Positive experience coming off of Wellbutrin!
Hey there! I've (30F) read many negative stories on here about people trying and failing to come off of Wellbutrin, so I thought I'd share my positive experience several months into being off of it:) I also want to add that this drug did help me improve my life in so many ways and I do not regret taking it. I will mostly be focusing on the negative impact the drug had on me in this post, but again, there were many positives as well. Feel free to ask any questions!
I was on Wellbutrin for 2.5 years (ranging between 50-250mg). I initially started taking it to help me quit nicotine in June 2023, but I realized it was helping with depression and some ADHD symptoms, as well. I have now been off of it completely since January of this year and have never felt better. Around January 2024, I did stop for a month and a half before returning to it when I felt a crushing depression returning and after perusing this sub, where thread after thread I read reported the same story of people returning to the drug for the same reason.
So, when I decided to come off for good around the time my husband proposed a divorce in October 2025 (We are not getting a divorce, coming off of Wellbutrin gave me back the motivation to put effort into our relationship!), I was extremely worried the depression would return and I'd end up in a long-term negative cycle of stopping and returning to the drug for the rest of my life.
The first attempt I had at quitting this drug, I tapered off 200mg in 3 weeks. This was way too fast in hindsight, and I believe is the reason the depression returned so strongly and rapidly. So, starting around the beginning of October 2025, I first reduced my dose from 250 to 225, moving down just 25mg every 2ish weeks until I hit 50mg. After 2 weeks on 50mg, I stopped and beyond excessive sweating (which hasn't really gone away tbh) and some digestive issues, no other symptoms followed.
While I am still an advocate for the drug and see the good it did for me, I can also clearly see the negative ways the drug impacted me personally. I lost the ability to strongly feel any emotion, negative or positive, while on the drug. I got married in September 2024 and on my wedding day, I "knew" I was happy and excited, but I didn't feel it like I thought I should have. During my honeymoon, I experienced some of the most beautiful sights and experiences I'd ever had, yet something felt empty about it internally. Was it my marriage? Was it the Wellbutrin? I could not have told you at the time. I was happy in my relationship before starting it, though. We've been together since 2019. Once while on the drug, I saw one of my favorite artists perform for the first time. During my favorite song which has many strong memories tied to it, I enjoyed the music, yet I felt basically NOTHING from it. I knew that it was all wrong, I knew that I was missing something, like my brain just couldn't reach that state of excitement where you feel it in your stomach anymore and dang it's a bummer some of my biggest life moments happened while in this state. I get that the emotional blunting is beneficial for most people on the drug, it was for me for a time as well! I also know that not everyone has the same experience I did.
In addition to the emotional blunting, I became extremely self-absorbed. I didn't care to hear my husband rant about his interests, I didn't feel much empathy when my best friend's boyfriend up and left her, I had to really try to be there for my sister when her 8-year relationship ended and she had to move back in with my parents. All of these things came so naturally to me before. Outside of my husband, it was not obvious to others that I was not my old empathetic self any longer. It was all internal, but it sucked a lot to know that I cared deeply about these people yet felt nothing as they cried during their hardest life moments. Since coming off, I can now say it was 100% the Wellbutrin making me this way and nothing else. I had neglected my relationship to the point that we are still in couples therapy to work through the distance the drug created between us. Damn was I just in a constant state of "whatever" for almost 3 years lol.
What led me to making this post today- I have a vacation to the Bahamas coming up in two weeks. Today my cousin sent me one of the activities we'll be doing there and for the first time in a long time, I felt that pit of the stomach, pure excitement feeling I haven't felt in such a long time. It feels like pure bliss, honestly.
Anyway, I am here for any questions you guys may have, but as someone who tends to get dependent on things and with long-term SSRI-proof depression, if I can successfully quit this drug I feel anyone who really wants to can. I did a lot of hard work while on the drug, including therapy for the majority of my time on it, which I believe plays a major role in the depression not returning. But ultimately, I am now far happier off the drug than I ever was on it. Except for maybe those first 2-3 weeks of almost manic happiness lol