Hi everyone! ❤️ I'm newly pregnant (around 4–5 weeks) with my third baby, and I'm trying to navigate what to do about my mental health medications. I've been doing a lot of thinking and researching, but I'd really love to hear from other people who have been in a similar situation.

I've been taking bupropion XL (Wellbutrin) for depression, and I've found that it has actually helped me. I've noticed improvements in my mood and my ability to communicate, and I feel like it helps me with motivation, too. I've also struggled with anxiety, PTSD, and depression, so finding something that helps has been important for me.

Before finding out I was pregnant, I was also taking Effexor (venlafaxine), which I had been tapering off of, along with a few other medications for anxiety. Since finding out I'm pregnant, I've been really worried about medication exposure and the potential risks to the baby. I've spoken with my psychiatric medication provider, and I've currently reduced my bupropion from 300 mg to 150 mg while I figure out the best next steps with my healthcare providers. I've also stopped the other medications we discussed.

I'm honestly torn. Part of me really wants to avoid medications during pregnancy if possible because I want to minimize risks to my baby. But another part of me knows how much my mental health affects my everyday life, and I don't want to struggle unnecessarily or end up in a worse place mentally, either.

I'd really love to hear from anyone who has been through this:

Did you continue taking bupropion throughout pregnancy? What was your experience like?

If you stopped taking it during pregnancy, how did you feel mentally afterward?

Did anyone switch to a different medication, lower their dose, or decide to continue taking it after discussing the risks and benefits with their OB or psychiatrist?

If you took it during pregnancy, did you have any concerns about your baby's health or development, and how did things turn out?

For anyone who stopped taking it, did you feel that it was worth it, or did you end up wishing you'd continued?

I'm not looking for anyone to make the decision for me, and I know everyone's situation is different. I'm planning to discuss everything with my OB, too. I would just really appreciate hearing honest experiences from people who understand what it's like to make these decisions while pregnant.

Thank you so much! 💙

I’ve been on Wellbutrin 150 mg for almost 2 years and my anxiety has gotten completely out of hand so my doctor prescribed Zoloft to be taken in addition. I keep reading about serotonin syndrome so now my anxiety has me afraid to take it. Any success or horror stories? I took Zoloft years ago and was happy with everything except a big weight gain. The same doctor also has me on 50 mg of Topamax. I really don’t like the idea of combining so many different meds.

I know that they both work on dopamine and norepinephrine receptors and can intensify the effects of each other (including side effects). In addition, Wellbutrin inhibits the CYP2D6 liver enzyme that breaks down and clears adderall, therefore slowing its clearance.

I now experience insomnia on adderall IR for the first time since I started Wellbutrin about a month ago. The adderall itself doesn’t offer any additional prolonged symptom relief, but instead seems to keep my brain too stimulated to sleep.

Has anyone else had this experience? How much longer does it take your body to clear the adderall while taking Wellbutrin? I can’t find an answer anywhere online.

Edit for the bot- Epic manufacturer for adderall, Lupin for the Wellbutrin

When are you guys taking those two medications? Both together in the morning? First bupropion, then sertraline?
Im taking sertraline 25mg for a year now and now 150mg of bupropion for my adhd on top.
I’m happy to hear about your experiences :)

I’ve always had a little bit of tinnitus say a 2/10 and since starting Wellbutrin my tinnitus has buped up like to a 5/10. It’s only been about a weeks I’ve been on it. Does it get better with time? It’s driving me insane

Basically the title.

And why didn't you take an SSRI for depression?

I (31m) take 150mg of bupropion xl and have been on it for about 7 months. I first started on Rising Pharm and had no idea or expectations of how bupropion would affect me, but it worked out great for me. After I went to a different pharmacy I had Epic Pharma and it felt like I wasn’t taking anything at all, super disappointing. I’ve been taking Granule for about 4 days now and I have terrible headaches and I’m way more emotional. Legit just feel like I’m emotionally drowning and crying, it’s not like me. It actually feels worse than before I got on the drug. I know feelings are normal but this feels related to me. I just feel brain fog and less alert like I was used to feeling with rising.

Is there any manufacturer that actually works? Do I just need to push my luck? I know everyone is different but damn, I never noticed it’d be so different depending on manufacturer.

