ryuusei86: five different meds

[ryuusei86]

Hi everyone, you can call me ryuusei86 or R86. I'm more than a little concerned about being on a cocktail of no fewer than five psych drugs. I started about 10 months ago on Latuda 40 mg and Luvox 100 mg, with Lunesta 3 mg for sleep, when I was in the mental hospital for anxiety and depression. When I got home I went off the Lunesta because I was afraid of getting addicted, and replaced it with Seroquel ER 150 mg. Soon that wasn't working, and I went up to 200 mg, then 225, and so on up to 350 mg Seroquel. When that stopped working after a few months, I added the Lunesta 3 mg back. I stayed on that cocktail of four drugs until the beginning of the summer, when I tapered rather quickly from 350 mg Seroquel ER to about 75 mg, or the closest I could get given how hard those pills are to cut. I see now that the mess I'm in is at least partly my fault with these decisions I made.

 

About five weeks ago, when I told my psychiatrist that I was having trouble leaving the house or keeping up with my daily life, he added Wellbutrin XL 150 mg to the mix. He also recommended I taper within five days to zero Luvox and Seroquel, which of course didn't work as I couldn't sleep. The original prescription told me to increase to 300 mg Wellbutrin, but I didn't want to do it because it seemed to increase my anxiety. So the grand total now is

 

Luvox 100 mg (at night)

Latuda 40 mg (20 mg each morning and night)

Seroquel ER 75 mg (at night)

Wellbutrin XL 150 mg (in the morning)

Lunesta 3 mg (at night)

 

I saw my psychiatrist again last week and he told me to start tapering both the Luvox and the Latuda, again very quickly. I decided to try tapering the Luvox only because I didn't want two variables going. After three days of cutting the dose in half as my doctor recommended, I was having a panic attack, or something close to it. I restored the dose to 100 mg last night, and am now beginning to understand that this could take me years to rectify.

 

I really don't want to be on five meds, especially since I think the meds aren't right to begin with. At the hospital they diagnosed me as OCD, which is why they prescribed Luvox, but I don't think I have OCD. I have, however, been on an SSRI for almost 20 years -- first Zoloft, then Paxil, and now Luvox, so I don't think it will be easy to give up.

 

So I'm rather horrified at the position I find myself in, and don't really know where to start. I've ordered syringes, measuring cups, and graduated cylinders, and am planning to start tapering *something* as soon as they come in. I read that I should taper only one drug at a time, and start with an "accelerator" rather than a "brake." Part of me thinks I should start with tapering the Wellbutrin, since I've been on that the shortest length of time. But I don't know how well those Wellbutrin XL pills will crush.

 

I should add that I'm especially worried about sleep, as I feel like I need everything except the Wellbutrin to sleep, and I have almost a phobia of not sleeping enough. But this post is already long enough, so I think I'll leave it at that.

 

Thank you all in advance for your help and advice!

Edited August 24, 2023 by FireflyFyte

[FireflyFyte]

Hello R86,

 

It can feel overwhelming about where to start a taper when on some many medications but the general rule of thumb here is to taper the most activating drug first, which, in your case would most likely be the Wellbutrin. You can read more about the order of tapering at Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first? and you can find specific information about tapering Wellbutrin at Tips for tapering off bupropion (Wellbutrin, IR, SR, XR, XL, Zyban).

 

Given your current combination, it might also be helpful to enter them into free Drug Interaction Checker to see if doses need to be spaced. Please share your results here.

 

With several drug changes recently, I would recommend holding at your current doses and stabilizing before starting a new taper. When you are ready to taper, we recommend tapering no more than 10% of your previous dose per month. You can read about the 10% previous dose drop here. 

 

So we can continue to support you, can you list out the times, and dosage, of all of your medication like this -

• 7 AM (Gabapentin, 300mg)
• 10 AM (Prozac, 40mg)
• 7 PM (Gabapentin, 300mg)
• 9 PM (Olanzapine, 1.14mg)

It is also understandable that you are nervous about sleep as the lack of it can be a common withdrawal symptom. Hopefully, by following a slow taper method (and not the ones suggested by your doctors who, sadly, too often rush tapers) your sleep won't be greatly impacted but we do have some resources regarding sleep including Tips to help sleep: so many of us have that awful withdrawal insomnia

[ryuusei86]

Thanks, FireflyFyte. I forgot to mention that I did the interaction checker earlier and it is horrifying. 18 potential interactions, three of them major.

