Posted by reluctant on December 31, 2003, at 21:30:56
In reply to Lexapro + Wellbutrin, posted by Esmarelda on December 31, 2003, at 9:42:51
hi - i'm new here - i've posted elsewhere but there's a lot of activity here & i'm hoping to hear from some folks. My situation is sort of the reverse of yours, Esmarelda - I'm about to start on lexapro, switching from zoloft, already on bupropion 200mg/day. Has anyone else made the zoloft to lexapro switch? why? how's it going? zoloft was knocking me out & not doing much else . . . the hope is that the lexapro will do what the zoloft failed to do. Wellbutrin alone lifted my energy but didn't do as much as I'd hoped for my mood - also after several months I found that I was developing a bit of a temper. the zoloft took care of the temper, certainly, but I lost the energy & became super-sleepy & dumb as a post on some days. And my mood didn't really improve - though I didn't care as much. Yee-haw. Zoloft's worked for me in the past, without the side effects - I just generally brightened up - so my pdoc is hoping that another flavor of ssri will help get me out of the dark.
Esmarelda - You're adding wellbutrin to the ssri, which will hopefully provide a little spark as well as countereffect some of the side effects of the ssri. It often improves libido, is energizing - it works on dopamine, not serotonin, if i'm not mistaken. seeing as different people can have completely opposite side effects to the same drug, the whole thing really is a mystery. kind of medieval, really. maybe if you start taking your wellbutrin on the first new moon of the year, standing on your left foot & blindfolded, and wash it down with some eye of newt, everything will work out ok. or maybe your hair will fall out. Who knows?
All sarcasm aside - I'm really committed to beating this, and I know that medication can only do a fraction of the work - the rest has to be me. Next week I start regular, bi-weekly therapy (as opposed to every few months), something I've been putting off. The drugs (hopefully!) give you the wherewithal to undo the patterns that depression has built up in your mind, I think, rather than fix things altogether. It may be frustrating to keep going through these trials with medicine, but try to take some hope from the knowledge that, even though you may not be able to feel it now, the ability to get through this is in you - absolutely. The hard part is getting to a place where you can begin to feel that to be true.
Happy New Year.
Take care.
poster:reluctant
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031231/msgs/295258.html