I didn’t mean to imply that everyone is going to have bad side effects from Wellbutrin (or other antidepressants). If everyone did, no one would prescribe them. So they are clearly working for a lot of people - it’s just that some people, like me and some other posters in this thread, get side effects, some of which make the drug not worth taking.
Only because a lot of people are susceptible to the placebo effect.
I’m sensitive to anti-depressants as well. I think the experimenting with taking them is why I got diagnosed with Bipolar (most SSRI’s cause mania for me as well as stimulant medication), even though I never took any of them longer than a few weeks other than Strattera. Wellbutrine did make my ears ring, and that’s why I stopped taking it. I also was on a forum where someone was claiming they were suddenly really suicidal, and I mentioned about her taking Wellbutrin which could have been causing those feelings.
I don’t know if being sensitive to certain meds makes people truly Bipolar, but I take Abilify which has no side effects, no weight gain (kills appetite too), and it actually helps me with tinnitus. I think my mania is what causes the tinnitus or ringing.
It works as both a mood stabilizer and helps me think more like normal.
Abilify is also used for depression, I’m pretty sure they market it on tv for that too. Since I have Bipolar, it has tackled all my major problems with the MI. The only thing is you wouldn’t want to take it for a few risks, Tardive Dyskinesia or constant muscle twitching is known for being linked to anti-psychotics, and Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrom, NMS, which is fatal. I also don’t know which are worse if you’re pregnant, because I’ve been told anti-psychotics may cause birth defects.
I haven’t had any issues with Abilify, but I thought I’d let you know of the risks in case you ever decide to take an anti-psychotic.
You know why I know I’m immune to the placebo effect? Because I tried 14 goddamn different medications over 10 years and spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on treatment before I found one that actually worked. And actually, Wellbutrin was one of the first medications I tried, years ago, and for whatever reason I didn’t react well to it, but I was so desperate at this point I was like, ''Yeah, what the hell, I’ll try it again." I had zero expectations. I had finally accepted that nothing was going to help me.
The placebo effect is a thing, but so are medications actually helping people.
Thirty percent of depression sufferers is still a rather large group of people. And nearly every one of these tests I’ve seen only test SSRIs, a class of drug that Welbutrin does not fit into.
My experience with the drug is that it’s a bit of an upper, and if that’s the case with others, that alone could help with mild or even moderate depression.
BTW, do they still call it the placebo effect when the drug does actually do something, and thus your brain assumes that, since it’s doing that, it’s making things better? And, also, do they count it when, like SSRIs, there’s a (usually) small withdrawal period where you will feel worse without taking the drug, thus making you think you need it?
I’ve never been on Wellbutrin but these experiences sound eerily familiar to the experiences I had while adjusting to “Dopamax”, or as it’s more properly known; Topamax. It has earned the nickname “Dopamax” for having the reputation of making people literally unable to comprehend basic concepts and making typically highly intelligent people struggle with formerly easy cognitive tasks.
I would stop mid-sentence, completely at a loss for what I wanted to say. And I mean totally blank. I’d just have to drop it. Embarrassing and kind of scary. It took the better part of a year for me to fully adjust and feel like my old, normal self again. I am on a low-dose regimen of Topamax (in addition to a few other preventative meds), which is an anti-seizure drug which I am prescribed off-label to prevent migraines. So I am stuck taking it indefinitely.