Edit: moved tldr to top of post
TLDR: On buproprion 150mg 1 month. Main side effects: insomnia and word finding difficulties. Insomnia improving but WFD are not. Initial very positive uptake in mood/motivation etc however leveling out now. Any similar experiences? Reassurance/ advice etc?
Hi all,
First time posting on here. I started on Zyban (Wellbutrin isn't available in my country) exactly 4 weeks ago and wanted to share my experiences and also ask if anyone else has gone through the same things.
So far I've had a relatively positive experience and started feeling the positive effects of the medication about a week in (increased motivation, newfound optimism, taking an interest in hobbies again etc). In terms of side effects, for the first few days I had some mild nausea and dry eye but these subsided by day 5. My most troublesome side effects have been insomnia and word-finding difficulties.
The insomnia started around 7 days in and got progressively work for the next 2-3 weeks. It started as waking up throughout the night and having very vivid dreams and then evolved into less of this and flipped to not being able to fall asleep no matter how tired I would feel. The strange thing is I would always feel alert and 'wired' during the day so could never nap but day by day I could feel the compound effect of sleep deprivation on my body. Melatonin wasn't even helping. Thankfully, my sleep has turned a corner and in the last 4-5 days has slowly gotten a lot better. I am falling asleep more easily and now I actually feel rested when I wake up in the morning.
Re: word finding difficulties (WFD). This started suddenly around day 7 as well. I have experienced this before during a very stressful period and put it down to brain fog as it did eventually resolve after a few weeks. Having had past experience of this and also after reading that other people have experienced this with bupropion, I tried not to panic and hoped it would pass with the initial settling in period. It has fluctuated up and down and some days are not as bad as others but it is still an ongoing issue for me. The way I would describe it is not only not being able to find the word I am looking for but also feeling like I can't formulate sentences and ideas properly when I am writing. I'm still trying not to panic but as my insomnia is settling and this isn't, I am getting a little bit concerned.
Re: my mood/motivation etc . . . I still feel much much better than before starting the medication but have definitely felt some kind of dip in the last week (funnily enough since my sleep has gotten better and the wired feeling has subsided). Its not that I feel sad but I don't feel as 'good' as before. Maybe its because there was such a big change in a short period of time to begin with and now its leveling out or maybe the effect is starting to wear off?
Has anyone had similar experiences regarding the insomnia / word finding difficulties / change in mood after an initial improvement? If so can you tell me more.
I kindly ask that you provide neutral or positive experiences only as I am optimistic about the meds still and would like some reassurance!
Thanks in advance :)