Suggest Remedy For Excessive Sleepiness While Taking Bupropion HCL

Posted on Tue, 28 Jul 2015

Question: Since April I have been taking Bupropion HCL (Wellbutrin) antidepressent. I weaned myself off gradually and am now down to a very small piece. Since doing this I have noticed I am feeling more depressed. I called my doctor but he couldn't see me today and his nurse spoke to him and told her to tell me to go back and take 1/2 of 100mg (50 mg) and keep taking the same amount of Klonopin (3/4 mg) a day. My original doctor retired and this is his new replacement. My former doctor told me to take 50mg during the day and then after a week take the whole 100 mg. The reason why I weaned myself down to just a little piece is because I felt more anxious when taking it.
Now that I am going to go away I don't want to feel depressed so I feel I should take the Wellbutrin. The reason I am writing you is the nurse said to take it at night but I read that it keeps you up at night. That is why my old doctor told me to take it in the day. I called my pharmacist and he told me to take it at night and it would be okay to start taking it again. The nurse said if I take it at night I would sleep it off but what if I can't sleep? What is your opinion? They can't give me a prescription over the phone for a new antidepressent and today they were totally booked with appts., tomorrow they are closed and I leave Thursday so that is why they said to go back and take the Wellbutrin because that is the only antidepressent I have in the house and I am already having trouble getting up in the morning since I lost my volunteer job because the schools are closed for the summer and I have no routine now. Please advise.

Answered by Dr. Seikhoo Bishnoi (44 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Bupropion doesn't cause sedation or increase in sleep

Detailed Answer:
Hello thanks for asking from HCM for your health related queries

I can understand your concern. You were taking Bupropion since April and then were reducing the doses of the drug gradually. On reducing the dose symptoms relapsed. In such case best thing is to start the doses of the drug again. You have been advised to take 50 mg of Bupropion and 3/4th mg of Clonazepam. In my opinion try to avoid taking 3/4 mg of Clonazepam and if possible start with its low dose and if you sleep with low doses then that would be better.

Bupropion is an antidepressant that doesn't cause sedation and has no effects on sleep. Even in some individuals it is known to cause insomnia. This is the reason it is advised to be taken in day time in most of cases. But ultimately it also depends upon the choice of Psychiatrist. Personally I advised my patients to take the drug in day time only. As you are going to see your psychiatrist soon so I'd advise you to start taking 50 mg doses as advised by the nurse in day time, like you used to take. No need to worry. If the drug doesn't result in improvement ask and discuss about other good antidepressants.

Thanks, Hope this helps you. Please don't hesitate to ask again for more doubts.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar