Wellbutrin (Bupropion) has been around for a long time. In this video, I talk about my experience taking Wellbutrin. I also talk about how Wellbutrin works and how it can be a benefit to those fighting Major Depressive Disorder. Visit our website at to learn more.
Hi everybody and welcome to another episode with the anxious resistance today we’re talking about a medication called wellbutrin the generic name is bupropion which is kind of funny to say anyway this drug has been around for a while okay so it hit the market in the united states in the mid-1970s so 40 plus years ago this medication is an antidepressant but
It’s unique in the way it treats depression so it’s different from your typical ssris you know your zolofts your prozac this hits on a different chemical it actually hits on a different combination of chemicals similar to the ssris though what it does is it blocks the reuptake of certain chemicals in the synaptic cleft or space so which controls our mood which
Controls how we feel you know the chemicals that are in that space is how we feel so the more the feel good chemicals we have the better what wellbutrin does is it increases dopamine which you probably heard of before and it also increases norepinephrine so these two together in increased concentrations can help with things like energy levels and it can help you
Just all around feel better with the mood you know that increased dopamine so this is called a norepinephrine dopamine reuptake inhibitor so similar to an ssri which is a serotonin selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor only this blocks norepinephrine and dopamine like i’ve been saying so what’s the difference here okay so with wellbutrin it works quite well for
Depression but it doesn’t work super well for anxiety so this is often not prescribed for people with anxious symptoms with their depression because it won’t help those anxious symptoms as much as something like an ssri would or other anxiolytic medications so there are some advantages to wellbutrin like i said it has that unique mechanism of action where it works
On dopamine and norepinephrine and not so much on serotonin so what does this do well as far as side effects go this gives you some advantages it doesn’t have um sexual side effects like ssris and snris do in fact it might help with sexual dysfunction um so this is really good for those who feel like maybe they’ve been having issues with other medications you
Know really decreasing their libido or maybe decreasing their attraction to their partner whatever this is a medication that isn’t known for doing that so another thing that it doesn’t do is it doesn’t cause weight gain so wellbutrin is a pretty good medication for not doing that so if you’ve been having issues with that on other drugs maybe give wellbutrin a try
One of the things that wellbutrin is known for is being prescribed for seasonal affective disorder which i talk about in another video here so seasonal affective disorder is when people have certain times of the year where they feel more depressed than normal you know everybody kind of has that you know that seasonal slump but these people it’s it’s more extreme
You know they are having clinical depression um you know difficulty getting out of bed difficulty functioning in their normal everyday life and this commonly happens during the winter months but can happen during other times during the year so this medication is specifically used for that because you know with that increased norepinephrine you have increased
Energy levels and it’s been known to really help people who have that seasonal depression so another interesting fact about wellbutrin is that it it is commonly prescribed as a smoking cessation agent so it has it has different brand names for that it is the same medication and has been shown to help people who have difficulty quitting smoking so i was actually
Prescribed wellbutrin at one point in my mental health journey and i’ve been on it for i think i only was on it for three four weeks i had a really hard time with wellbutrin um i was taking it in december you know it was right when that seasonal effective stuff kind of hits but i just i had a really poor reaction to the medication you know it made me really achy
Especially in the joints you know it was quite quite painful i also had you know pinching tingling sensations all over it just made me all around feel miserable you know i tried to give this medication the best chance that i could but ultimately i quit because of those side effects now that’s not to say that you’re going to have the same side effects if this is
A medication that you try everybody is different and this is something that i like to point out especially in the comments on the videos is that everybody reacts differently to medications we all have a different body chemistry we all have different you know ways our body metabolizes drugs we have different genetics there’s so much that goes into this so me saying
That i had a bad experience doesn’t mean that you’re going to have a bad experience i really want people to not be discouraged from trying different options of finding something that really helps them it took me a long time to finally find the combination of medications and supplements that help me feel my very best and it just takes time and you shouldn’t just
Get discouraged and say oh all medications are out because i had a bad reaction to this one so please be hopeful and keep trying you’re gonna find something it took me a very long time to find the right medications for me but i finally got there and i am so much better and happier because of it so don’t give up wellbutrin is a good medication it’s a good drug you
Can ask your doctor about especially if you’ve been having difficulty with other medications like ssris and thank you so much for watching this video if you want more content like this subscribe to our channel follow us on social media we do all that we can to help people with mental health disorders especially when it comes to education and learning about different
Medications thank you so much for watching and have a good one you
Transcribed from video
Wellbutrin (Bupropion) for Depression – Personal Experience and Professional Knowledge By The Anxious Resistance
