Medication help

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Hi, My endocrinologist gave me Bupropion HCL (brand name Wellbutrin) because she noted my over-load, extreme anxiety, and mild depression (due to not getting stuff done due to anxiety and over-load), combined with my impending diabetes, the fact that we have my thyroid and other stuff balanced out, and my anxiety driven eating off diet even when full, and wrote the script and asked me to give it two months. She said she thinks it might help shrink the anxiety enough that I can start moving and stop the binge eating and that it might even help me focus. She gave me a low dose and recommend I do two of the three doses a day to start so that we don't go higher than needed.

Has anyone else been on this? I'm scared to start taking it. I need to hear others experiences with medication to help with anxiety.

I already grilled the pharmacist. Actually did not help. I know a lot of anxious people find a small dose of anti-anxiety or anti-depression medication helps immensely. I read that in books. But is that what people actually experience?

I've got a trip to a convention coming up and I should start the pills now so I am on it and know the problems with it before I go. I fear without it I will miss the convention due to hiding in my hotel room.

Talk to me please about your experiences.

Never mind, nobody wants to share. I'll go it alone.

My girlfriend was on it but she wasn't on it for long because she was having bad withdrawal from Cymbalta so her psych switched her to Lexapro. I never taken it but I researched it abit & I'm thinking of asking my doc to switch my Trazodone to it. Wellbutrin has some stimulant effects & those can make anxiety worse & not better. Other meds are usually used to treat anxiety instead of Wellbutrin. It can help with depression, overeating & lack of energy but I don't think it'll help as much if the cause is due to anxiety. Some have noticed it helping with anxiety thou but sometimes it's because of other things triggering their anxiety like their weight, depression or not getting things done because of lack of energy. An SSRI(or maybe an SNRI), &/or benzodiazepine, &/or Buspar are more commonly used to treat anxiety than Wellbutrin. That said it's one of the safer antidepressants to withdraw from so I think it may be worth a try. Different psych meds do affect different people differently & there is a chance it will help with anxiety. Quit taking it if you notice your anxiety's worse.

Thank you for the input. I'm going to give it a try simply because what I am currently doing is not working. Now to decide when to take the first dose. I'm probably over-thinking this whole thing.

Wellbutrin does not help anxiety, if anything it will make it worse on it's own. It is a Norepinephrine and weak Dopamine reuptake inhibitor. It is good for depression, depression related fatigue/motivation problems and as a smoking cecessation aid.

It should be taken first thing in the morning and is better if you use the XL version instead of the SR version because XL only requires one dose a day. Wellbutrin is often combined with an SSRI and it can help counteract the sexual side effects that are common with SSRIs. Wellbutrin will also surpress your appetite and it will interfere with sleep if you dont take it early enough in the day.

Common doses are either 150mg, 300mg, or 450mg. The higher the dose, the lower your seizure threshold will be. Be aware if you have a history of seizures.