I just posted a question today here
about taking Zyban (wellbutrin) and Paxil together. Xash closed it. Why?
I’m assuming I may not have posed the question properly. I had no intention of taking these medications without the supervision of my physician. I couldn’t even get the Zyban without a prescription. Well I suppose there’s always the “street” element to prescription drugs but I do not and would not purchase “street” drugs. Yeesh. I merely wanted educated opinions and perhaps other dopers to share their experiences, if they had them, with these two drug combinations. I see threads on the boards all the time pertaining to recreational drug use yet my question regarding prescription drugs is taboo? Huh? 
I’m curious as well. You just wanted to know if anybody has had experience taking both meds at once. Xash may have been a bit quick on the draw.
As an aside, could you get the benefits of Paxil from the Wellbutrin and just have your doctor change the prescription? Did Wellbutrin work as an anti-depressant for you?
I usually understand what prompts a thread closing. This one is a bit baffling.
I know the mods tend to be pretty cautious about people asking for specific medical advice, even if the OP assures everyone they will talk to their doctor before taking action. It may be a liability thing.
Also, despite your assurances in this thread, the tone of your OP did make my ears prick up. It sounded to me like you were looking for assurances that you could safely try just taking both medications. Maybe you have some Zyban from an old prescription. Maybe a friend or relative has a prescription. Who knows? But it didn’t seem purely theoretical.
It’s hard to say what the effect of Wellbutrin alone was because I wasn’t in the throws of a depressive episode at the time. I had only been on it two months and by then I kicked the smoking (cigarettes, in case Xash thinks it’s something else) habit.
For what it’s worth I called the doctor and I am meeting her today to discuss this.
I just wanted doper opinion to have some background before talking to her.
I’m a little peeved about Xash’s itchy trigger finger about this topic.
Your original question made me a bit uneasy. Here’s an example of why…
Say several Dopers post that they are taking both meds with no ill effects. You take this info to the doc and she still will not prescribe both at once. So you go to a second doc for the second script. You die from the combination. This is a huge liability issue for this board.
Anyone can post factual information about the known factors that might contribute to a significant drug interaction. It’s not rocket science, and these days docs are as likely as not to just whip out their Palm Pilot to consult ePocrates and trust potentially outdated material. Seems to me simply providing a bunch of cites on the relevant pharmacology and instructing the OP to do with it what they will shouldn’t be an issue.
I am not Xash, but it seems to me that this bit of the original OP:
could be interpreted as, “I want to take Zyban, but unfortunately my doctor won’t let me since I’m on Paxil.” And yet you want to know more about the effects of mixing the two. Fishing for recommendations that fly in the face of your doctor’s advice for your specific case seems like something best avoided.
Admittedly, you probably didn’t mean it that way, but asking for medical advice is a touchy area, anyway.
I was on Wellbutrin for anxiety, and when my anxiety flared up, I was prescribed Paxil in addition to the Wellbutrin. It was a horrible, horrible experience for me. I’ve never been so sick from drugs before in my life. If doctors know about the two drugs interacting now, it seems like they didn’t six months ago when they prescribed them for me.
Talk to your doctor.
I also think it was that exact phrase that probably set off alarms in xash’s head - it came across as “I don’t want to ask my doc, cause he’ll say no,” as opposed to what I now realize you meant was “I want to find this out, because I’m going to ask my doc, but I’m afraid he’ll say no - will he?”
I can see how my post may have been misunderstood and I should have clearly stated that I was only asking for opinions and not medical advice. I assumed it *was * clear but a little reduncancy never hurt.
Many dopers ask medical questions on the boards and we all answer them with the disclaimer that we aren’t doctors and that the poster will only get the best info from a licensed MD and what not. I just think Xash got a little carried away on this one.
Another thing I find interesting is that there are dopers who claim to be physicians and answer questions as such. :dubious: No offense to those that are truly physicians but I would no more heed their medical advice than the advice of a rabid tree sloth. The anonymity of the boards always makes me cautious.
That would be my guess too. Even if there are professional doctors and pharmacists on the SDMB, this isn’t the place for them to make recommendations. And if you are going to base your decision on an SDMB opinion (or poll), I’d say that’s very risky business on your part.
I was going to ask the doc about it regardless of what I got from the boards. I just like being armed with as much info as possible. If several dopers had bad experiences I would have asked the doc about the possibility of me having similar reactions. I was information gathering, nothing more, nothing less.
:: scratching my head here ::
Then why even bother asking a medical question here?
I mean, if you ask a question like your original thread that got closed, but you’re saying there’s no way that will effect your opinion … then why bother asking?
OK, got it. Our posts are getting out of sequence here 
I didn’t say it wouldn’t effect my opinion. I would always ask my doctor about medical questions. I thought people asked med questions on the boards more or less to see if others had similar things happen and what they may hae done about them. The insight helps. I wanted insight, opinions, maybe cites. But what my doctor recommends would trump that. If everyone on the boards said they had no problems and my doc said it’s too risky, then I will take the docs advice.
It seems like there have been many threads asking for specific medical advice lately. Because of this the mods may be erring on the side of caution.
Quick answer: I closed it because I thought that there is a possibility that there could be a contra-indication with taking these drugs together, and perhaps those who respond to your question may not be fully aware of all the circumstances in which this might happen, as also they are unaware of your medical history and physical condition.
In the event that taking these drugs together were to cause some ill-effect, I would not like this board to be liable for it. We discourage threads asking for medical advice on this board, and often err on the side of caution.
It was a pre-emptive measure on my part.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
My apologies for a short answer. It’s 1.45a.m. here and I’m off to sleep. I may not be able to respond to further posts until tomorrow.
But you are not the only person reading this thread. In addition to the smartest, hippest people on the planet, there are still few total dipsticks lurking here. If someone reads a recommendation and decides to try both drugs, which they just happened to have in their medicine cabinet, the SDMB could be sued as a result.
Well, if it helps any at this late date, several years ago, I took zoloft (a paxil cousin) and wellbutrin together.
UNDER a physicians care. I was only on it for about 1/3 of the recommended time, and started ramping down on the zoloft after about 4 months. The wellbutrin I continued until I ran out, since it doesn’t have the nasty symptoms that paxil type drugs do if you just stop taking them.
I started with just zoloft, added the wellbutrin after about 2 months, and all told, quit both drugs by about 7 months after I started.
I noticed no ill effects from taking both of them. My doses were in the very low range though, as the depression I suffered at the time while clinical was “situational” in nature (it had been triggered by a signicant emotional event). I don’t know if this will help or not, but of course, as the mod was emphasizing. All changes should take place only under your doctor’s care.