 

https://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=3278-14870,1030-1621,1128-9754,1979-2549,440-2469

 

I agree about the Wellbutrin, particularly since I've been on it the shortest length of time. Getting my psychiatrist to agree is going to be difficult, since I told him the Wellbutrin helped slightly. I can't see him agreeing to a liquid compound or even a Wellbutrin IR prescription. I see my GP on Monday and I will see if I can get him to prescribe a Wellbutrin liquid compound or IR pills. He will most likely defer to my psychiatrist. If I cannot get my psychiatrist to agree about Wellbutrin when I see him in about three weeks, then I suppose I'll start a slow taper of Luvox.

 

I forgot to mention that I went into a mental hospital for anxiety and depression in late September. It was there that they started me on Luvox, Latuda, and Lunesta.

 

As for my daily meds, they go like this. As you can see, I have a very rigid nighttime routine.

 

8:00 am approximately (Wellbutrin XL 150 mg, Latuda half of 40 mg, two multivitamins, magnesium oxide 500 mg, iron glycinate 28 mg, fish oil 1400 mg, Miralax which I'm trying to taper)

8:55 pm (Luvox 100 mg, Latuda other half of 40 mg, Seroquel ER 75 mg or as close as I can get with a pill cutter)

9:43 pm (Lunesta 3 mg)

9:55 pm bedtime, hope to sleep past 4:00 am

 

Oddly, my psychiatrist refilled my Wellbutrin XL prescription with Wellbutrin SR. I only just noticed this morning.

 

Another interesting bit of information is that I recently had my routine blood work done, and everything came out perfect. I have been on Seroquel before and it made me gain at least 30 pounds and drove my cholesterol and LDLs through the roof, but not this time apparently. I think part of the reason is that eating is a chore since I'm never hungry, and haven't been for almost a year. Neither my psychiatrist nor my GP is concerned about this.

 

Other relevant habits are that my therapist has me walking 40 minutes every day, and drinking a gallon of water every day. I have done both for about nine months.

 

Thanks again for the welcome. I'll be 56 in February and I suppose this project will take me the rest of my working years, if I can even keep my job, which is questionable. They've already cut me down to 1/3 time because of my condition, and I can't imagine withdrawal making my condition any better.

[FireflyFyte]

10 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

Thanks, FireflyFyte. I forgot to mention that I did the interaction checker earlier and it is horrifying. 18 potential interactions, three of them major.

 

https://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=3278-14870,1030-1621,1128-9754,1979-2549,440-2469

 

I would recommend starting to space out the medications that have interactions, especially major, by two hours. Move one medication an hour each day until you have a schedule where they are spaced appropriately. Please let me know if you need any further clarification on this.

 

10 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

I agree about the Wellbutrin, particularly since I've been on it the shortest length of time. Getting my psychiatrist to agree is going to be difficult, since I told him the Wellbutrin helped slightly. I can't see him agreeing to a liquid compound or even a Wellbutrin IR prescription. I see my GP on Monday and I will see if I can get him to prescribe a Wellbutrin liquid compound or IR pills. He will most likely defer to my psychiatrist. If I cannot get my psychiatrist to agree about Wellbutrin when I see him in about three weeks, then I suppose I'll start a slow taper of Luvox.

 

Here is a topic on how to talk to your doctor about tapering - How to talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal? What to expect.

 

10 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

Other relevant habits are that my therapist has me walking 40 minutes every day, and drinking a gallon of water every day. I have done both for about nine months.

 

Light exercise can be very helpful during tapering so if you can tolerate it would encourage you to continue with these habits.

 

10 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

Thanks again for the welcome. I'll be 56 in February and I suppose this project will take me the rest of my working years, if I can even keep my job, which is questionable. They've already cut me down to 1/3 time because of my condition, and I can't imagine withdrawal making my condition any better.

 

It will take time but I like to remind myself that I would rather it take a long time and be functional versus rushing a taper and experiencing harsh withdrawals. Hopefully, you can stabilize on your medication, especially once they are spaced appropriately to try and mitigate interactions, and begin a slow taper that will allow you to work.

