Your doctor will assess the severity of your symptoms and recommend the best treatment option for you. In clinical trials of Wellbutrin SR and Wellbutrin XL, weight gain and weight loss were reported. Talk with your doctor right away if you feel like you have any signs or symptoms of suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Other Interactions
The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so. Continue using the medicine through the winter season and until early spring. If you have trouble sleeping (insomnia), do not take this medicine too close to bedtime. But if you have nausea, take the medicine with food. Use only the brand of this medicine that your doctor prescribed.
Wellbutrin Uses
Although not statistically significant, the AUCs for bupropion and hydroxybupropion were more variable and tended to be greater (by 53% to 57%) in volunteers with alcoholic liver disease. The elimination of the major metabolites of bupropion may be reduced by impaired renal function. The elimination of the major metabolites of bupropion may be affected by reduced renal or hepatic function because they are moderately polar compounds and are likely to undergo further metabolism or conjugation in the liver prior to urinary excretion. Bupropion and its metabolites exhibit linear kinetics following chronic administration of 300 to 450 mg/day. However, their Wellbutrin side effects elimination half-lives are longer, 33 (±10) and 37 (±13) hours, respectively, and steady-state AUCs are 1.5 and 7 times that of bupropion, respectively. The times to peak concentrations for the erythrohydrobupropion and threohydrobupropion metabolites are similar to that of the hydroxybupropion metabolite.
Hypersensitivity Reactions
In postmarketing experience, there have been rare reports of adverse neuropsychiatric events or reduced alcohol tolerance in patients who were drinking alcohol during treatment with WELLBUTRIN. Use caution when administering WELLBUTRIN concomitantly with these drugs. Use low initial doses and increase the dose gradually see CONTRAINDICATIONS, WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS. Dosage increase of WELLBUTRIN may be necessary when coadministered with ritonavir, lopinavir, or efavirenz see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY but should not exceed the maximum recommended dose. Therefore, the potential exists for drug interactions between WELLBUTRIN and drugs that are inhibitors or inducers of CYP2B6.
Clinical Studies
They’ll also let you know whether you should keep taking the medication. For mild allergic reaction symptoms, such as a mild rash, call your doctor right away. In general, symptoms of allergic reaction can be mild or serious. For some people, Wellbutrin can cause an allergic reaction.
- Some patients undergoing treatment with Wellbutrin have experienced delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, and confusion.
- Use extreme caution when coadministering WELLBUTRIN with other drugs that lower seizure threshold (e.g., other bupropion products, antipsychotics, antidepressants, theophylline, or systemic corticosteroids).
- In the most severe situations, overdose of Wellbutrin can cause death.
- This is a rare but serious adverse drug reaction to certain drugs.
- Additional predisposing conditions include diabetes mellitus treated with oral hypoglycemic drugs or insulin; use of anorectic drugs; and excessive use of alcohol, benzodiazepines, sedative/hypnotics, or opiates.
Allergic Reactions
If you experience hair loss while taking Wellbutrin, reach out to your healthcare provider right away. Stopping Wellbutrin for any reason should always be done under the guidance and supervision of a healthcare professional. Like other antidepressants, there have been some reports of Wellbutrin causing sexual side effects. Being aware of common side effects like nausea, dizziness, and dry mouth can help you prepare for ways to manage side effects that could hinder successful treatment. Being comfortable and feeling positive about your treatment is very important.
What are the most common side effects of bupropion?
- Serious skin reactions (eg, Stevens-Johnson syndrome) can occur with this medicine.
- The typical maintenance dose for treating depression and SAD is 300 milligrams (mg) per day.
- Finally, changing the time of day you take Wellbutrin can cause headaches to happen at night when you are asleep, allowing for less headaches during the day.
- Instruct patients that WELLBUTRIN tablets should be swallowed whole and not crushed, divided, or chewed.
- If bupropion is used concomitantly with a CYP inducer, it may be necessary to increase the dose of bupropion, but the maximum recommended dose should not be exceeded.
