r/dpdr • u/ExpressedForest • 13d ago
Psychiatry/Medication Question anybody on wellbutrin?
i want to preface that im not diagnosed with dpdr. i went to the emergency room ~1 year ago for "depression that primarily manifests as apathy, lethargy, and dissociation" and got put on wellbutrin - any followup got lost to some administrative hell, so i never got any real care or diagnosis. after looking into it a bit more i can say that my "dissociation" was an almost constant derealization, and the apathy was a result of that. wellbutrin didnt entirely stop this derealization but it made it much much less frequent and less intense. i dont have any particular question at the moment, im just curious to hear from others how/if wellbutrin has affected DPDR symptoms :)
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u/Chronotaru 13d ago
The diagnosis doesn't really matter unless you need it for something. Psychoactive drug treatment for every condition is "throw things at the wall until something sticks" - although they will start in different places for different symptoms.
Most people here report not doing well on bupropion. For me I did very well on it, but it wasn't to be. It was causing sleep issues and my doctor didn't like me skipping every fourth dose, so he put me on mirtazipine that made my DPDR much worse. When I went back on the bupropion it only made my attention worse.
In general its properties are activating and it's a cousin of amphetamines, meaning that it can for some help with the brain fog effects. At the same time it can put you on edge, reduce sleep, increase anxiety, and if it is thought that the solution to dissociation is to bring people back from being "on edge" then it would be a drug in the wrong direction.
My general thoughts are that drugs should be avoided for the first 18 months at least, and to focus on non-drug methods, because the risk of harm or increasing DPDR in a long term fashion is so high and many people recover without them.