[ryuusei86]

6 hours ago, FireflyFyte said:

 

I would recommend starting to space out the medications that have interactions, especially major, by two hours. Move one medication an hour each day until you have a schedule where they are spaced appropriately. Please let me know if you need any further clarification on this.

 

Since the Wellbutrin seems to be the main culprit in interactions, I think it's best to move it. There are some moderate interactions among my nighttime meds, but they amount to possible drowsiness, which I haven't noticed and anyway would be a benefit. Beyond that, they all interact with alcohol, which I don't drink.

 

I can move the Wellbutrin to 6:30 am, which is when I generally get up. I can then take the Latuda at around 8:00 or slightly later. The main problem with the Wellbutrin is that it can cause seizures, which I've never had and don't want to start now. It's also a reason I refused to go up to Wellbutrin XL 300 mg from 150 mg.

 

Another thing that occurred to me is how difficult it must be to travel while tapering. I haven't been on a plane in over a year, and I imagine the paraphernalia such as syringes or a milligram balance are difficult to take on a plane without security getting all uptight. I read that syringes with injectable drugs are allowed, but can't find anything on oral syringes.

 

Then again, I still need to decide whether I'm going to go the liquid route or the powder route. Yesterday I did an experiment with crushing a Wellbutrin XL tablet and it actually crushed OK. I could see making a somewhat homogeneous powder mixture from it, though I realize it's then IR rather than XL. Even though I already bought syringes, I'm considering investing in a milligram balance.

[FireflyFyte]

44 minutes ago, ryuusei86 said:

Another thing that occurred to me is how difficult it must be to travel while tapering. I haven't been on a plane in over a year, and I imagine the paraphernalia such as syringes or a milligram balance are difficult to take on a plane without security getting all uptight. I read that syringes with injectable drugs are allowed, but can't find anything on oral syringes.

 

I have traveled several times in the last few months bringing with me amber jars as well as needle-less syringes and had no issues carrying them onto a plane. I was worried the first time but security doesn't seem to care.

[ryuusei86]

I've read the whole thread on tapering off Wellbutrin and I'm more scared than ever. Apparently Wellbutrin has a short half-life, which must be taken into consideration when using Wellbutrin IR to taper off Wellbutrin XL. As I mentioned, my Wellbutrin XL got refilled with Wellbutrin SR, which is a 12 hour formulation according to the label. I actually took a Wellbutrin SR yesterday rather than an XL, and noticed no difference. The label doesn't say to take it twice a day, in fact it says to take two tablets daily for a total of 300 mg. I'm staying at 150 because that shaves at least six months off my taper.

 

What I'd really like to do, though I realize it's not recommended, is switch from Wellbutrin XL to SR in the morning. If I can tolerate that well, I'll conclude that the timing of the "Wellbutrin drop" doesn't really affect me. Then I can start tapering Wellbutrin SR, though if I crush it and weigh the powder I'll probably have no choice but to take it at least twice a day, because then it becomes Wellbutrin IR. I really don't want to take any Wellbutrin in the afternoon because I'm worried it will keep me awake at night.

 

On the other hand, I might be playing with fire. A still small voice inside me says to call my psychiatrist tomorrow, explain that he refilled my Wellbutrin XL prescription with Wellbutrin SR, and see if I can get another prescription for Wellbutrin XL. If I can't, then I can worry about switching from XL to SR. My insurance might not allow it because I just had the SR filled.

 

All this is assuming my doctor will let me taper off the Wellbutrin rather than the Luvox, after I had told him the Wellbutrin was helping a little.

[littlebird]

4 hours ago, FireflyFyte said:

I have traveled several times in the last few months bringing with me amber jars as well as needle-less syringes and had no issues carrying them onto a plane. I was worried the first time but security doesn't seem to care.

Same, haven't had an issue with liquid med stuff or the scale. Crossed a border just fine too, though I worried and brought everything in the original containers just in case. I figure with so many people on meds, they see this stuff a lot.

