Hello Eleveno... I am sorry you have trouble getting to contact your pdoc. That is a very difficult situation. Perhaps you could meet with your regular medical doctor and ask for help with the sleeping part until you can see your pdoc again. I have been on Wellbutrin for 10 years... it took a lot of trial and error but we finally found that I do best on a combination of Wellbutrin (for depression), Prozac (for anxiety), and a small dose of Seroquel (for sleep). My regular doc prescribes my meds now... but the original combo was put in place by a pdoc. Good luck. It takes persistence to get it right but it is well worth the effort.
I am sorry you are having trouble sleeping. Have you thought about talking to your pharmacist about how to manage this side effect? In the mean time you could try to manage the insomia how you would manage insomnia that was not a drug side effect:
Try to manage stress levels
Keep regular sleeping patterns
Practice relaxation techniques throughout the day and before bed
Avoid caffiene
Avoid TV, video games and "screen time" a few hours before bod
Enjoy a relaxing activity before bed like read or taking a warm bath
Exercise
Eat a healthy well balanced diet
Make sure your sleep environment is comfortable and has little distractions like changes in noise, light and temperature
Please be sure to talk to your doctor or pharmacist before considering drinking alcohol or taking sleep aids
Last night I had insomnia and today I am feeling tired with the consequence of the worsening of my symptoms of depression. Actually, I have been sleeping poorly for the past 2 weeks which coincided with the change of medication (started with Wellbutrin). I read on the Internet that insomnia is one of most frequent side effects of Wellbutrin and many people report this problem. Initially I didn't give much importance to this and thought that I would get used to the medication with time. Unfortunately this is not happening and the insomnia persists.
I feel this med is working and lifting my depression. But on the other hand the poor sleep that I have is contributing also for the worsening of my mood. The advantages of the med are contra balanced by the low mood due to insomnia. Thus I can say this med haven't been effective.
I would like to talk with my doctor about this but he is not available today, and possible I can only contact him next week (and it wouldn't be easy). One of the problems of my doctor is not being available when necessary nor he gave me any direct contact in case I need to. I think this is because he has too many patients and it is impossible for him to follow-up everyone. My first response is to look to another doctor who could be more available, but I have been consulting different doctors in the past which is not good also.
This time I would like to stick to only one doctor but if can't talk with him when needed what is the purpose of continue with this doctor?
My next appointment is on February 28th but I do not know if I can keep sleeping poorly until the end of this month.
For 2 months now I was prescribed Lexapro 10 mg to deal with depression but this week there was a change in medication due to recent blood tests. My serotonin level is 15, when the normal range is between 117 and 193, which clear indicates that my serotonin levels are too low. Because of these results my pdoc prescribe me Wellbutrin 150 mg to help boost my mood and stopped Lexapro. I have been reading that to find the right medication is sometimes a question of trial and error and I hope I will be starting feeling a little better with Wellbutrin. I will have a new appointment with my pdoc in one month to have an update on my situation.
