Effexor and wellbutrin together
Common Questions and Answers about Effexor and wellbutrin together
effexor
My doc gave me Ritalin for ADD and Effexor for depression but this last one gave me too many side effects and I stopped taking it. Now he switched me to Wellbutrin (150 mg once a day) and 30 mg Ritalin. I have felt sick but am not sure if it is the withdrawal effects from stopping Effexor or the mixture of Wellbutrin and Ritalin. I feel brain spasms, especially in the back of my head. Today I did not take the Ritalin and felt no spasms.
I've been on 150mg of Effexor XR and 300mg of Wellbutrin for maybe 9 months now. I suddenly started feeling sick after taking the two together. 2-3 hours after taking the two I get the "zapping" feeling some people describe, my heart rate increases (as high as 120), sometimes I feel nauseous, I have trouble focusing, and I generally feel sick. This has been getting worse over the last 2 months. I went to the ER the other day because I felt so bad and my heart rate was scaring me.
) and that helped me get off of the effexor, it still took a month though. Now I am just on the wellbutrin and I am fine, no side-effects at all. Also, the effexor withdrawal symptoms did have nausea, headache, vertigo... as well as other symptoms too for me, so it sounds like it could be effexor withdrawal for you too maybe. Hope the withdrawal symptoms get better soon! I really like wellbutrin, I hope it works well for you too!
So I guess my questions are, will I feel physically better someday or would it be best to start the process of getting off Effexor all over again, and has anyone had the same experience with Wellbutrin and Effexor, and how did you deal with it?
My doctor has suggested that I come off effexor (which i have been on for over 2 years) and start taking Wellbutrin XL. I was to take both of them for 1 week and then stop the effexor and take Wellbutrin only. I have not been feeling very good very tense, anxious, lightheaded and chest pains. I spoke to a pharmasist who suggested stopping the effexor straight away and continuing with the Wellbutrin.
For years I took Wellbutrin, then my stress level changed, so a therapist recommended Effexor. I have taken the Effexor for about a year and it really helped. Now my stress level is not as bad, so I wanted to return to the Wellbutrin. I called my PCP, who prescibed both (at different times). He said I could go from the Effexor back to the Wellbutrin, but with no program for doing it. Unfortunately, he is not a psyschiatrist.
Last Friday I completely stopped the Effexor (75 mg.
would not take lexapro and effexor together. for effexor withdrawal i take omega3 fish oil caps twice a day//benadryl as needed for dizzyness\\ b12 sublingualtwice a day\\st. johns wort twice a day// vitamin d3 twice a day ---ibuprofen(motrin) as needed for muscle pain. as far as i am concerned, i will never take a prescription rx. for anxiety and depression again. i also have ptsd. i am sticking to st. johns wort and omega 3 fish oil caps. both will treat depression.
There are studies out that show there is an improvement when patients take Effexor with Wellbutrin together. Ultimately, it depends on how well you respond to the combination therapy and being monitored by your doctor with the side effects.
Perhaps your difficulty is that both wellbutrin and effexor are stimulating. I've heard of wellbutrin being used with ssris because of sexual problems, but not with snris, which target norepinephrine receptors and are therefore stimulating as wellbutrin is stimulating. You might be just overstimulated. Did a psychiatrist put on these together, or a regular doc?
After a few months, effexor was added ecause I was still having a random day (approx 1/wk) where my anxiety and depression was absolutley intense. lately I have started havcing these real intense jerking sensations;kinda like when you get cold quickly and shiver but very intense. This could be like the tremors or zapping that i have read others complain about, but i am unsure.
Effexor is already affecting your adrenals, this should be taken in account.
Supplementing with DHEA could improve your depression symptoms by reducing your cortisol level. Testosterone also play a crucial role in mood and sex drive so I think it will help. It will also help with your memory. You must be careful with the dosage tho because too much testo or estrogen is not good.
BTW, the combination of effexor and wellbutrin is in some ways much like a synthetic tricyclic antidepressant, in the sense that all three of serotonin, NE, and dopamine neurotransmitters are affected by effexor (S 150mg/day) and wellbutrin (NE + D). Perhaps some consideration of a tricyclic might be worthwhile if the current combination doesn't eventually do the trick.
You should make this a new post, as you have a current problem -- this post is 8 years old. But you are right, Effexor is a bit of an "upper"and a bit of a "downer." Wellbutrin is very much an "upper." Now, this is in terms of how stimulating antidepressants are, not in terms of taking speed, obviously. But you buried the lead -- why was anything added to the Wellbutrin? Was it working pretty well but just not well enough? Or was it not working well at all?
You're posting on the anxiety forum, but you're on Effexor and Wellbutrin, which are more useful as antidepressants as they can be stimulating, especially Wellbutrin. The question is, then, why the Wellbutrin? It's stimulating nature may be exacerbating your withdrawal -- other meds do not substitute for any other med, particularly ones in a completely different class such as Wellbutrin and Effexor. So that's one avenue of research.
i have never taken wellbutrin but my daughter does, i have taken effexor. for me the effexor was terrible, but some people on this site do very well with it. it made me extremly tired, heart palpitations, raised my blood pressure, jaw pain and many other problems. my daughter says the wellbutrin helps her depression but makes her anxiety worse so if you have anxiety you may have to take something for that on top of the wellbutrin. in my opinion, effexor is horrible, i hated it.
I ask, because why take two drugs to start with when one might do, and because wellbutrin is a stimulating antidepressant (so was Effexor), and when you take it might have something to do with the elevation in anxiety. Don't know if this is true, but it's an area to investigate.
Sometimes it is a matter of just finding out what works. I have tried everything. As i have gone back and and tried things some the second time didn't work the older i got. I now am on a very low dose of Effexor and Wellbutrin/Generic but it took a long time for my dr. And I working together to see what was a good mix. Keep a journal of your meds. Of what works and what doesn't and why. ( I would recommend that to everyone.) I also journal, so when I do talk to my dr.
has me taking my wellbutrin 150 mg once every 3 days and had me take 1 37.5 mg of the effexor for 5 days and no more effexor just wellbutrin. I am feeling tired, nausea and headaches I asume due to no effexor. Should I have been prescribed the effexor diffrently?
Not the doctor, but never do this cold turkey! Especially not Effexor. But it probably will go away. I also wouldn't have started wellbutrin until I'd finished withdrawing from Effexor. Wellbutrin is a stimulating antidepressant and can cause anxiety all on its own if anxiety is a problem, not just depression -- not what I'd take when withdrawing from Effexor! Try taking a healthy amount of fish oil, it's said to help with some of the head stuff that's driving you nuts.
how long have you been doing this? I am on 275 effexor and 150 long acting wellbutrin and my starch cravings do me in, So i will research if cymbalta could substitute for the wellbutrin which acts differently that effexor and the cocktail is otherwise acceptable. But if you know somethinghere about cymbalta v. Wellbutrin, I'd love to know.
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