- Wellbutrin for adrenal fatigue? by amber1921
12 y
14,969 3 Messages Shown
Blog: Adrenal fatigue, stimulants and benzos
Ok. I' m now taking Wellbutrin again 75 mg a day in the morning. I really didn't want to do this but my symptoms were getting so much worse that I think it's justified at this point.
I stopped taking Ritalin and Wellbutrin for a few months hoping that my body will start to get back to normal. It didn't .
I thought that after the initial crash from stopping both medications at high doses I will slowly regain my capacity to do things naturally without stimulants but it never happened.
Instead of getting better I was getting only worse.
I used to take Ritalin and Xanax for many years which caused my body to enter a state of complete Adrenal Exhaustion. I knew that one day it would happen to me because combining those two drugs is a really bad idea. Either of them is a bad idea but alongside each other this combo virtually guarantees the HPA axis destruction.
Wellbutrin was added into the mix after my suicide attempt in 2011. I was a real mess! I had absolutely no energy left and felt like the life was just sucked out of me. I started to abuse other drugs like Dilaudid and alcohol because I really didn't want to continue anymore. I thought my life was over, I was very sick and waking up every day caused me nothing but pain and misery.
My old friend saved my life by introducing me to yoga. I didn't want to do it, I didn't believe in any benefits of yoga especially in my case. But I did it anyway because I had nothing to lose. After a few months of taking private classes I noticed some changes in my perception of reality. I felt happy for the first time in my life. It also coincided with my husband and I moving to Florida. The ocean air and yoga brought me back to life and I felt like a totally different person. I was no longer depressed. That's when I decided to quit all my meds....
The worst drug of all that I know exists is Xanax or any benzo. It truly ruined my health like nothing else I ever encountered. This also happens to be the only drug that I took without doing any prior research. It was prescribed for anxiety that I had when I was working on my second degree.
By the time I realized what I was taking it was too late. I ended up being dependent on it for years.
Now I'm trying to taper off it slowly according to the Ashton Method. I hope to be benzo free by the end of this year.
As for the Ritalin I decided that I have to let it go. I love the way it makes me feel - strong and confident but now I have Adrenal Fatigue and Ritalin caused it for the most part. If I want to recover from it I need to let my adrenals rest. So it's been 3 months since my last Ritalin pill.
Now back to Wellbutrin. I didn't realize all that time that it was holding my body together as a glue. I thought it was only helping my depression and if I'm no longer depressed I shouldn't be taking it. I started to fall apart without it physically. Absolutely no motivation or interest to do anything at all. Felt really horrible as if my adrenal fatigue all of a sudden got so much worse. No blood pressure, very slow pulse, joint and muscle ache, asthma-like symptoms, indigestion and general feeling of having the worst flu.
It got so bad that I think my symptoms of stimulant withdrawal started to override even the symptoms of my benzo withdrawal. I waited for 2 months to see if there is any improvement but something appears to be very wrong.
I think I got off the stimulants way too fast and my body has very hard time adjusting to this low energy level. It seems like my heart is not beating right either.
All the symptoms of meds withdrawal started to overlap each other and I have no idea now what's causing what and what I should do about it.
For now I decided to get on Wellbutrin low dose and see if it improves. Taking stimulants while recovering from AF and benzo dependence doesn't make much sense if you think about it logically but my situation is somewhat different so I think I'm doing the right thing.
|
|
|
amber1921
|
|
- Re: Wellbutrin for adrenal fatigue? by Tkb88
11 y
2,605
I am curious about this too. I had been on 300 mg of Wellbutrin for 3 years and weaned off for 6 months and was taking 5htp instead. Unfortunately, my depression spiraled downward and it got quite gloomy- pretty bad...so I decided to I start up again at 150mg. It's been less than a week. I am getting headaches and am not sleeping well- however the suicidal thoughts seem to have subsided.
Recently, a blood test showed that I have low T3 and cortisol levels so my naturopath will put me on an herbal Adrenal Support (which I will start today). I'm wondering if hypothyroidism is more to blame than the absence of Wellbutrin. I found articles that say that low cortisol definitely contributes to depression...and low T3 causes joint pain.
Now I'm considering going back to 5htp with the herbal Adrenal Support and dropping Wellbutrin again since it hasn't quite been one week since I started.
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully this may shed some light on your situation as well.
Here's one article:
stopthethyroidmadness.com/thyroid-depression-mental-health
Low cortisol can be an additional problem
"In addition to low T3 levels causing psychiatric and psychological disorders, low cortisollevels can be an additional culprit—even when you feel you are adequately treated for your thyroid. Low cortisol results in cell receptors failing to adequately receive thyroid hormones from the blood, and can explain certain emotional and behavioral symptoms even when a patient is on thyroid meds, such as the need to avoid leaving one’s house, seeking peace and quiet, unable to tolerate stress, low tolerance to loud noises, rage, emotional ups and downs similar to bi-polar, panic, obsessive compulsive tendencies, hyper sensitive to the comments of others, phobias, delusions, suicidal ideation….and more.
Symptoms of low cortisol
The following list, also found in the revised STTM book with more detail, is a compilation of symptoms experienced by patients with adrenal issues. And they point to high cortisol, low cortisol, or often a combination of both. These can also be found or exacerbated while raising natural desiccated thyroid or T3 and can occur at low doses of desiccated thyroid or T3, or waited until the patient got as high as 3 grains and more. They are in no particular order, and you can have some and not others:
continuing hypothyroid symptoms with a high free T3
shaky hands; shakiness
diarrhea
bad palps
higher heart rate
pounding heart
feeling of panic
weakness
inability to handle stress
inability to handle interactions with others
inability to focus
rage or sudden angry outbursts
emotionally hyper sensitive
overreacting
highly defensive
feeling paranoid about people or things
exacerbated reactions to daily stress
no patience
easily irritated
mild to severe hypoglycemic episodes
nausea in the face of stress
taking days to recover from even minor stress
taking days to recover from a dental visit
flu-like symptoms
headache
all over body ache
super-sensitive skin
extreme fatigue
scalp ache
hyper feeling
jittery
clumsy (drop things, bump into things)
confusion
suddenly feel extremely hungry
low back pain
dull
cloud-filled head (happens when this patient is due for a next cortisol dose)
jumpiness
muscle weakness
“air hunger”
dizziness
light headedness
motion sickness
coffee putting patient to sleep
vomiting even running up the slightest incline
almost passing out every time patient gets up
dark circles under my eyes
waking up in the middle of the night for several hours
difficulty falling asleep
frequent urination
IBS symptoms
worsening allergies"
Here's the other article:
thyroid.about.com/cs/symptomsproblems/a/pain
"Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can cause a variety of muscle or joint-related symptoms. Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are known to cause what are called myopathies -- the medical term for diseases that affect skeletal muscle.
Symptoms for those with hypothyroidism include:
General muscular weakness and pain, including cramps, and stiffness
General joint pain, achiness, stiffness, known as "arthropathy"
Tendonitis in the arms and legs
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome-- similar to carpal tunnel, with pain, tingling,burning and other discomfort in the arch of your foot, the bottom of the foot, possibly extending into the toes."
|
|
|
Tkb88
|
|
- Re: Wellbutrin for adrenal fatigue? by Aw734
10 y
1,017
Hi there,
Thank you for posting your story! Your story is almost EXACTLY like mine. The only difference is I am taking Adderall instead. I even moved to FL, hoping the scenery would help. It did for a little while, but I started to get very down again. I was wondering did taking the Wellbutrin help with your symptoms ?
Thank you
|
|
|
Aw734
|
|
|
|
CureZone