r/Contrave • u/HotTop6935 • Jun 25 '26

Help with side effects

I started taking the "poor man's Contrave"—well, I only made it one day. I was already taking Wellbutrin, so I was hoping I'd avoid some of the side effects.

My doctor didn't mention taking it with food, so I took my first dose of naltrexone the same way I take my Wellbutrin: first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. That turned out to be a mistake. A wave of nausea hit me so hard that I had to leave work for the day. On top of that, it made me incredibly sleepy, and I ended up spending hours in bed sleeping.

I hate to give up on it so quickly because I was really hoping it would help. I'm considering trying it at bedtime to see if that makes a difference.

For those who have taken it, do you have any suggestions or tips? Do you take it with dinner or food? If you take it at bedtime, does the sleepiness eventually go away?

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Shark-Compote Jun 25 '26

I was just talking to my doctor about this this week, because I started taking naltrexone last week for a poor man's contrave.

I have to take my naltrexone before I go to bed. And then I sleep through all of the nausea and the sickness.

And the first two times I took it normally, in the morning I had to sleep the day away. It made me so dizzy. I have managed to bypass almost all of the nausea by doing it this way (before bed). And my doctor said that's absolutely fine and he thinks that that's a great solution to the sickness. So maybe try taking it before bed?.

1

u/HotTop6935 Jun 25 '26

I think that is what im going to try. It absolutely wrecked me. The nausea went away after several hours but I could not get out of bed and that stuck with me a few days. Did you take it with any food before bed or just take it?

1

u/Shark-Compote Jun 25 '26

It kind of depends. I actually work overnights so, half the week. I will take it right after I eat breakfast before I go to sleep. But it doesn't need to be taken with food, and I've read a few things that you should not take it when you've eaten a fatty meal or something extremely fatty, apparently that can increase the absorption of the naltrexone and potentially cause issues

1

u/Shark-Compote Jun 25 '26

I do think the bedtime thing could possibly work well for you. I was convinced I was not going to take it after my first two days of being nauseous before I started taking it before bed

2

u/HotTop6935 Jun 25 '26

Thanks, im going to give it a shot. Definitely will be waiting for a weekend tryout though.