 

36 minutes ago, ryuusei86 said:

On the other hand, I might be playing with fire. A still small voice inside me says to call my psychiatrist tomorrow, explain that he refilled my Wellbutrin XL prescription with Wellbutrin SR, and see if I can get another prescription for Wellbutrin XL.

36 minutes ago, ryuusei86 said:

I actually took a Wellbutrin SR yesterday rather than an XL, and noticed no difference. The label doesn't say to take it twice a day, in fact it says to take two tablets daily for a total of 300 mg. I'm staying at 150 because that shaves at least six months off my taper.

Hm.... just from my own experiences with Wellbutrin, it's okay at first... then the withdrawal can hit quite hard when it goes too fast. Maybe best not to play with fire? Wellbutrin also affects how the other drugs I'm taking affect me, so as a fellow poly-drugged person that might be an issue with a drop from 300 to 150. Unless XL and SR have different dosages, the way IR and SR do? Maybe someone who is more informed can weigh in on that one. Whatever you choose, please play it safe with your nervous system! 

[ryuusei86]

8 minutes ago, littlebird said:

Hm.... just from my own experiences with Wellbutrin, it's okay at first... then the withdrawal can hit quite hard when it goes too fast. Maybe best not to play with fire? Wellbutrin also affects how the other drugs I'm taking affect me, so as a fellow poly-drugged person that might be an issue with a drop from 300 to 150. Unless XL and SR have different dosages, the way IR and SR do? Maybe someone who is more informed can weigh in on that one. Whatever you choose, please play it safe with your nervous system! 

I should clarify that the XL and SR tablets I have are both 150 mg. While my psychiatrist told me to raise the Wellbutrin XL from 150 to 300 mg after two weeks, I stayed at 150 mg. The few times I tried 300 mg, I felt like it made my anxiety worse. So I'm sticking with 150 mg. It seems my psychiatrist didn't hear me when I said so, and then also prescribed SR instead of XL.

 

The only thing I'm contemplating is switching from XL to SR, since my XL is running out in two weeks. You are supposed to take SR twice a day, but I'm thinking of taking it once per day, instead of the XL, first thing in the morning.

 

I am already going to be in trouble with my psychiatrist for not tapering quickly off both Latuda and Luvox like he prescribed. I tried tapering Luvox quickly and felt panicked on day 3 after cutting the dose in half.

 

I think I shouldn't make any rash decisions. I'll stay on the XL through the weekend, then think about calling my psychiatrist on Monday and asking for either a refill of the XL, or else a new prescription of IR so I can start tapering Wellbutrin.

[littlebird]

11 minutes ago, ryuusei86 said:

I should clarify that the XL and SR tablets I have are both 150 mg. While my psychiatrist told me to raise the Wellbutrin XL from 150 to 300 mg after two weeks, I stayed at 150 mg.

Oh phew, so glad I misunderstood that! I was gonna say, a 50% drop will sneak up on you with WellyB.

 

11 minutes ago, ryuusei86 said:

I am already going to be in trouble with my psychiatrist for not tapering quickly off both Latuda and Luvox like he prescribed.

Oof, hate that you feel like you're gonna be in trouble! A good doctor should meet you where you are, wherever that is. Also, tapering two things at once is a wild thing for a psychiatrist to suggest. So glad you're listening to your body and experience and choosing what's best for you. I really wonder if these prescribers have ever taken, or tapered/stopped, these things. The suggestions that are made by them are real fast tapers, cold turkey, or worse. Glad you're figuring out what works for you! 

[FireflyFyte]

11 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

I am already going to be in trouble with my psychiatrist for not tapering quickly off both Latuda and Luvox like he prescribed. I tried tapering Luvox quickly and felt panicked on day 3 after cutting the dose in half.

 

Do you have a primary care doctor? It might be beneficial to talk to them and see if they will prescribe your medication if your psychiatrist refuses to do so.

11 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

I think I shouldn't make any rash decisions. I'll stay on the XL through the weekend, then think about calling my psychiatrist on Monday and asking for either a refill of the XL, or else a new prescription of IR so I can start tapering Wellbutrin.

 

I agree that rash decisions should be avoided. Hold for now and see how the conversation goes with your psychiatrist on Monday.

