I am glad that you felt relaxed on saturday....maybe you were able to really rest well around that time...don't know.
bizi

The 200 mgs Wellbutrin was too high (not relaxed).
As I come off it, I feel better (relaxed).

M.

Neurontin is most commonly prescribed for parethesias (d/t many things). I've taken it for that in wicked high doses, but I didn't know it was prescribed for mood or sleep.
Lyrica (what I take now) is an off-shoot of neurontin. I take it now. I've heard that it can help with depression. It only made me sleepy the first few times I took it.
I take 100mg of trazadone for sleep. It helps me. No s/e either.

I'm glad that you're feeling better coming off the wellbutrin, Mari. :)

-Kay

dear Kay

sorry to have confused you. Neurontin is not usually prescribed as a sleep med. i have used it that way but it can only be used on 2 successive nights, at most 3 if you take an increased dose on the 3rd. after that the system gets used to the sedative effect and it doesn't work for sleep for another 2-3 weeks. not useful for nightly use.

it was found to be largely ineffective for mood (occasionally you run across someone who is given it for that reason though). it is mostly used for various pain conditions (doses run up into the 5 gram range) as well as seizures (1 -2 grams). some reports of it being helpful with anxiety. i took it for migraine prophylaxis at 1200 mg qd. and my pdoc will script it to me if i request it, for the "occasional" sleep use i described. it gives very nice, restful sleep if you haven't taken it in a long time....but has to be taken early... it's a bit hard to manage in that sense.

~ waves ~

I am glad that you felt incredibly relaxed on saturday!
:)
bizi

Dear Mari

when i had the bad experience with the XL version of wellbutrin... aside from chest pain which at 300 mg a day was unbearable, the most bothersome thing was a pent-up, nervous, on-edge, feeling - even when i went down to 300/150mg on alternate days. i was not hyper, physically or mentally, more felt like there was an inner pushiness... like a spring being wound up tighter and tighter... if there is an opposite to relaxed, that's how i felt. had to d/c.

when i took it before - i had the SR kind. i don't have real "clean" information on what dose worked for me, because i was also on carbamazepine throughout - that increases wellbutrin metabolism significantly, and requires higher dosing than usual.

and i was on bunches of other "calm-you-down" meds - at various times some or all of the following: lithium, low dose AP, occasional benzo, occasional Neurontin.

sorry for rambling... guess i'm just wanting to compare notes...

keep letting us know how you are doing, and how much you are taking...

~ waves ~

Hi,
I'm taking 50 mgs each night until I talk to pdoc or decide I can't stand it anymore:

Sept 23 Thursday: zero
Sept 24 Friday: 50 mgs pm
Sept 25 Saturday: 50 mgs pm
Sept 26 Sunday: 50 mgs pm (pm = after midnight when I get ready for bed. Tonight will be my third night at 50 mgs.)


--->> I expect that 50 mgs will not be enough of a dose to take care of the agitated depression.
--->> I also expect that I will not be able to tolerate these side effects much longer.


Around 1993 I started taking as much as 450 mgs a day in regular release for years (with the Verapamil and benzos).
I went down to 300 mgs a day for some years.
I discontinued around 2004/5 because the paresthesia started.

After I stopped taking Wellbutrin, I occasionally had bouts of paresthesia but nothing as distressing as what the Wellbutrin caused.


Except for two days on the 150 pills when the formulation first came on the market, I've always taken the regular release.

M.

Dear Mari

it may be a good idea to talk to your neuro - or a different one - about the paresthesia, since you have had it even when not on wellbutrin. the fact that wellbutrin causes a bad case of it is accessory information.

i am sad that the wellbutrin is not working out. i agree 50 mg is unlikely to do much for you depression wise. 100 maybe but 50 i don't see...

saying you don't know how much longer you can stand it sort of hints to me that you are still very uncomfortable....
so, even though by saturday you were significantly relaxed, the paresthesia is still going? not significantly milder?

:hug:

~ waves ~

Hi,
The first time I reported paresthesia in my face, I called my gp at the time. His office asked me to leave work and come in immediately because he wanted to check to see if I was having a stroke.

When it happened again (in face and head and other areas) I went to Urgent Care.
My pdoc / neuro sent me for an MRI of the head and an EEG. Results were normal.

It takes a long time to explain the current neuro situation and my current internist. I did see a my hospital neuro in his office August or Sept 2009. He is a BIG jerk.

Current internist wants me to do lots of stuff, but I cannot keep up with her.
I saw pdoc a lot this year with sleep meds in the spring, Lexapro early summer, close monitoring of Wellbturin, . . . . .also saw orthodontist every two weeks for a while. Those two people took up a lot of time. -- time I did not want to put into other things for the internist because I was so depressed that getting out of the door to work or anywhere else was a huge effort.
The orthod is done. The pdoc continues as I have an appt on Thursday.

Current insurance will not cover neck MRI, so internist has asked me to get a nerve conduction test and an Xray of neck, . .

That was the short version. Long version needs a lot more time to explain.

My cleaning lady started seeing a neuro because she was hearing sounds in her head. She reports that her neuro is wonderful.
I have an appointment with her neuro the third week of October. This neuro is in the same practice with the neuro I saw last year in the hospital and again in his office in August / Sept. but I won't see him again for any reason.

M.

good. i am glad they made sure you were ok.

short version is fine. i did not mean to request a thesis... but i know these things can be intricate to explain. you clued me in decently. thank you.

oh good. that's not too far off either.

i don't blame you. don't see that one.

your prioritizing depression vs things on your mdoc's list makes sense. depression was making even regular things humongous... it makes complete sense to tackle that before tacking even more things onto your days.

i think i am going to try to sleep now.

~ waves ~