Hi, Bruce. I work a noon to midnite shift in a hospital on weekends and work days in selfemployment during the week. I have taken WellbutrinSR 150 mg twice a day for nearly 5 years. Well, during the winter, which is the hardest time of year for me with less sunlight available, I have had some difficult days. I noticed that my energy is low, I procrastinate on important things, withdraw from people and situations, don't wake up happy any more, want to stay in bed late and can't get to sleep at nite till the wee hours. I talked to my doc about it and said I thought maybe going back to Zoloft might be helpful.
Five years ago I became severely depressed following my smoking cessation. I even returned to smoking to see if I could pull myself out of it,but to no avail. My doc put me on Zoloft and I improved. I had 2 weeks of utter hell with anxiety, and then it suddenly subsided. I improved within a short time. It was only because I wanted to try to quit smoking again that I even suggested Wellbutrin. It helped my depression but not my smoking. It has taken me the best part of 5 years to give up the smokes, but I am hooked on the gum now.
Anyhow, my point was to say that depression interferes with sleep just as shiftwork does. It ain't for everybody, including this one here. LOL. I think that perhaps the Wellbutrin I took kept me up till 3, 4 even 5 o'clock in the a.m. after working till midnite and then I could barely drag myself out of bed to go back the next day. I would spend all week long trying to return my sleep pattern to suit the day shift, then the weekend came and I was essentially up all nite on Sat and Sun.
Although I have only taken about 12 days of Zoloft and been off the Wellbutrin just a week, I have been falling asleep around midnite every nite this week. I even feel asleep after dinner last nite, woke up briefly, and fell back asleep about 3 hours later.
It is subtle. I cannot say for sure that the medication did it,but it seems the only change in my life. It is hopefully a change for the better for me. Like Leslie in the other thread, smoking masked my depression for a long time. I've had problems with anxiety and various states of depression ever since I was a teen, but I didn't realize it until I started taking the Zoloft 5 years
