more energy and the eating goes back an forth. One day I will eat anything I can get my hands on. Next day i hardly eat at all.
Email me. ******
Thank you.
Kat

My husband was prescribed 600 mg of Wellbutrin xl. He went into a psychosis. He lost touch with reality, was very agitated, had mixed episodes of mania and depression at the same time, couldn't sleep, he was having hallucinations- thought people were there that were not, heard a womans voice, thought we were penniless, thought I was talking to other men- usually he is very secure, not a jealous person. His head was shaking like he had Parkinson's disease, he had no motor skills. His Dr. told me to call if he went into Mania. I did not know that mania could go into psychosis. This all happened to him during the Christmas holidays and | could not reach the Dr. My husband lost touch w/ reality and broke the law and is now in jail. Please if you take this med, educate your loved ones of these possible side affects and about bipolar. I wish I knew then, what I know now. I also know now that 600mg is twice what the normal dosage and 450mg is the max anyone should take.

I have been taking only 75 mgs for seven days. It feels wonderful, however I'm pretty sure I experienced a few simple partial seizures at first while my brain was getting used to the drug. I only take it once a day (even though I was prescribed twice),Although the drug wears off around ten pm or so. I still lay awake most of the night unable to sleep. Here and there I will take 1/2 an Ativan to alleviate the stress of this, but on the whole. Wellbutrin has completely removed my acute panic disorder. I no longer sweat, or shake profusely, and I feel competent and confident. I seem to manage on what little sleep I am lucky to get. I do still get the symptoms of my ADD, and OCD, but they are much toned down. I can control my brain if I try hard, whereas before it was a rushing river that I could not focus on. No one should expect anything to be a wonder-drug. You are using your mind as a guinea pig. Don't be scared of seizures, they won't kill you, they might make you more creative, or less depressed( or you might fall into the street)
Even so, Wellbutrin is much better than Prozac.

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've been taking Wellbutrin sr for 3 days, I'm mostly forgetful, irritable, my mind is racing panicky, tremor, nausea ringing in my ears, speedy energy but then when you crash ur sooooooooo tired. jittery.

I have been on Wellbutrin for about a month. I am 31 and have never dealt with depression in the past. After a year and a half of one stressful event after another I started to feel life was just not turning out the way that I thought, but really thought that this was my life. After having some serious issues with my two kids, I am a single mother, I new that I needed to see a doctor. I couldn't get out of bed, felt detached from my family and pets. I had pushed the people who were most important to me away. After doing a lot of research on the internet I decided to discuss this med with my doc. At first it was pretty rough. Sleeping schedule was crazy, I was only sleeping a couple of hours a day but when I woke up I was not tired. I was extremely emotional. Crying for six hours straight one day. These are the only side effect that I had, but I felt much worse than I did dealing with my depression, which was pretty bad. HOWEVER, I continued to tell myself that these are side effects and I was willing to stay the coarse in order to get the benefit from treatment. During this time, I did have some good days or parts of good days which really gave me hope that eventually it would work. After about 3 weeks I felt better, the long bouts of crying had stopped and my sleep schedule returned to normal. Everyday after that I have felt more and more like myself. I didn't fully understand how depression had really affected all aspect of my life even in small ways. I think that I can't feel any better and then another day goes by and I realize that I can. The greatest thing is I can still feel things, can still get upset and have a good cry without it ruining my whole day. I think that is important as I am dealing with some very serious personal issues, thus the reason I need meds, but I know the importance of learning to cope with these issues as the are never going to go away. I feel like I have been saved and didn't even know that I needed this much saving.
I say all this because in my extensive research I have read a lot of these comments on many different sights and really didn't see myself or my experience. I have only read things that are scary and would make me think that depression is better than trying this drug. Everyone is different and the way they react to drugs is different, I completely understand that, but this drug has had an amazing affect on my life and the lives of my loved ones. If you have just started taking this and you think it is making you worse I beg you, stick with it, let the drug stabilize in your body and then decided if this drug is for you. I know that it is hard but there was a light at the end of my tunnel and there could be for you. Do not let a couple weeks of side effect put you off, or others negative experiences, if I had done that I would not be where I am. I know that I am getting better everyday. Remember this is a serious disease and it can not be fixed over night, if you had been prescribed an antibiotic for an illness you would expect for it to take some time to take affect. This drug is no different.

I just woke up from the scariest nightmare I have ever had. I repeated the same horrible dream over and over again all night, till I just finally woke up and decided to google if Wellbutrin XL causes nightmares. I just started taking it 7 days ago... wonderful.

I miss me...WB has turned me into a zombie and I'm more depressed than before. I've only been on it for 5 days, but I don't think I want to see if it works out after reading these posts. One of my major complaints about WB are the constant hallucinations. While mild they make me anxious, agitated and a little paranoid. I don't have much in the way of visual hallucinations, mostly hearing sounds and perceiving them to be threats and smelling odd smells that don't exist. I'm also emotionally "flat", have no interest in anything and I'm shaky and feel very cold most of the time. And I've never had anger issues before, but now I don't trust myself around anyone. I just want to be alone. I was told this medication would work for Seasonal Depression and help me to quit smoking, but right now I miss how I normally feel. Has anyone else had hallucinations? Do they go away or should I quit taking WB right away? It doesn't make sense to suffer for a full month when my seasonal depression only lasts for 4 months anyway - does it make sense to hang in there and see what happens? After reading these postings, if WB doesn't work for me, I'll go back to being un-medicated. It doesn't seem so bad now.

I'm taking generic 100mg SR twice a day. After only 5 days, do I have to worry about withdrawals if I quit?

I've been on Wellbutrin XL 150 for a few months and I love it! The first few weeks were a bit hard because I felt constantly jumpy, nervous, and had a hard time sleeping. But there are side effects with almost everything for the first little while! Now that I've been on it for a while, I've noticed I'm losing weight, feeling energetic, and I feel hopeful about my life! Also I have a ridiculously increased sex drive. It may not be right for everyone, but for me it's been awesome so far.