r/bupropion

I suffer from Depression, Obsessive Traits (possibly OCD), lack of motivation, I can't get out of bed recently without having massive anxiety. This is destroying everything in my life at an unprecedented rate, my relationship, business, mood, I'm at one of my lowest if not lowest point.

I have currently just started taking Sertraline 100mg for about a week.

I was already on Sertraline for about 3 months back at the beginning of 2026 and I was doing better but suffering from the classic SSRI side effects, I tapered it off, added Trazodone and went Hypomanic according to my Doctor, so we dropped it completely and he prescribed me Trazodone 300mg and Olanzapine 5mg, useless to say that this combination completely turned me off, I was sleeping all day. Then they changed my Psychiatrist and the new one diagnosed a mixed state and decided to prescribe me Aripiprazole, took it for 16 days and I'm out of that hell. Worst experience of my Life. Now I'm on Quetiapine 100mg at night to help with sleep and 100mg of Sertraline, but I'm looking forward to add Wellbutrin to it. Has anyone been on this combination? “Welloft”? How did it work for you? I'm scared to take Wellbutrin alone for my Obsessive mind and my Anxiety.

So yeah, how did it go, how long were you on Sertraline before adding Bupropion? Did it help with the ADHD - like symptoms, Depression, was anxiety manageable? Just hearing anything positive would help.

My Doctor didn't even know this combination was possible until I suggested it which completely killed my trust in him... but we'll see. Currently I can't add Wellbutrin yet, the first week on Sertraline has been tough enough already.

I’m on 150XL. It has been 1 Month.
When I began taking it the side effects were GNARLY. The insomnia, heart rate, appetite loss, agitation… but while most have calmed down I still notice incredible dry-mouth, a very reactive HR and anxiety sort of feeling (not constant but a lot esp when I wake up) and insane nasal congestion when I lie down. Anyone else? Just me? SOS?

Im dealing with severe anxiety atm, also depression and adhd. My doc has me on 300mg Wellbutrin in the morning and at night: another 300mg Wellbutrin, Lorazepam 2.5mg, Trazodone 150mg and Paliperidone 1.5mg for the next week.

I feel like a zombie. Any advice or words of wisdom or even a commentary very welcome

Hi guys, it's my 9th day on bupropion and honestly I see no difference. Few days ago I just only see major difference like I could manage my thoughts and no negative thoughts or constant rumination but now even that is gone now, I feel again same and right now no difference.

My problem why I started this?
I went to doctor for my constant executive dysfunction, cognitive issues, memory problems, And he prescribed me Bupropion 150XL and Clonidine 100mcg.

Now, I have been facing sleep issues for past few days like literally I keep waking up from sleep and don't feel rested and honestly I even feel worse on my executive function and memory, now I even can't get task done which I could do by forcing me, it seems my memory is further went down if not up.

My queshion:
I read for past few days on this subreddit that many people facing side effects like brain fog, memory issues and these are the very same reason I went to doctor. Now what the hell should I do? Is bupropion really the right medicine for my executive dysfunction, working memory etc? Cause this badly affecting my life and am literally in lose and gonna lose my job. Should I continue this medicine? Please someone help!!!

We're at the ER now. They just moved us back to the waiting area after taking her blood. She says she's nauseous and I can see her arms shaking. We are both freaking out, especially her because she already has medical anxiety. We came to the ER at the advice of poison control.

Here's what happened - my wife is on many meds for her C-PTSD and has a regimen of taking different sets of pills at 8am (Wellbutrin 450mg), 1pm, 7pm, and right at bed time. Today she realized she had run out of her 1pm meds so I offered to go to the pharmacy and pick them up.

When I brought them home there were 3 bottles in the bag : 2 were for her 1pm and the other was her Wellbutrin 300xl which I guess was also ready for pick up. Her 1pm does is two white pills, and instead of taking those she took two 300xl wellbutrin.

So that means 600mg this afternoon + 450mg this morning = 1,050mg.

We are obviously freaking out and are very scared. The staff here at the hospital took her to triage right away and then got her blood drawn and now we're just waiting.

Words of encouragement are welcome ✨✨

UPDATE - Thank you all so much for these words of reassurance and encouragement, reading the comments out loud to her is the only thing that helps manage her anxiety 💙

Hospital is monitoring for 24 hours, had her drank activated charcoal, and they have her on some IV fluids. It's been 9 hours since the incident and still no major side effects thankfully!

Yesterday was July 4th of course and I ended up going to a party where I admittedly drank a ton. It's 5pm the next day here and I still feel awful, and have bad hangxiety. But more to the point, I started bupropion three weeks ago and haven't really felt a change. I was sober for a while up until recently when I started drinking again, a couple days a week.

