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Hi,

I havent been on here for a while. Can anyone tell me about their experiences with Wellbutrin? My doctor put me on it recently and it is giving me headaches. I have alwasy taken antidepressents of all different kinds. My lates experience was with effexor for 3 years, alongside of Klnopin. When I came to my doctor saying that i wanted to come off of Klonopin she said that i should be on a AD that really supports me while i cme off of klonopin. She changed me from effexor to wellbutrin, because she said it would be better... but i dont like it at all.

 

Should I definitely be on an antidepressant during my benzo w/drawel? I would kind of like to stop taking AD's as well.

 

What are your thoughts?

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She just switched you to Wellbutrin?  Effexor is a very strong A/D. One that you should also wean off of, especially for the amount of time you were on it.  It may be why you feel the way you do.  Have you had any electric shock feelings in your head?  They are common when one goes off this med.

 

Sandy

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The switch over was done very carefully- over a 3 or four week period of time- so that isnt really the issue. Although I have to admit when I came off of effexor I did experience some side effects, they are gone now, and I am beginning to increase my dose of wellbutrin (just so that i can be at the full dosage, to see if it helps me). I am experiencing headaches which are a side effect of wellbutrin... so I am kind of wanting to get off of AD's completely before coming off of the Klonopin, just because it seems like it could take forever to find one that works well enough...

 

So here is my question:

 

Is it a bad idea for me (having been a person who has taken AD's for a long time), to first carefully ween off of the current AD, wellbutrin, and then start the weening of Klonopin? Or, would you all say that it is absolutely neccesary to be on an AD while withdraing from Klon.?

 

Thanks !

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The switch over was done very carefully- over a 3 or four week period of time- so that isnt really the issue. Although I have to admit when I came off of effexor I did experience some side effects, they are gone now, and I am beginning to increase my dose of wellbutrin (just so that i can be at the full dosage, to see if it helps me). I am experiencing headaches which are a side effect of wellbutrin... so I am kind of wanting to get off of AD's completely before coming off of the Klonopin, just because it seems like it could take forever to find one that works well enough...

 

So here is my question:

 

Is it a bad idea for me (having been a person who has taken AD's for a long time), to first carefully ween off of the current AD, wellbutrin, and then start the weening of Klonopin? Or, would you all say that it is absolutely neccesary to be on an AD while withdraing from Klon.?

 

Thanks !

 

From what I seen, most people complete their benzo taper then wean off their A/D. 

 

Sandy

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It's up to you, but we normally recommend doing your benzo first before any other meds. This is because when you wean off the other meds, there is less stuff for your liver to process (prescription meds are broken down in the liver)...which means the benzos get broken down more quickly than before, making your w/d worse.

 

It's not absolutely necessary to be on an a/d while getting off benzos. Many people don't take any adjunct medication during their tapers. But I guess if it were me, if I felt okay on the a/d I was on, I would stick with it until I got off benzos. A lot of people do report pretty nasty depression during a taper. But it's really up to you. If you do stop the a/d before hitting the benzos, I would give yourself maybe a month after stopping the a/d (which you will want to taper, of course) to make sure your system is stable before going after the benzos.

 

Therese

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Prof. Ashton found it was better for her patients to taper off their benzos before their ADs. However, I don't think it would be a good idea to start taking ADs purely as an aid to taper off benzos (I'm sure Prof. Ashton never did this). I understand that is not quite your situation, but thought it worth making the point in case anyone reading this thread got hold of the wrong end of the stick.

 

As has already been recommended, all the information and feedback I've seen suggests that it would be better to stay on your ADs whilst you taper off your benzos - you could then look to taper off your ADs if that's what you feel you should do.

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I was on two antidepressants, Paxil and Trazadone.  I got off the Paxil (was supposed to switch to lexapro, but had bad experience).  Dr. told me I could just stop taking the Trazadone (found out it wasn't that easy, so decided to stay on it until done with my valium taper).  Heard getting off Paxil and Effexor are the hardest ADs to get off of.  Like Colin said, I wouldn't go on an antidepressant just for purposes of getting off the benzo, but if you are already on an AD (which apparently you are), I would stay on it until after the benzo taper.  However, sounds like you are having a hard time with your new antidepressant.  I had heard that effexor was great for panic attacks (which I suffer from), but that it was extremely hard to get on and off it. 

 

Sometimes with ADs, the effects are worse in the beginning.  You will have to decide for yourself whether getting off the wellbutrin will be harder than staying on it until after the benzo taper.

 

Good luck. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Dont 4get wellbutrin has the highest rate of risk of seizures  also if u miss doses of ur benzo  the 2 might increase chance of seizure  i think  but what do i know
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i was very nervous on wellbutrin.

 

celexsa is the only one that ever worked for me - but insurance stopped covering it cause lexapro is cheaper.

 

for me there are two classes of anti depressants - the constipating kind and the kind that makes me just want to jump out of my skin.

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Silver,

 

I've been on both kinds.  I'm still on trazadone that was prescribed initially to help with sleeping (that's actually laughable now).  Now it's doing nothing whatsoever except from keeping me from going through an additional withdrawal until I'm done withdrawing from my benzo.

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Silver,

 

Got that right.  Think at one time I was on 5 or 6 different meds and that's only because I kept saying no to drugs to doctors.  It's not all their fault though.  Most doctors feel that patients expect a prescription when they go see them about anything.  I think doctors feel that the patients will feel that they didn't get anything for their money if they don't prescribe them something.  That, and the drug companies promoting all the wonderful things their drugs can do for the doctor's patients.

 

Don't think the drug companies ever promote the problems patients can experience because of their designer drugs.

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Dont 4get wellbutrin has the highest rate of risk of seizures  also if u miss doses of ur benzo   the 2 might increase chance of seizure   i think   but what do i know

 

That's a great point. Bupropion does in fact lower the threshold for seizures, meaning to say if you were, for example epileptic. Wellbutrin/bupropion might well be contradindicated.

 

However, when you start on about quitting Klonopin whilst bupropion in is the mix... that one, whew boy, that's a challenging one for me. (Done wrong Klonopin itself can initiate seizures.)

 

Antidepressants (ADs) and benzodiazepines being the completely differnt types of drugs that they are, I cannot see any AD directly allaying an benzo taper.

 

Five will get you 10 that she's no psyciatrist.

 

Marie, you have me stumped except to say you should ease yourself off a drug at a time. Probably, you want to get yourself on some type of AD (Zoloft comes to mind) that you can tolerate first, then taper off the AD, then when that taper is completed you'll want take on your Klonopin next.

 

Again, I say, if at possible be seeing a PSYCIATRIST for this if you're not seing already. This is serious business and can get nasty--but it doesn't have to with the proper care.

 

:)

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