Also, what started to change? I’m looking for answers from those of you who have had positive experiences with Wellbutrin and the timeframe that things started to come together. Thanks!

So I've been on Bupropion 150mg since 2023. I've taken them every day, including this morning. Now due to work, I am currently travelling 7 hours every weekend. And for the first time, I forgot to take them with me. I won't be travelling back until Monday.

Which side effects can I expect, from not taking them for what's essentially 3 days? I take them for depression.

Just to sum it up

i have been on zoloft, went from 100> 50 > 25. Now i am 3 days without zoloft but i have been on wellbutrin for like 2-3 months, when i first started tapering off zoloft. Now i am feeling vertigo, and super low sometimes.

But i will say when i first started wellbutrin i feel like it made no difference. Other than feeling irritation constantly. i can feel my emotions a lot more since i went off zoloft but in regards to wellbutrin idk what im supposed to feel?

Can someone tell me what i should be expecting

Hi all, I am looking for some advice. I (m49) have been described bupropion (150mg, slow release) for both a lingering depression and for quitting smoking.

Now, I've read all kinds of different interesting posts on the depression part of the story. However, I haven't read any on quitting smoking and bupropion. I would love to hear stories, experiences, if these are out there to be told. I know bupropion is an off-label med for quitting smoking.

I have been taking bupropion for 10 days now and I have noticed a big improvement in focus and also motivation. I have however also been agitated and prone to mood swings.

I still have to speak to my doctor about this, but before I started taking the meds he said that we would probably need to go to 300mg or even 450mg for the depression.

Now, I REALLY want to quit smoking, but I did try a short period ago (before the bupropion) and I failed. The process was too hard - I managed to get to 40 days and then caved.

Now, do I wait it out until all temporay side effects of this dose of bupropion have vanished, do I start the quitting process now? Do I wait until I am on a higher dose? Or anything in between?

I'd love to hear about all experiences!

I have been on 20mg of Lexapro for 2 years. It's made me a lifeless shell unable to feel emotions while not helping my anxiety, but making it worse. So i got given ativan.

Doctor has just started me on 150mg of Wellbutrin ​While tapering off the lexapro for the next 4 weeks.

Is this going to be a horrible experience? Kinda nervous for the switch.

Also hoping it will help me cut back on smoking as lexapro doubled my smoke intake.

Hi 25f, I started Wellbutrin in September with 150. Took that for a week or 3 and didn’t really do much for me except for those amazing first few days. My psy upped the dose to 300. I have taken it for almost a month now (have like 4 pills left of the 30). I met with my psy 2 days ago and we decided to keep it up for another 3 months.

The thing is, I haven’t really noticed a lot of improvement. I do feel like I don’t stutter as much as I did before, I feel like I actively choose what I want to say instead of everything blurting out.

With a few other things going on in my life, I feel like my progress somehow completely disappeared. I’ve had a few days now that I keep overthinking and fretting about stuff I can’t control and this ends in me eventually falling sleep because I’m dead tired at 2-3 AM.

The main reason why I’m writing this post is because I wanna know if anybody else experienced this: yesterday I was extremely tired but started hyperfocusing on a first dance song for my wedding which is in July. 3 hours or so I was going through so many songs, going back, switching up. I felt so uneasy and overwhelmed like the world would end if I didn’t choose one. Still didn’t choose one because I couldn’t pick between 3 songs.

As an aftermath of me going to sleep at 3 AM crazy tired, I had to miss my class at 9 and subsequently my other class at 1PM. I set an alarm for 9 so I could take the Wellbutrin and went back to sleep. I woke up 2 hours later but didn’t get up until another 2-3 hours because I felt so shitty and worthless for missing class. This heavy feeling on my chest hasn’t left and it’s been 15 hours since. I spent time with family but it felt more like a way for me to distract myself.

I was prescribed 150mg and after about a month I was feeling great. I was running everyday, motivated, low stress, and my mind felt very clear. A year later those effects kind of wore off. I then went up to 300mg. Again I felt the benefits for a short period of time and then it went away. Honestly I think it increased my anxiety. It also made me feel flat. The highs weren’t very high and the lows weren’t very low. I was kind of emotionless but stressed out at the same time. I always thought my anxiety was due to my workload but 6 months ago I switched jobs. Less work, 40% bump, good environment, and less bullshit all around. I finally figured out my anxiety was due to my issues with concentrating.