[ryuusei86]

Well, I forgot to take my Latuda dose this morning. I'm at work now and my meds are at home. I guess I'll leave work after my class and go home and take it. I have no intention of starting a 50% taper of Latuda after all.

 

Assuming this mishap doesn't mess me up thoroughly, I am actually surprisingly stable on this cocktail of five meds. It feels like a very unstable equilibrium though, especially when something triggers me, like when I forgot my cell phone at home on Tuesday. That was enough to raise my anxiety to the point that I couldn't sit still until I got home.

 

Anyway, I'm praying for as normal a Friday as possible today. This forgetfulness worries me.

[FireflyFyte]

1 hour ago, ryuusei86 said:

Well, I forgot to take my Latuda dose this morning. I'm at work now and my meds are at home. I guess I'll leave work after my class and go home and take it. I have no intention of starting a 50% taper of Latuda after all.

 

Latuda has a long half-life so hopefully this delay does not cause you any issues.

 

1 hour ago, ryuusei86 said:

Anyway, I'm praying for as normal a Friday as possible today. This forgetfulness worries me.

 

Your current cocktail could be contributing to forgetfulness but will lift as you taper.

[ryuusei86]

Today I discovered that it was the pharmacy's fault that I wound up with a bottle of Wellbutrin SR pills. They owned up to the mistake and traded me for a bottle of XL pills, but I had to turn in the SR pills. So I guess I'm not tapering Wellbutrin anytime soon unless I can get a prescription for Wellbutrin IR on Monday from my regular doctor, but he will probably refuse and defer to my psychiatrist as usual.

 

I will admit there is a part of me that wants to remain in denial, or at least leave well enough alone. As if being on five different meds can be called "well enough." The task before me seems insurmountable, especially without support from my psychiatrist. I really don't want to take Wellbutrin IR three times per day. And I keep wondering, what if I actually need these drugs, or at least some of them? But I'm just complaining here.

 

Part of me also thinks that my problem isn't so much anxiety and depression, but being on five meds.

 

I see my regular doctor on Monday as I made an appointment to get the blood test to have my hormone levels checked, after a recommendation from a couple that I know. The wife is having hormone therapy, and she said it made all her anxiety go away and she got off of anxiety medication. I feel it's worth a try. I will also ask him what he thinks about all this polypharmacy and which drug I should taper first.

[FireflyFyte]

16 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

I will admit there is a part of me that wants to remain in denial, or at least leave well enough alone. As if being on five different meds can be called "well enough." The task before me seems insurmountable, especially without support from my psychiatrist. I really don't want to take Wellbutrin IR three times per day. And I keep wondering, what if I actually need these drugs, or at least some of them? But I'm just complaining here.

 

If you decide to stay on your medications, that is your choice but not something we can advise on.

 

16 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

Part of me also thinks that my problem isn't so much anxiety and depression, but being on five meds.

 

You are on a lot of medication and several with major interactions. I would not be shocked if some of your experiences are directly tied to your drug cocktail.

 

16 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

So I guess I'm not tapering Wellbutrin anytime soon unless I can get a prescription for Wellbutrin IR on Monday from my regular doctor, but he will probably refuse and defer to my psychiatrist as usual.

 

If possible, consider finding a doctor who would be more supportive of a tapering plan.

[ryuusei86]

7 hours ago, FireflyFyte said:

If possible, consider finding a doctor who would be more supportive of a tapering plan.

It's a good thing it's the weekend and I can't do anything, or I might make one of those rash decisions that I said I wouldn't make. I'm going to call my friend's doctor on Monday and see if she's taking new patients. My friend is on Prozac and Wellbutrin and says she's very good with the drugs. If I can see her, perhaps she's open to a tapering schedule. I will see what my own GP says on Monday about it too.

 

On further reflection, I think my symptoms in June and July of agoraphobia and anxiety could be connected to my rapid taper of Seroquel that I started in late May. My psychiatrist added Wellbutrin in July because of the agoraphobia and lack of motivation to do anything, and tried to taper me rapidly off Seroquel and Luvox. Of course it didn't work, but that was how I got to my current dose of 75 mg Seroquel XR. It was the lowest dose at which I could sleep. I wish I'd refused the Wellbutrin, but I trusted him.

