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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by Tony P on September 17, 2003, at 20:50:36
Not all A/D's are equally effective, or more important, safe for those of us with addiction disorder. This is both my own experience and the opinion of several professionals (pdocs, MD's and psychologists) I have consulted - one said Wb is "disahstrous" for addicts. As usual YMMV, there is probably someone here for whom Wellbutrin has been a godsend. I am only suggesting caution.
I have been on Paxil, Serzone, Buspar and (briefly) Celexa at different times, without any addictive or drug-seeking problems. Wellbutrin was a different matter. On standard dosage (150 mg SR twice a day), I was hypo-manic - really borderline manic; my family instanced a dinner where I expounded on distinguishing the nationality of various Central Europeans based on their head shape! Particularly embarassing for a normally left-of-centre liberal! I also had to take considerable doses of benzodiazepines and sleeping pills in order to maintain a bearable level of anxiety/excitement and get a few hours sleep. I also got serotonin syndrome or possibly NorA overload when I tried adding some Serzone to try to tone things down - it had the opposite effect.
I have more recently tried _small_ doses of Wellbutrin (50-100 mg/day) in combination with my Serzone. I certainly received benefit in mood-elevation that I just wasn't getting from the Serzone any more (after 8 years). However, there were still two problems for me: (1) prolonged excitement and anxiety made me feel the need for some kind of downer; (2) the hypomania was still sufficient (but felt so-o-o good) that at times I lost contact with the reality of my addiction and thought I could do this or that self-administered drug "safely", "under control".
I am interested in hearing others' experience on similar issues with Wb or other A/D's. My doc wants me to try Effexor if Serzone continues to poop out, but I am dead scared of both the side-effects and the withdrawal experience I have read about on the main board.
Please feel free to email me if you prefer not to post (tonyp@shaw.ca).
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