# Wellbutrin Types......



## Jrock (Dec 16, 2008)

They say Wellbutrin effects dopamine. I've noticed there are several different types of Wellbutrin. Does anyone have any information on which of these would best help SAD? Do you have any experiences to share?


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## sweet_tiff4prez (Oct 11, 2008)

im taking generic sr version.
i have been taking it since may. i will tell u that...it really worked for me the past couple of months. however i feel right now it might be starting to lose some of its effectiveness. but its hard to say because my sa can make me sad or depressed.
i just dont think it works as great as it did before though it still is working somewhat.

I have tried the sr and xl version. the sr you have to take in the morning and evening. the xl version is only once during the day.

I first have taken the sr version for months but a couple of times i forgot to take the 2nd dosage. I switched to the xl version a month ago to try it out.

it was not near as good as the sr version. i was more tired and irritable.

theres a bunch of people on other threads that have said that the generic xl version is a waste and that the sr version works better. they say if you are going to take the xl version you shouldnt take the generic form.

however different meds work for different people.

id have to say though i had more irritability with the xl ..i still get irritable at times. i think that might be a side effect of wellbutrin.

For SAD...wellbutrin does not really help anxiety. its mainly for depression. some people have said wellbutrin has made their anxiety worse.

i dont think its made mine worse however the irritability is there. those with SAD usally take another medication with wellbutrin like paxil, prozac , buspar or another anti-anxiety med


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## beaches09 (Feb 1, 2009)

I've taken all the Wellbutrin types. If you are taking for Social Anxiety I would go with the SR or XL as it's a slower and extended release form so it doesn't hit you as hard. Regular Bupropian made me a bit anxious and over aggressive, even snappy and argumentative. 

It really depends on you though and your chemical structure. It's very activating and though it definitely made me much more assertive, confident, motivated, clear headed, and organized for me it always left me feeling strung out and MAJOR insomnia. So it's good when it's mixed with something to take the edge off. LIke a benzo or better an SSRI.

Maybe it was also just me, but another problem I noticed is that I had to keep upping the dose after the months to get the same effect. I'm not sure at the time if maybe there is some kind of initial euphoria properties and then it just settles into a balance or what. But I just felt it wasn't working the same after after a short while.

Actually and I edit that. What do you other guys think about the effects wearing off? Has anyone else experienced this and had to keep upping the dose? I just remembered at the time my doc was putting me through a switch from my SSRI to something else so that just may have very well been the reason for the change I saw. So never mind that part. I am curious too now that you mention it about you other guys.


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## Jrock (Dec 16, 2008)

beaches09 said:


> LIke a benzo or better an SSRI.


What Benzo do you take? How do you take it to help your SAD?

Thanks


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## beaches09 (Feb 1, 2009)

I just took a little xanax or loranzapam on occasion to take the wellbutrin edge off from making me feel strung out and so I could sleep. But, it calmed the nerves for sure. Personally I found high doses of an SSRI to be extremely beneficial for any kind of social anxiety. In my experience the downside of many of them made me lazy, unmotivated, and a bit foggy though so you have to take something with it to activate you. 

Zoloft was activating for me by itself though. Zoloft turned me into an outgoing superman where I was able to do anything and everything in any event without even thinking twice. 

Prozac is supposed to be the most activating of them as it's the least selective and actually works a bit on dopamine and noradrenaline too. But I hear prozac also sucks for SA.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

Wellbutrin Sr didnt do anything for my depression or sa.


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## Jrock (Dec 16, 2008)

beaches09 said:


> In my experience the downside of many of them made me lazy, unmotivated, and a bit foggy though so you have to take something with it to activate you.


My Gdoc throughout the years has given me different SSRI's to try but always at the starting dose. His prescription was more for General Anxiety/Depression. Of course it was the lack of social contact with people and troubles displaying my personality in social situations (withdrawn) that feeds depression. I never knew SAD had a name back then

Anyhow my biggest complaint with the SSRI (Aside from Sexual side effects and withdrawal electric shocks) is it didn't make me feel the least bit more outgoing and calm. Rather it made me feel as you describe; Lazy, unmotivated, uninterested in anything. What did you take to help "Activate" you. I'm trying to get my Gdoc to prescribe some provigil but it has been like pulling teeth.



beaches09 said:


> Zoloft was activating for me by itself though. Zoloft turned me into an outgoing superman where I was able to do anything and everything in any event without even thinking twice.


Really? Do you still take it how is it going for you????? Should I get back on one of these SSRI giving it more time increasing the dose?

Thanks for everything bro


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## beaches09 (Feb 1, 2009)

No problem at all man 

Which SSRI's did you take before? When I took things like Paxil it was very sedating and at the time I didn't know anything about meds I just knew what chemicals they worked on. But when I took it I actually thought it was making me more depressed. But it wasn't it was just chilling me out BIG TIME. It was when I started drinking moca grandes lots of caffeine everyday and upping the dose of the med that it REALLY started to kick in. So then I had the positive SSRI affects with a nice very motivating surge going through my body to let me take charge and make things happen. That's not a good way to go though because obviously the caffeine built a lot of tolerance and I was up to probably over 1000mg a day after a few months and had to stop and I crashed big time.

