Reviewer: Bipolar2coolforschool, 35-44 on Treatment for 1 to 6 months (Patient)

Comment:
I have bipolar II and after a series of failed drugs, I was prescribed quetiapine (that's a whole other message board) and bupropion. I was on Activas bupropion 150 XL for about six weeks. It stabilized me, but I was still depressed - but functioning. Side effects - waking up early, feeling like a zombie, loss of appetite - went away within that time period. I've now been on Par Ph ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
I have bipolar II and after a series of failed drugs, I was prescribed quetiapine (that's a whole other message board) and bupropion. I was on Activas bupropion 150 XL for about six weeks. It stabilized me, but I was still depressed - but functioning. Side effects - waking up early, feeling like a zombie, loss of appetite - went away within that time period. I've now been on Par Pharmaceutical's bupropion 300 XL for about a month. Side effects are irritability and jitters, but I'm hoping those go away. I tried Activas 300 XL - oval pills - and it seemed to dump a large portion of the medication about two hours after taking it, giving me a zombie effect. It also gave me a headache. Those things may have gone away with time, but I switched back to Par. Overall I'm content and my depression is completely gone.
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Reviewer: Warox, 25-34 Male on Treatment for less than 1 month (Patient)

Comment:
Firstly note this medicine not for everyone. Everyone's brain chemestry is different. It is one of the most popular and commonly used antidepressant due to it's general efficiency and fewer shitty side effects than other drugs. Personally, two weeks after starting 150mg bupropion, I'm already starting to feel somewhat better overall. The way I've understood this drug works is by ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
Firstly note this medicine not for everyone. Everyone's brain chemestry is different. It is one of the most popular and commonly used antidepressant due to it's general efficiency and fewer shitty side effects than other drugs. Personally, two weeks after starting 150mg bupropion, I'm already starting to feel somewhat better overall. The way I've understood this drug works is by preventing the recapture of dopamine and noradrenaline. This leads to a slow but steady build up of those two chemicals in the brain. That' why the full efficiency of this drug is obtained a few weeks later after starting taking it. Dopamine is the feel good reward chemical which makes you feel slightly happier in general and makes you want to do things more since you're reward signal in the brain is "boosted". Not absolutely sur about the noradrenaline part but I think it's from this chemical adrenaline comes from. This could explain why this drug makes you more awake and energized than normally. Not sure but dopamine too i think helps keep awake. Anyways, even the specialists aren't exactly sure HOW antidepressants exactly works. So far for me the first few days I felt a little "something" positively different about how I felt in general. I've been sadly having trouble to feel emotions and happyness for a very long time. Feel like a machine that mainly works eats and sleep. Now I'm starting to have more energy, want to do more things and actually enjoy myself sometimes. Better mood. I actually smile because I feel like it sometimes instead of smiling because I'M supposed to. Don't oversleep anymore. More sociable. Better attention and focus. Think better. Got some libido back. Losing fat and gaining muscle since im more active. Seems I'm actually starting to enjoy life a little. So far the pros are better than cons. Insomnia (i need seroquel to sleep well), rise in anxiety are the two downsides. A bit worst in the begining but it lessens. Got used to it. Definately worth it for me.
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Reviewer: DelCarmem, 45-54 on Treatment for less than 1 month (Patient)

Comment:
This medication worked very well for me. I had never taken anti depressants and my doctor recommended this one. It really made a huge difference in my mood and outlook, however it had one unbearable side effect for me. It made me soooooo itchy. I was losing my mind. I tried everything possible to control the itching, different soap, shower water filter, cortisone creams, numbing cream, ice.. noth ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
This medication worked very well for me. I had never taken anti depressants and my doctor recommended this one. It really made a huge difference in my mood and outlook, however it had one unbearable side effect for me. It made me soooooo itchy. I was losing my mind. I tried everything possible to control the itching, different soap, shower water filter, cortisone creams, numbing cream, ice.. nothing helped. I really wanted to stay on it and did my best to see if the side effect went away but it was excruciating. As soon as I stopped it within a week it was better. But here I am almost 3 weeks after my last pill and I still get an itch attack all of a sudden Iâ??m the evening or the morning. I decided to write this down because two doctors told me this was an uncommon side effect for this medication and that maybe it was something else, but it definitely was the meds.
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Reviewer: Annie, 65-74 on Treatment for 1 to 6 months (Patient)

Comment:
I'm 67 year old woman who started this about 3 months ago. Went from size 10 Miss to size 04, not intentionally. Can't put weight on although I've been eating fatty stuff and protein drinks. Was on 150mg once a day but it did not significantly decrease depression but caused rapid alarming weight loss. Dr tells me that is not due to medicine but stress associated with upcoming divorc ... Show Full Comment

Comment:
I'm 67 year old woman who started this about 3 months ago. Went from size 10 Miss to size 04, not intentionally. Can't put weight on although I've been eating fatty stuff and protein drinks. Was on 150mg once a day but it did not significantly decrease depression but caused rapid alarming weight loss. Dr tells me that is not due to medicine but stress associated with upcoming divorce. Dr increased my dose this past week to 300mg at night. My lab work is on Wednesday and I will be asking Dr to switch my medicine.
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Reviewer: Castle, 25-34 Male on Treatment for 1 to 6 months (Patient)

Comment:
I started taking Wellbutrin for depression and OCD. I have been dealing with anxiety for many years, but this drug made it 100x worse! I hadn’t had a bad panic attack in a long time before taking this drug, and within a few weeks on the regimen, I had horrible panic attacks multiple times a day. My OCD and depression also worsened.

Comment:
I started taking Wellbutrin for depression and OCD. I have been dealing with anxiety for many years, but this drug made it 100x worse! I hadn’t had a bad panic attack in a long time before taking this drug, and within a few weeks on the regimen, I had horrible panic attacks multiple times a day. My OCD and depression also worsened.
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