Posted by bleauberry on April 8, 2010, at 17:40:22
In reply to Bleauberry - Tell me more about Wellbutrin please, posted by Laney on April 7, 2010, at 20:49:55
You really just need to be candid and straight forward with your doc and let him know what is happening. If you are not confident with how he handles it, then it is wise to get a second opinion from another doctor. The whole time, keep in mind who is the boss. You. We are the paying customers. I think there is way too much "reverence" for doctors. They are just humans with a little more knowledge of physiology and disease than you and me. They do not have all the answers, and actually very few answers. The most important thing they can do is listen to the patient closely and try to put the clues together without any preconceived biases, egos, or outside influences (as in pharm reps).
I don't know what your side effects from wellbutrin mean. The doctor needs to know.
My comments about ssri's were based purely on anecdotal observations over the years. That is, once someone has been on an ssri for a long time, and then they get off of it, it is most common that the entire class of medication just will not perform any more. I don't know why.
I could dig up a few examples to prove that observation wrong, but they are very very few.
Right now I feel this way, but I bet it will take the medical profession 20 to 50 years to feel the same way, in that focus on enhancing purely and solely only serotonin at the synapse via reuptake blockage creates in the longterm some bizarre things.
Since TCAs and MAOIs are not used nearly as often as SSRIs, it would be hard to extrapolate any comparison. My guess is that the poopout thing, the drug sensitivity thing, the treatment resistant thing, and all that, are probably a lot less of an issue with multiple neurotransmitter drugs than the pure serotonin ones.
Back to Wellbutrin. For some people it is a great drug. Loved by many. It didn't pass the test in a few countries, but whatever. Startup restlessness, anxiety, and such is common. Muscle pain and joint tightness and all that can happen on any drug. It may go away and it may not. Wellbutrin made me feel horribly depressed, much worse that before. So I am personally not a fan, but certainly respect it has been a miracle for some other people.
Its mechanism is said to be DA and NE reuptake inhibition. I'm sorry, I just don't see that. Maybe it does those things a little bit. I've dug deep trying to find out what it really does, and the fact is, nobody knows. The best I can tell is that it somehow gets involved with the nitric oxide systems and the nicotinic receptor systems. Any DA or NE reuptake probably takes a backseat to that stuff.
But, and a big but, this is all my own personal totally unsupported stuff. So take it with a grain of salt. The most important thing is, have a good relationship with the doctor. Have his interest and cooperation. Have your wellbeing as his laser-like focus.
With a very long history of primarily ssris, it is overdue to be doing something else. Just my opinion.
> So you don't like it. So far all it's doing is making me tense. My muscles like my neck, back, head, etc. feel tight and like I'm stressed out. I don't at all feel any better mood wise. I just can't imagine that this will change. Maybe I'm wrong. So you really don't think any SSRI will work for me? Are you saying don't even try one? Don't bother?
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Laney
poster:bleauberry
thread:942370
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100406/msgs/942790.html