Zoloft yes completely man, that drug turned me into a super effin crazy cool outgoing motivated dude and there were no qualms whatsoever about talking to people, hitting on girls, participating in class, nothing! It even got my *** to join basketball in school and I don't think I ever would have done that otherwise. Actually now that I think about it, it really was a bit of a wonder drug for me. 

It took the part of me "everything about me that I wanted to be", and unleashed the beast and I became that person. And in a pretty short time, a couple of months once my dose was up. Met the best friends of my entire life, met tons of girls, had so much fun, it was actually now that you got me thinking about it, probably the best time of my life LOL. 

Yeah definitely for me it was unlike other SSRI's. I didn't have the lazyness or any of that. I did better in school, I was motivated, my head was clear. I was very confident and got good jobs, etc. I stopped taking it cold after a few years because I eventually upped my dose too high and it made me a bit hypomanic and I started being irresponsible and missing doctor appointments and such because I thought I was the king. I never went back on it long term and went without meds for a couple years and I was completely awesome without them and all the skills I learned while on it I bought with me while I was off it.

When I started back up again after a bunch of traumatic experiences that came my way, I just naturally wanted to try something new and different. 

The one thing that gets me though like you say is the sexual side effect. I guess there are ways around it and I didn’t know them then, but even with the blue pills, the feeling was still numb.

But as for stimulating and activating. Provigil is a very good idea. I haven’t used it but I imagine it might be a good augment with an SSRI. I added Wellbutrin to the sedating Paxil and the combo was WONDERFUL. I had the best of all worlds. Another thing I did which was just last year for a short time was small doses of Zoloft, Adderall, and Wellbutrin and that was AMAZING. Truly amazing. But again not a good idea long term obviously b/c of the amphetamine. But that cocktail hit the 3 main neurotransmitters and I was GOLD.

If you were to do an SSRI again I would just pretend that you are very very depressed and you have been for some time it just now starting to get worse. Like you are lacking major interest in anything, things you onced loved you don't care for anymore, etc. That way he gives you a higher dose. But mainly just say hey man this freakin low *** dose isn't working for me I need it higher. Tell him you were going to request Ritilan daily and your compromise is a high dose of SSRI. He would be relieved. lol. 

I have tried the lower doses and they definitely don't do anything to break you out of your shell at all. The magic dose for me with zoloft while I was in school was 100mg. I bumped it to 150mg at the end of HS when I started working a full time sales job at the same time. And I was super pumped. 200mg is what pushed me too high. Lower doses definitely didn't do squat for any social anxiety though. 

You can keep that in mind but since you've tried those and are curious about Wellbutrin you could probably give that a try first. It kicks it A LOT faster, you'll notice it working in the first week. It's a very wonderful drug as well, they are just different. So you can see how you like it. 150mg is a general starting dose. Actually 75mg for the first few days. The bump to 150 SR or XL twice a day for a total of 300mg made a tremendous change and a full effect.

If I were to compare them I would say a high dose SSRI is a powerful, refined, subtle, and smooth force like a turbo car that creeps up on you slowly and all of a sudden you notice one day hey wow I am totally completely changed. Wellbutrin is a powerful, blunt, and strong force. Like a muscle car. Naturally with more dopamine comes being much more talkative and a kind of confidence that is more an "outwardly bold". Not to mention being more organized and focused. When I stopped my SSRI though I found it to be too much of an imbalance. Without the serotonin to balance it I was "too serious" and lacked my fun loving personality. I became uptight and my love for music also stopped. With an SSRI you get a fun loving crazy goofy additude and you are more chill. So the two work nice together. Gotta find some kind of happy medium across the board. 

Oh, and that part of being able to do anything at all in any event without thinking twice, that kind of confidence came from being on an SSRI. Wellbutrin actually made me think about things a little more, but to counter that it supplies you with more confidence to be able to act on it.


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## Simbakitty (Feb 6, 2009)

*75mg*

I got the Wellbutrin for SAD a while back. I was on Lexapro but the apathy and sexual side effects were bad. It took four miserable months to get off of that crap.

Then I went for the Wellbutrin generic. Insurance will not pay for brand name if generic is out there. I started with the 150mg XL and had weird thoughts on that, like feelings of grandeur. Then dropped to the 100mg SR and things were better. After going to the doc I asked for an even lower dose and got the 75mg SR and take that once in the evening. Strangley I can sleep at that dosage. The Wellbutrin is notorious for causing insomnia, but I read that if you have ADD it can help with racing thoughts. I can't go any higher than 75 mg so it blows my mind when I hear of people needing more than 300mg a day


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## alexttrott (Aug 28, 2009)

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Look at this pic


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## Diya (Aug 28, 2008)

Wellbutrin SR was initially very activating for me. It was amazing for my ADD and lethargy. Everything seemed funnier on Wellbutrin, I would laugh at anything and there's always this stupid smile on my face. 

It wasn't effective for SAD, though.


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## Utterryallelt (Feb 17, 2012)

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