Another antidepressant thread

[Matt_H]

I've had a history of anxiety/panic and depression for the past 3 or 4 years. A history that's longer than I'm willing to type right now. Anyway, I was on Prozac for about a year. It seemed to work fairly well. I did notice I didn't seem to be happy nor sad. Very.. complacent, if that's the right word. Well after I had realized I developed anorgasmia, I was weened off it.

Fast forward. I was weened off the Prozac for ~6 weeks or so. I experienced a major panic attack that ended up sending me to the ER. Well, they gave me some Ativan and said good luck finding a psychiatrist. So I went hunting for a psyciatrist.

In the meantime, I saw my GP because my anxiety was unbearable. Generalized anxiety throughout the whole day, with the occasional panic attack. I've had agoraphobia before, but thought I had overcome it. Well this new relapse of anxiety had me home-bound once again. My GP was nice enough to give me an Rx for Welbutrin 150mg, and Xanax 0.25mg.

We chose Welbutrin because since I had tried many SSRI's in the past, and most recently experiencing sexual dysfunction from the Prozac, another SSRI probably wouldn't be effective. I've also been prescribed benzo's at several different points through my life, so I knew right off the bat that 0.25mg wasn't going to do squat for me.

Well currently I'm on 150mg of Welbutrin 2x daily, and 0.50mg of Xanax up to 3x daily. I've been on the Welbutrin for just about a month now. No side effect's that I can tell, but no improvements either. I'm still taking at least 3 of the 0.5mg's of Xanax a day to manage my anxiety. My anxiety is so bad, that on one occasion I had to take 2.5mg at once just to bring it to a level where it was manageable. 2.5mg! Without ANY level of sedation. As a matter of fact, I believe I was awake for 22 hours that day. (Helping my girlfriend move)

So finally my question for you guys. Welbutrin being a mild stimulant, is this the best choice for my anxiety? I have a psychiatrist lined up for the 24th of September, and that's the earliest I could get. I don't want to wait until the 24th and have my situation get worse. The Xanax is barely keeping me together, and the Welbutrin doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Anyyyyy type of insight or commentary is appreciated. I just need some perspective here. Thanks

-Matt

[punkgod94]

Hey Matt, I've had pretty much the same problems as you. GAD with trying several different SSRIs as well as benzos. I have pretty bad anxiety in my opinion as well. They say Wellbutrin is a mild stimulant, but to be honest, I did not feel as though it made my anxiety worse at ALL. But I also did not feel as though it worked for me. That being said, it also didn't cause me any sexual side effects which are common to SO many of the SSRIs for me. I say don't be scared to give the Wellbutrin a try. Everybody's body chemistry is different so it just may work for you. But I suggest taking it in the morning instead of at night because being a mild stimulant, it could potentially give you problems sleeping if you take it mid-day or at night. On the flip side, I usually take the other anti-depressants at night because their depressant effects may help you sleep a little better. For reference, the SSRIs I've been on in the past include Effexor XR, Wellbutrin XL, Lexapro, Celexa, and Cymbalta. Ive also tried Klonopin, Valium, Ativan, and Xanax. I've taken a 2.5 mg Xanax pill before and it didn't feel like it did anything for me. It's funny how so many people take ONE of those to get "high", but you get somebody with GAD and it won't make you feel high in the least. Like I said, see how you respond to the Wellbutrin and if you don't like it call your physician and have them wean you off of it as soon as possible. You could also just try taking the 150 mg dose instead of the typical 300 mg dose...just to be on the safe side. If you feel comfortable enough and dont get more anxious, give the 300 mg dose a try. Then talk with your psychiatrist and see how things go. If you haven't already tried it, and if the Wellbutrin doesn't help I'd highly suggest Lexapro. Again, the medications react differently with everyone's body chemistry, but I've heard a lot of success stories with Lexapro. It was the only medicine that seemed to help my anxiety, but it gave me side effects that I didn't want, so I weaned off of it and my doctors tried me on Celexa instead. It has the same isomer (basically the main chemical ingredient) as Lexapro, but it came out first. Think of Lexapro as being a Celexa Plus. So if you experience side effects from Lexapro but it helped, give Celexa a try and you may not experience the side effects! Hope this helps!