msmarissa: getting off bupropion & fluoxetine

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

I've been wanting to not be on psychiatric medications since I started them in late 2019. I did 3 years of talk therapy before that, which helped to work through some old childhood traumas, but got on sertraline to cope with a breakup  and a subsequent move back home. I stayed on that for a few months before switching to bupropion XL 150mg in early 2020. During the pandemic, some symptoms of ADHD started popping up, although I don't know now if it was just circumstantial. Regardless, I tried Adderall, hated how angry it made me, and was scared of getting addicted to it, so never took it again after the first 2 days. I also did a 2 CTs of bupropion at points I don't quite remember but reinstated due to depression symptoms returning (apathy, lack of motivation, tiredness).

 

2021-2022 has been wild, with 3 moves, new jobs, and new relationships. Just for transparency, I also went through an intense period of cannabis addiction, which I know might be contested, but was very detrimental to my life and personality, so I removed it completely and it's no longer an issue, though I'm sure receptors in my brain are still trying to recover from that. I also don't drink alcohol or consume caffeine, due to intense sadness from the former, and anxiety from the latter. All this said, my life has stabilized immensely since I got engaged and bought a house. It was hard to track symptoms for a long time since my life was so topsy turvy and I couldn't tell what was from life and what was from meds.

 

However, since being more stable, I've noticed that my memory has taken a dive since starting on fluoxetine 5 months ago in May 2022. Furthermore, my sex drive vanished almost completely and I feel emotionally blunted. At my last psychiatrist appointment, I told her how much I wanted to start getting off meds and she recommended that I do the bupropion first, so I'm currently on 100mg of SR. Since discovering this site, I wonder if I should have started on the fluoxetine first. Regardless, my plan is to stay on the current dose of bupropion and the 10mg of fluoxetine for a few months and see what happens. After that, I want to do a 10% taper off of the fluoxetine, as slow as is needed.

 

My current frustration is that I've been on fluoxetine for such a short while (currently 5 months) but according to the 10% taper math I've done, it's going to take me 4 years to taper of even a relatively low dose. Is this just part of the problems with psychiatry in prescribing such high doses haphazardly? Or do I still have a little wiggle room since I haven't taken it long? Or am I just being fundamentally impatient and just need to cool my buns? It's just hard to imagine being this numb for so long, especially since those years are the beginning of my marriage. Thanks for reading and for any support or advice that's offered. I truly appreciate it.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, @msmarissa

 

On 10/11/2022 at 12:00 PM, msmarissa said:

I've noticed that my memory has taken a dive since starting on fluoxetine 5 months ago in May 2022. Furthermore, my sex drive vanished almost completely and I feel emotionally blunted. At my last psychiatrist appointment, I told her how much I wanted to start getting off meds and she recommended that I do the bupropion first, so I'm currently on 100mg of SR.

 

SSRIs such as fluoxetine are very well known to cause sexual dysfunction, emotional blunting, and memory problems, less so with bupropion. If you wanted to reduce those symptoms, you probably would start reducing fluoxetine first.

 

How do you feel now that you've reduced bupropion?

 

On 10/11/2022 at 12:00 PM, msmarissa said:

Is this just part of the problems with psychiatry in prescribing such high doses haphazardly?

 

Yes. Also, they don't know anything about how to back people out of the drug cocktails they mix up.

 

To help us out, follow these instructions Please summarize your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Altostrata said:

Welcome, @msmarissa

 

 

SSRIs such as fluoxetine are very well known to cause sexual dysfunction, emotional blunting, and memory problems, less so with bupropion. If you wanted to reduce those symptoms, you probably would start reducing fluoxetine first.

 

How do you feel now that you've reduced bupropion?

 

 

Yes. Also, they don't know anything about how to back people out of the drug cocktails they mix up.

 

To help us out, follow these instructions Please summarize your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

 

@Altostrata Thank you so much for responding, and for your help. I've been reading around and you do so much for everyone here. I seriously appreciate it.

 

I've been doing mostly fine on the reduced bupropion. A little bit of neuro-anger, but manageable as soon as a realized what it was. Since it's the SR instead of the XL, which the psychiatrist said would be okay (but who actually knows if she actually knows what she's talking about), the anger set in right at the 12 hour mark, when it's supposed to "run out." However, past the first few days, it's been non-existent. Given that I reduced so much, from 150mg to 100mg, I'm surprised I'm experiencing so few symptoms, but I don't want to speak too soon. I'm braced for it getting worse. Like I said though, I'm going to stabilize on this amount and then back out of the fluoxetine next, since I hate the side-effects so much more. Thanks again!

[Guest]

It's been right about 3 weeks since I dropped my bupropion dosage from 150mg to 100mg. Symptoms have been minimal and explainable more with life circumstances than anything else. I also decided to get my mirena IUD out (let me know if this is TMI but I thought it could be useful info) and got it replaced with a copper one yesterday. I'm a little stressed about ending up with copper toxicity from it and am going to try and keep an eye out for potential symptoms of that. While I was definitely depressed (or at least going through a depressive episode) before I even started psych meds, I think the mirena made it a lot worse, to where I affected my ability to go to classes significantly. I think it's one of the reasons I went on psych meds in the first place. It could be a placebo but even one day after getting it out, I'm feeling a lot perkier, even if my body still hurts like crazy. Regardless, this is part of my ongoing project of trying to deal with any external factors that could make WD worse.

[Altostrata]

The Mirena IUD releases a hormone. Some women do not do well with this hormones in birth control. Please read up on the adverse effects of any drugs or devices before you accept a prescription for them.