No overall differences in safety or effectiveness were observed between these subjects and younger subjects. The relationship of bupropion exposure and these seizures is unclear. There are no data on the effects of bupropion or its metabolites on milk production. Data from published literature report the presence of bupropion and its metabolites in human milk (see Data). The NBDPS and United Healthcare database study did not find an association between first trimester maternal bupropion exposure and VSD.
Be sure to tell your doctor about every medication you’re taking before starting treatment with Wellbutrin. Taking Wellbutrin in combination with an MAOI can significantly increase your risk of having life threatening high blood pressure. They stop MAOI treatment for at least 14 days before starting Wellbutrin. These conditions may increase your risk of seizures from Wellbutrin.
There was considerable variation in risk of suicidality among drugs, but a tendency toward an increase in the younger subjects for almost all drugs studied. Short-term clinical trials did not show an increase in the risk of suicidality with antidepressants compared with placebo in adults beyond age 24; there was a reduction with antidepressants compared with placebo in adults aged 65 and older. Studies have shown that antidepressant drugs can increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in certain people. This section of the Medication Guide is only about the risk of changes in thinking and behavior, depression and suicidal thoughts or actions with drugs used to quit smoking.
Always keep track of side effects you experience to communicate with your healthcare provider during check ups. When compared to other antidepressants, it is unique in which neurotransmitters it affects. Wellbutrin works to manage symptoms by changing how certain neurotransmitters act in the body. WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Do not take double or extra doses. If you miss a dose, skip the missed dose and only take the next dose.
The most severe long-term side effect is suicidal thoughts and behaviors. If you’re concerned you might have more side effects with an increased dose of Wellbutrin, talk with your doctor. Your doctor will slowly increase your dose and limit it to the maximum dose to help prevent seizures.
The risk of seizures is also related to patient factors, clinical situations, and concomitant medications that lower the seizure threshold. Although a causal link between the emergence of such symptoms and either the worsening of depression and/or the emergence of suicidal impulses has not been established, there is concern that such symptoms may represent precursors to emerging suicidality. However, there is substantial evidence from placebo-controlled maintenance trials in adults with depression that the use of antidepressants can delay the recurrence of depression. Suicide is a known risk of depression and certain other psychiatric disorders, and these disorders themselves are the strongest predictors of suicide. At least 14 days should elapse between discontinuation of an MAOI intended to treat depression and initiation of treatment with WELLBUTRIN.
Concomitant use of bupropion with other drugs metabolized by CYP2D6 has not been formally studied. The effect was present for at least 7 days after the last dose of bupropion. Nevertheless, there may be potential for clinically important alterations of blood levels of co-administered drugs. In one trial, following chronic administration of bupropion 100 mg three times daily to 8 healthy male volunteers for 14 days, there was no evidence of induction of its own metabolism. While not systematically studied, these drugs may induce the metabolism of bupropion. In a second healthy volunteer trial, ritonavir at a dose of 600 mg twice daily decreased the AUC and the Cmax of bupropion by 66% and 62%, respectively.
Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. This medicine is available only with your doctor’s prescription. It is very important that you receive only one prescription at a time for bupropion. It is also used as part of a support program to help people stop smoking. If you are trying to access this site from the United States, please try heading to our homepage or our drug directory.
This section of the Medication Guide is only about the risk of suicidal thoughts and actions with antidepressant medicines. The efficacy of WELLBUTRIN in the treatment of major depressive disorder was established in two 4-week, placebo-controlled trials in adult inpatients with MDD (Trials 1 and 2 in Table 4) and in one 6-week, placebo-controlled trial in adult outpatients with MDD (Trial 3 in Table 4). In healthy subjects, prasugrel increased bupropion Cmax and AUC values by 14% and 18%, respectively, and decreased Cmax and AUC values of hydroxybupropion, an active metabolite of bupropion, by 32% and 24%, respectively.