I'm wondering if anyone who has been on bupropion for a long time thinks that alcohol blunted the benefits of the drug? Am I just basically canceling it out by drinking?

TLDR:
I’ve been on Wellbutrin for 6 months, and while it helped at first, I now have brain fog, emotional flattening, and cognitive slowing despite trying multiple doses and formulations. Tried to stop, felt exhausted, sad, unable to function. I feel stuck between staying on it with side effects or coming off and losing function—if you’ve stopped it, what approach did you use and how long did it take before you felt OK or normal again?

———

I’ve been on Wellbutrin for six months. I immediately felt an up leveling for the first few weeks. Albeit with some insomnia. I was very hopeful.

Before long I experienced many side effects, including poor sleep, brain blunting, head pressure, and fogginess.

I’ve tried 150 XL, 300XL, 100SR, and 75IR bid and other amounts. Still experiencing emotional flattening and cognitive impairment. Poor memory, difficulty with cognitive processing and an overall fogginess. I wish I could find the formulation that worked or the sweet spot.

I tried to come off once going cold turkey for a week and I was exhausted and unable to think and quite sad. I tried titrating up just a little and suffered a terrible week of barely getting by cognitively. This is incompatible with my work. So now I’m at 125 mg IR through cutting pills.

I’m wanting to feel better… more clear, feel myself, and think like I know I’m capable. Don’t know what to do. Feel damned if I do and damned if I don’t. Can’t afford to go dysfunctional.

If you quit, what approach did you use? How long before you felt OK or normal or good any insight thoughts or suggestions?

I’ve been talking Wellbutrin XL 150 mg for a week now and I’ve had no effects what so ever. I haven’t had any negative side effects like nausea, but it also hasn’t impacted my mood at all. Is this normal and how long does it take to kick in?

I've seen alot of people, especially here on reddit, complain about memory issues, issues with writing and concentration and I've also noticed symptoms like this and basically all studies I found came to the conclusion that it doesn't affect memory or even improves it even my psychiatrist looked very confused when I told him so is it really the medication or some underlying cognitive issue that just gets more pronounced when the medication is taken?

I just started 150mg XL 4 days ago and I keep getting dips in my blood pressure. I have dysautonomia and my heart usually races, but I take propranolol which helps. But it doesn’t lower it this much. I had a reading of 87/62. I don’t feel dizzy or like I’ll faint. I just get nauseous and my heart is pounding in my chest. I really wanted this med to work because my Zoloft has been giving me lack of energy and sexual dysfunction. I don’t know what to do I feel really hopeless. Did anyone else have this? I’m so confused because Wellbutrin is supposed to raise it.

I was prescribed Wellbutrin XL for depression and mild adhd.

I’ve started 150mg dose 4 weeks ago and stayed on it for 12 days before switching to 300mg.

Day 5 to 12 on 150mg were great. I guess it was the “honeymoon” phase. I loved it.

Day 13 I switched to 300mg and everything started getting worse. I’ve been on it for almost 3 weeks now and everyday is worse than the day before.

Irritability. Depression. Procrastination. Lack of motivation.

Has anyone experienced 150mg being better than 300mg?

Could this be adjusting phase to 300mg?

Has anyone had a similar experience and how did you deal?

Im on 150xl just started today. So far I dont feel any difference. I have took welbutrin sr in the past it helped but but it gave me anxiety. Previously I was taking strattera. It helped but made me sleepy. Thats why I asked my Dr. to switch to welbutrin.

I feel this is that day to test the color of my wall, I feel wired and ready to run a marathon 💪. I actually I wish not die.

I'm on around 3.5 weeks and I've noticed this week that I'm a lot more screamy/jumpy.

(I grabbed a plant and there was cute crab spider in it but I wasn't expecting it and the other night my toddler who's learning the world said bug as I was reading a book. I looked down to see a small centipede and I screamed and smashed it) My daughter looked confused as I normally don't act this way (she's almost two) I don't want her to be afraid of bugs like I am (sometimes))

Is this a common symptom on the medication permanently or is this temporary?

Just started Wellbutrin XL 150 mg x1 week and honestly…. I wish I started this medication 5 years ago. I have tried so many meds and never had the pros outweigh the cons until now (hopefully. Time will tell). I was on Pristiq for two years and the past year I was off the medication. Pristiq caused a 50 lb weight gain and anger episodes that were borderline debilitating. Welbutrin has been a WONDERFUL change of pace as listed below.

Pros:
my energy is way up compared to normal
I’m in a significantly better mood!
I still have anxiety and anger episodes but they are much less intense and don’t last for as long
The food noise is 50% less. I still want to watch food but it’s not a nagging constant in my brain the way it was before
My Libido is back! After being on pristiq for two years and then off anything for a year I had a negative libido
Sleep. I am having no issues going to sleep at night. I’m usually out quickly after my head hits the pillow

Cons:
Headaches. The first 3 days I was miserable. Day 5-7 I have had light ones in the afternoon but nothing bad
HOT FLASHES. Every day at 4-7 I feel like my entire body is on fire. Drinking water helps
Exhaustion. Im tired at 7 pm every day. This might be secondary to the additional things I am doing in a day due to new energy.

