Wellbutrin and zombie

For about eight months or so I have been experiencing pretty intense anxiety. Thus, I was prescribed the generic Clonopin (Clonozepam). After building a tolerance to the increasing dosages I was prescribed, I found myself needing to take up to 10 mg daily. I became as many people told me, "a zombie". I developed extreme depression and constant bad thoughts. After talking to my doctor i was prescribed Paxil. I did not like this whatsoever so about two months ago I stopped taking the Clonopin abruptly. I experienced pretty severe withdrawals, or what i thought to be withdrawals (shaking, sweating, very irritable, constant pain, and anxiety). It was absolute torture. After talking to my doctor i was then prescribed Xanax, which i am currently on. My depression seems to have stayed constant. It was suggested to me to take Wellbutrin rather than Paxil, which of course i would have to wean off from my 100mg a day. Two weeks ago, or so, i started taking the Wellbutrin at 150mg once a day in the morning. After the first week or so i felt "up" more or less, in comparison to how i had been feeling. I began to research about possible side effects. I didn't really find many except mildy vivid dreams and anxiety, which threw me for a loop since i was trying to fight that, right? Well, after the first week i had been lowered on the Paxil to 50mg daily and raised to 300mg of Wellbutrin, once a day in the morning around 7am. I am now on my second week of the anti-depressant, but ironically i feel as if i am more depressed, just in other ways. I feel very lethargic, and i feel as if i am to be very "spacey". I'm not quite sure if it is the mixture of the medications or one in particular. But the most noticeable side effects of the Wellbutrin have been IRRITABILITY!!, veryyyyy indecisive, and ridiculously vivid dreams with little to no meaning. They seem to last for weeks on end at times, and i often find it hard to differentiate what is a dream and what is reality. By no means am i trying to say that this medication will not work for you. Anything to make someone feel better. Whatever works for you is great and you should persue it! Any suggestions or comments to this would be great. And is anyone feeling the same side effects??

Cameron

The first time I went on Wellbutrin, I had a really bad reaction to it. I had insomnia, horrible tremors, apathy, I felt like I was walking around in a cloud. I went on to try other medications. Now I'm taking a combination of Prozac and Wellbutrin and it seems to be working. My depression is under control. I don't have the apathy or zombie feeling anymore, but I do still have the tremors, though they aren't as bad. I get some mild insomnia, but taking it in the morning helped with that, and lately I've found that a little bit of coffee in the morning (not too much, don't need to be MORE shaky) helps with a lot of my side effects. I do have the confusion and concentration issues too. It hasn't caused any severe problems, it only seems to really happen in casual conversation, where I'll completely forget what I wanted to say. It's annoying, but way better than depression, and not severe enough for me to stop.
To those people who are telling others to stay away from this drug, or any drug for that matter, don't forget that there is a reason there are so many different kinds of anti-depressants. Everybody's body chemistry is different, so their gonna react in different ways. Also, the people who don't have issues with side effects rarely go looking for sites like this....
Just something to think about.

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.

Has anyone had long term side effects after taking Wellbutrin. I was on ot for two years it helped with my anxiety and energy levels a lot. When the doctor put my dose to 300 mg I had severe muscle pain and swelling in hands, feet, ankles, legs it went down after I went back to 150mg. I tried to up my dose but the same thing happened. After two years of wellbutrin I developed severe headaches feels more like head pressure so I went off wellbutrin. would still have muscle pain and swelling from time to time. started developing severe pain in legs and now everywhere along with muscle twitches and muscle loss. I now am 32 and have severe memory problems and no doctor knows what is going on with me. Has anyone had anything like this or heard of anyone with these problems.

Ok, with all psych drugs, you're a damed zombie for the first 6-8 weeks. I know that & am willing to accept a little nausea, being a box of rocks mentally, and not being able to find my shoes for the first 6-8 weeks. If things continue after that point in time, I drop the med. Well, I dropped wellbutrin, and this is why:

The nausea never stopped. In fact, it increased.

The first few days, I thought it was just stomach upset. No big. Take with milk & bread. We all know that trick, right? But, it got worse. Days later, I started dry heaving on the way to class. This became a regular thing- walking caused nausea. Then it got even worse, standing still or sitting started to feel like I was on a tiny rowboat in a storm on the high seas. Extreme nausea, frequent dry heaving, unable to keep down food or water, disorientation (literally severe motion sickness on dry land). After dropping 15lbs & becoming dehydrated, I gave up for my own physical safety. I stopped taking the stuff. It took about a month to recover from the stuff.

Now, I have friends that wellbutrin has been a godsend for. But, this stuff really messed with me. So, be careful when taking it. Give it a fair shot. But, know thy body.

I've been taking Wellbutrin for about a year and have switched to the generic Bupropion XL for the last 6 months due to my insurance. After reading all the reviews here I finally realize what is happening to me. I am more depressed than I have ever been. I feel like a zombie, very tired, INCREASED appetite, forgetful, cant think and basically don't feel like talking or being around anyone. I can go a whole day at work without saying a word to anyone (except when I have to of course) I don't want to go out or socialize at all. I started taking only 1/2 a pill to wean myself off slowly. I had tried Lexapro but didn't feel any different. I also took Paxil a few years ago & I think I felt a bit better & also felt more social but it did make me feel like a zombie as well. I kept tripping & running into things as well. Ugh. Is there any medication thats works?

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?

Taking 200 mg of the SR twice a day. This was after being misdiagnosed with bi-polar and put on lithium for two months.
Sooo, I would rather have the side effects of the lithium! I kept getting an all around body rash that would last for a few hours, and itched terribly. That was the first side effect.
Headaches were soon to follow with a deep anger for no apparent reason. I just wanted to to be miserable to everyone!
Soon after that, I had nausea, which I was vommiting often and couldn't sleep. My throat itches, and my tinniutus keeps me awake.
NOW THE BIGGIE: I can't even remember my own address when asked or phone number. I can't remeber what I was going to do and get stuck.
I'd rather be a zombie on lithium.....

I have been taking Welbutrin for nearly 3 weeks and feel like I am seriously losing my mind. I feel like a walking zombie, numb to everything and my mind feels foggy. I can't remember things and am having a hard time diffrentiating dreams from reality. No appetite, extreme feelings of up and down, inability to concentrate, no sex drive, no ambition, crying all the time uncontrolably. I don't think I felt remotely close to this before I started taking this medication. Does this get better at 4 weeks or stays the same? I can't even remember what I was like before this. Anyone else having same symptoms?

My side effects were short-term.....just a few weeks. They included slight nausea, headache and loss of appetite. I occassionally have violent dreams and night sweats, but this drug is a miracle to me. I was suicidal with very severe depression and now I am my old self again. Happy and productive. I've tried others like Prozac ( I refer to that med as the demon med) and had AWFUL side effects.....severe weight gain and a feeling of anxiety at all times, not to mention the zombie it turned me into. I was informed by my doctor that Wellbutrin may cause seizures so he's got me on an anti seizure med also. It's called clonazepam......no bad side effects at all. In fact, it gives me a feeling of calm. I think the reason I've gotten such positive effects from this drug is because it actually works on the Dopamine part of your brain, releasing "feel-good" enzymes into your bloodstream. No other antidepressant drug works that way. That's what my doctor told me when I asked what makes Wellbutrin so different from the others. I take 300 mg/day and I weigh 120 pounds (lost 18 pounds with no effort after coming off Prozac). Good luck to all who try Wellbutrin. Hope you have the positive experience I have.