Wellbutrin Short Term Memory, Focus Problem, Horrible Pain, Pmdd, Hearing Test

Reading your stories has been very eye opening. I've loved Wellbutrin since I started taking it many years ago but now I'm realizing that my physical "falling apart" may be due to my long-term use of Wellbutrin. I started Wellbutrin because I was having severe PMDD and it worked like a charm. I didn't really want to go on it full time so my doctor said that I could just plan to take it a few days before and after to treat the PMDD. Well that worked for awhile but then I needed it full time to feel normal. I just assumed that was because I was "getting older"....but, to make a long story short...

I've been taking it for about 8 years (I think) and just recently upped the dosage to 300 XL because the 150 didn't seem to cut it anymore. Well, symptoms that used to be an irritation are now in full swing and I'm wondering if it isn't cause this horrible pain I'm having in my knee. I'm hurting all over and I feel like a much older woman.

I'm 44 and really thought I'm in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. I have the mind blowing dreams that others have mentioned but ironically my short-term memory is so bad I now have trouble recalling the dreams to my husband. I can't remember common words...watch becomes "thing on your wrist that tells time" or I'll say "the fruit that is yellow" because I can't remember lemon. I'll forget where my kids told me they were going 15 minutes after they tell me.

My hearing is going fast. I got a hearing test and he told me there was some hearing loss but it was probably from using a saw for some remodeling. Well, it really feels like if I could just drain my ears I could hear again. Is Wellbutrin making my ears "thick"? They tell me I don't have any fluid in my ears but when I blow my nose I can hear better. It's like I'm in a pressurized airplane all of the time. Ironically loud noises still bother me but the comprehension is atrocious. It's really becoming noticeable.

I do have a fuzzy focus problem too. If I'm looking down at a book or even a grocery list and then look back up I can't even read the store signs. I have to blink and rub my eyes to get them back in focus. Sometimes it takes a long time.

Now I have a knee that is not responding to chiropractic. I've never had this trouble before but I'm wondering now it this isn't a tendon problem.

Thanks for all of your stories. I don't have all the problems but I have a good many of them so it can't really be so coincidental, can it? Like so many others, though, I'm wondering what I'm going to do without Wellbutrin...but I can't get "Alzheimer's" at my age if I can prevent it.

PS: My daughter tried to take it because I'd had good success with it but he put her on 300mg and she started menstrual bleeding and couldn't see. She ended up at the emergency room and they ran a battery of tests and there was "nothing" wrong. I found online that Wellbutrin had the bleeding side effect and told her to stop taking it. The problem went away (not the depression but the side effects.) I guess I should have stopped then...maybe my hearing and memory problems wouldn't be so bad.