I’ll try to update if anything changes! If you have similar experiences or any additional advice, please comment below.

First time on it 150mg

I feel like my mind is less busy, I can thinking my own thoughts. It’s a lot quieter, my anxiety is much lower, sunny days feel amazing.

I can hear words in lyrics I never heard before

When I sit down to work I have work longer without randomly thinking of unrelated things

I've been Taking Tirzepatide since December, and have recently started taking 100mg SR of Bupropion with potential plans to increase to taking it twice a day.

Before the Tirzepatide, I have always been chronically tired, lacking energy and motivation, and just kind of pushed my emotions down. I've always kind of knew I was depressed, and had anxiety, I just didn't know what to do about it aside from talking to a therapist. Life circumstances and other mental health things finally pushed me to talk to my doctor about getting onto an anti-depressant.

She prescribed this because it is considered weight neutral, and she knows that weight loss is my goal to manage my health. I also spoke to my pharmacist (who is a big nerd and LOVES to be asked questions) and he did mention that glp-1s have been showing some evidence of affecting the reward center in the brain, and that Bupropion can do the same. He let me know that since I already have Anhedonia from the Tirz, I may even experience an uplifting effect, or that it would have the opposite or no effect at all. So far, the jury is still out but I am really hoping to have some semblance of energy and motivation back into my life. I'd love to hear anyone's experience with this.

As for the weightloss/appetite aspect? I'm having to make mental notes to myself to check in more often on my calories, and water. The glp-1 already gets rid of the food noise, and my desire to think about food. With just the Tirz, I would get hungry and eat when I was, but my appetite was curbed to the point where I could make the decision to eat when needed without food noise. But, with the Bupropion added, I literally do not want to eat at all now, and I have to force myself to- it's kind of becoming a chore. Not to mention, the indigestion and nausea is worse now than it was with just the GLP-1. Has anyone had this experience? Did some of the side effects dwindle down?

Been on bupropion 150mg since march.

Had been on strattera for ADHD for 3 months and it made me so depressed I couldn't leave my bed until I was too depressed to refill my prescription and felt better two days into not taking it. Anyway, immediately got off it when I realized and got put on bupropion.

I'd previously tried lexapro at multiple doses as a teen which did nothing, literally could've been a sugar pill. Nothing bad, nothing good, nothing. Got moved to zoloft- same thing. Nothing bad, nothing good, nothing. I was only ~13 when I was told I "maxxed out" and couldn't go up on the zoloft pill (complete lie. I was only on 50mg. I have no idea why my doctor told me this.) So being a depressed teen I thought all antidepressants were SSRIs and since I'd tried two none would do anything anyway. Was prescribed it through high school but took it very sporadically, to again no effect.

Eventually just stopped taking it, no withdrawal or anything because again, it had no effect on me. When I got a psychiatrist for the first time I only went in for ADHD meds, having decided that antidepressants don't work for me.

So after the strattera sent me so far down, I started bupropion. My doc said it was good for people with ADHD in particular, and that it wasn't an SSRI. I am uneducated I know, but that was the first time I'd ever heard of an antidepressant that wasn't an SSRI.

Long story short, worked in the first 1-2 weeks. That was major for me. As a teen on zoloft/lexapro my doctors would always tell me that it would be 4-6 weeks for it to even work. To a kid that feels no hope at all, that is an indescribably long time.

About a week and a half into taking it, I was driving home (I left my house!) and literally missed my turn because I was mouth-agape smiling and waving at a flock of cows in a field by the road. Not joking.

It's been 4.5 months now and I have had a few days in the last bit where I felt depressed. Nothing like before. Honestly, if I went from 10/10 levels of depression to 0 completely I would be kind of worried. My doc offered to go up to 300mg and I think I might in the fall/winter, as I get really bad seasonal in the early months of the year.

I was worried about getting tolerant to it and that's why I didn't want to go up, as this is the only thing that's ever worked for me. But my doc said there's still a ways to go before that, and there are even folks who take their dose as two pills a day. She also said that apparently there's another antidepressant that's kind of meant for people who got to the highest dose of bupropion and couldn't go higher. I have no idea. But what I got was, it'll be fine.

Anyway, peace and love to everyone else on this and to anyone who's starting or considering it!

[Should mention, I'm also on Concerta 36mg for ADHD since april. Works great but the concerta/bupropion mix gives me the worst dry mouth ever. Totally worth it.]