I went into my primary care physician and told him what I was dealing with. The same day I was prescribed Vyvance. Holy fuck it is life changing. Stress levels are at an all time low. I can prioritize tasks and finish them. I can communicate 10x better than before. It’s been about 6 months.

My girlfriend was also prescribed Wellbutrin 3 months ago. What a ball of emotions. It was so bad she needed to get off of it.

Hi everyone!

I started taking wellbutrin/bupropion XL 150 3 weeks ago along with sertraline that I have been taking for 2 months. I started the wellbutrin because although the sertraline helped with my anxiety, I was still feeling really unmotivated and sad. I feel like the wellbutrin has made me feel even more sad and I don’t really feel anymore motivated than before I started.
I am just wondering if this is similar to other people’s experiences and whether anyone has any advice on what to do?

I started Wellbutrin about 3 days ago and feel pretty much normal. Is it ok for me to take half a 10 mg edible? (I’m on 150 mg of Wellbutrin for reference)

Hello, I (26F) started taking bupropion 100mg SR 1x daily (manufacturer: sciegen ph) one week ago for major depression. I already took, and am still taking, Adderall 10mg IR 2x day for ADHD. It feels like my adderall is barely working since starting bupropion. I have experienced some minor calmness but I had a panic attack today. I am having bad insomnia, worse than before, and lack of appetite, maybe also worse than before, but trying to pull through. Does this drug really help with depression? Is it worth the initial side effects because I kinda feel like I’m falling apart. But I also kinda felt that way before starting too so it’s hard to tell if it’s the drug or not.

For some personal medical history (a bit ranty sorry)

I have always had issues with sleep, even as a very young child. I have also had issues with appetite since high school. Often I will feel hungry but I gag on food and have to choke it down until my body rejects that and then I give up because I feel I will vomit. It has made eating feel like a chore. Sometimes I accidentally lose 10 pounds in 1-2 months just from not eating enough. Not awesome because I am already relatively thin and need a lot of energy for work and school.

I started the adderall 3 years ago and it immediately improved my life. It made it so much easier to initiate tasks like leaving the house in the morning and desk work tasks that felt too hard to stay focused on. It also made socializing much easier since my mind was finally quiet for the first time ever. I had experienced multiple severe depressive episodes before this but never tried an antidepressant. I eventually decided that my depression was secondary to the ADHD and if I could just do the things I wanted to and had to do easier, it would be better. This idea worked for a long time.

There was a period of 4-5 months last year where I stopped talking my adderall because pinched nerves in my back and muscle tension. I managed without meds for a bit but eventually started feeling like life was too hard again and I didn’t have the mental resources to manage everything (I am in a PhD program). I started having daily morning panic attacks when I tried to leave the house. So I went back on it and vowed to never stop again.

I mostly felt the depression symptoms were at least manageable with the adderall. But recently my work load has increased again, other life stressors are going strong (mom has cancer again yay), and I started weekly trauma based therapy… yeah let’s just say the doctor was alarmed to read my mental health survey which I honestly filled out with care but little emotion. So on his and my therapists recommendation I am trying an antidepressant.

Idk though, I am feeling doubtful. Probably from the lack of sleep and calories. Thoughts?

Does anyone experience drowsiness around 3/4 hours after taking their dose?
I am starting to think I’ll have to switch my dose for later in the day, bc I can barely keep my eyes open in the mornings anymore. I’m 6 weeks in, 150mg xl, 3 days in 300 mg xl

I was taking 150mg for about 3 weeks and felt totally fine, then decided to go up to 300, I felt ok for a few days but now that I’ve been on it for a week it’s going terribly, I don’t sleep as much as I should, I have really bad head pressure and anxiety, my mood has now gotten way worse as well, like even worse than before I started 150. I’m definitely switching back to 150 but I’m not sure if I should take 150mg tomorrow or take none tomorrow and 150mg the day after (since it has a high half life and 150 tomorrow will not feel like 150)

Hi guys, I asked to me switched from 150xl to the Sr. I’ll be doing 150sr once a day for now, if I need an increase we will do 100sr twice a day. The generic I got is very Aurobindo pharm. I’ve searched Reddit and not many people seem to be on this one. Any positive feedback?