 

On this cocktail of five meds, I actually feel pretty good throughout the day most days, but I know I'm far from stable. It feels like one little push will make me collapse. My sleep has been pretty good recently, but I know my weak point is sleep. This is why I'd like to taper off the Wellbutrin first, because I feel like that will disturb my sleep the least.

[ryuusei86]

Over the last 24 hours I've become increasingly overwhelmed at the situation I find myself in. Has anyone ever successfully got off five different psych meds and gone on to live a decent life? I'm struggling to believe that the hole I'm in isn't too deep to recover.

 

My friend's doctor isn't accepting new patients. I will see tomorrow if my GP knows anything about tapering antidepressants, but I don't hold out much hope.

 

I wish I could just go cold turkey off everything. But that would probably kill me. I know, however, that I'm on borrowed time. Eventually one of these meds is going to poop out, just like happened to me 11 months ago, which landed me in the hospital. And now I know the hospital is the last place I want to go. They'll change all my meds, making the crisis worse.

 

However, if facing reality means tapering off these drugs one at a time, even if it takes a decade to get off all of them, it seems that this will be less uncomfortable for me than trying to find a shortcut. I just have my doubts that I have the time to do so before my body chemistry changes, or the Lunesta poops out, and I can't sleep.

 

The worst part is that I did this to myself. It was my decision to stay on Wellbutrin, rather than to stop it before it was too late. It was my decision to add the Lunesta to the Seroquel. I wish I'd found this website a year ago, when I was on only three meds.

 

I apologize for my high toxicity. I just am feeling rather hopeless and overwhelmed right now.

[FireflyFyte]

10 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

Has anyone ever successfully got off five different psych meds and gone on to live a decent life? I'm struggling to believe that the hole I'm in isn't too deep to recover.

 

I would encourage you to spend some time reading some success stories at Success stories: Recovery from psychiatric drug withdrawal

 

10 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

My friend's doctor isn't accepting new patients. I will see tomorrow if my GP knows anything about tapering antidepressants, but I don't hold out much hope.

 

Most doctors don't know the first thing about tapering. It's best to find one who will continue to prescribe the medication during your taper.

 

10 hours ago, ryuusei86 said:

However, if facing reality means tapering off these drugs one at a time, even if it takes a decade to get off all of them, it seems that this will be less uncomfortable for me than trying to find a shortcut. I just have my doubts that I have the time to do so before my body chemistry changes, or the Lunesta poops out, and I can't sleep.

 

The worst part is that I did this to myself. It was my decision to stay on Wellbutrin, rather than to stop it before it was too late. It was my decision to add the Lunesta to the Seroquel. I wish I'd found this website a year ago, when I was on only three meds.

 

I apologize for my high toxicity. I just am feeling rather hopeless and overwhelmed right now.

 

I know it can feel overwhelming but try to approach tapering multiple medications one at a time. It's also important to try and minimize anxiety so would suggest checking out Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

[ryuusei86]

I just saw my GP. He didn't seem overly concerned that I'm on five psych meds, but supports me tapering. He gave me methods of tapering Wellbutrin and Luvox that are much faster than this website recommends, involving skipping doses or half-doses. He also said I could take a year to taper off if I wanted to, and the only downside was the time involved. He didn't pick up on my suggestion to go to Wellbutrin IR and taper at 10% per month, let alone 10% per month calculated on the most recent dose. I'm sure my psychiatrist won't think the 10% taper is necessary either. I will be on my own here, with help only from this website.

 

I have a lot to think about. I am more scared of tapering the SSRI than I am of tapering the Wellbutrin, but I have my psychiatrist thinking that the Wellbutrin is helping me. I want to start tapering something but I have to decide what to commit to. Also I still have some materials for tapering to come in, like my milligram balance.

 

Anyway, thanks for your suggestions, @FireflyFyte. I will continue to read success stories, and prepare myself for emotional symptoms.

[ryuusei86]

About ten days ago I learned that taking Lunesta greatly increases the chance of getting dementia. I just saw my psychiatrist and told him of my concerns, and mentioned about the 10% per month taper, but that I wanted to go off Wellbutrin first, because it's the most stimulating of my meds and has the most interactions, and also because I don't think it's done very much for me anyway. I asked him for a prescription for 60 pills per month of Wellbutrin 75 mg instant release, which will allow tapering, and also for Seroquel 50 mg and 25 mg instant release, because I'm tired of trying to cut those extremely hard ER tablets. To my great surprise, my psychiatrist agreed to all my recommendations!

