Posted by SLS on March 28, 2018, at 7:29:49
In reply to Re: What is a good Norepinephrine increaser?, posted by Tony P on March 28, 2018, at 1:46:24
> As the Wikipedia article describes, bupropion (Wellbutrin) is a DNRI, but over time the principal metabolite, hydroxybupropion, which has a longer half-life, builds up to 16-20 times the concentration of bupropion itself. Unfortunately (for us anhedonics anyway), hydroxybupropion is ONLY an NE agonist.
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> This accounts for my experience 2 years ago when I started bupropion (added to Lexapro). For about two weeks, on only 37.5 mg/day, I was a new man, outgoing, depression lifted, doing chores that I had neglected for years. Then I lost the magic, and dosage increases didn't seem to help. I've tried a 10 day holiday from the bupropion, but that doesn't seem to be long enough to reset whatever-it-is, and at 10 days I can feel the depression closing in (& my housemates notice too).
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> So, to return to the question, in my experience bupropion is a powerful NE increaser. I'm very sensitive to it, though; some years back I was on the customary 300 mg/day, and had to take benzos, zopiclone and other remedies such as Kava & muscle relaxants to tolerate it -- and my family still thought I had gone mad!
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> Much better, IMO, for an NE boost is Cymbalta. I found it both effective and very low on side effects. I have read that it gives 5x the NE boost that Effexor does (Effexor drives me up the wall with anxiety; YMMV). It seems to have got a very bad press; the BC govt. drug plan does not support it. Maybe it only works well for a subset of people, and does poorly on the averages.What is Robaxin?
Perhaps you can try swapping Wellbutrin for nortriptyline. From what I can see, it is less anxiogenic and agitating than Wellbutrin is for most people. Of course, there are exceptions. I glean a partial response using a combination of nortriptyline and Effexor. Wellbutrin makes me feel moderately more depressed. I get no stimulating or anxiogenic effects from it. As far as the mechanism of action of hydroxybupropion is concerned, where can I find more information on it? With bupropion, the mechanism isn't really known, despite claims to the contrary. It really isn't much of a reuptake inhibitor. I think scientists are still studying this drug to come up with an answer.
Are there any NE reuptake inhibitors that you have tried in the past?
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1097121
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20180212/msgs/1097788.html