 

I think what I'll do first is make the switch to the instant release Wellbutrin, 75 mg when I get up in the morning at 6:30 and 75 mg around noon. I don't think I should actually try tapering immediately, but see how it goes for a week or two. Then I plan to start the taper by cutting the Wellbutrin tablet in quarters, and taking one tablet first thing in the morning and 3/4 around noon. This is more than a 10% cut, but it is mentioned in the thread on Wellbutrin as a possible plan. Then I would hold for a month before attempting a further cut.

 

My longer term plan is to taper off the Lunesta after getting off the Wellbutrin. That will probably be nasty and involve my greatest fear, insomnia. I am thinking of using the Brassmonkey slide, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. First I would like to tackle the Wellbutrin, for reasons mentioned above.

 

I will post more once I've made the switch to the Wellbutrin IR. I really appreciate this forum for its wealth of information, and am looking forward to actually doing something about my predicament.

[j1290]

@ryuusei86

Hey there, congratulations on getting such a positive response from your doctor!   I'm super happy for you, I know how difficult that conversation can be.   

FWIW, my experience switching to IR wellbutrin was that it hit much harder than the XL or SR, gave me headaches and whatnot.  For measuring purposes or dissolving in water, it's extremely convenient.  It really confused me at first though, I thought if I held long enough it would settle down in intensity but never really did.  

 

The mods here are great, they'll help you with any tapering questions you have.  Wishing you the best!

[ryuusei86]

Last night I tried switching from the half tablet of 150 mg Seroquel ER to 75 mg Seroquel instant release. To my surprise, I didn't fall asleep, even with the Lunesta and all the other meds. After about two hours of lying awake, I took a half tablet of Seroquel ER, and fell asleep pretty quickly. I really don't like cutting these Seroquel ER tablets, but if that's what I have to do rather than taking 75 mg IR, so be it. I've read here that anything might happen when changing meds, and am aware that some have even had problems switching generic brands of the same medication.

 

If I don't fall asleep tonight on my usual cocktail, I will probably come to the conclusion that the Lunesta has pooped out after nine months, and I am in big trouble.

 

If I sleep tonight, then I'll take Wellbutrin IR for the first time tomorrow morning, with one 75 mg dose first thing in the morning and another around noon. Today the pharmacist said that my plan was reasonable. However, I'm worried that I won't even be able to get on the IR versions of these medications from the extended release versions, let alone start tapering. Sleep is my big weakness, and I've already mentioned my phobia of insomnia.

 

I am worried about tomorrow night too, but will first get through tonight. Then again, I worry about sleep every night. Unfortunately it's part of who I am.

[ryuusei86]

I've been on the Wellbutrin IR 150 mg for two days now. I haven't noticed much change during the day. Last night my sleep wasn't outstanding, but I think I got six hours, which is enough to function. I will see how things go tonight. I am trying to be patient with myself, since this is a medication change. I must expect it to take days to register in my system, since as I recall Wellbutrin has a long half-life.

[FireflyFyte]

On 9/23/2023 at 10:11 PM, ryuusei86 said:

I've been on the Wellbutrin IR 150 mg for two days now. I haven't noticed much change during the day. Last night my sleep wasn't outstanding, but I think I got six hours, which is enough to function. I will see how things go tonight. I am trying to be patient with myself, since this is a medication change. I must expect it to take days to register in my system, since as I recall Wellbutrin has a long half-life.

 

Six hours of sleep is decent during withdrawals.

 

Patience is needed during this process but can be difficult to maintain. Be patient with yourself as well.

[ryuusei86]

Today is an important day. I lowered my second 75 mg Wellbutrin dose from a full tablet to 3/4 of a tablet. This is a little more than a 10% drop from the 150 mg total, but I will see how I do before deciding what to do next. My big question is always whether it will affect my sleep, but I feel like I sleep the same now as before I started taking Wellbutrin.

 

If it all works out, then today is the day I start getting out of this mess I'm in.

[ryuusei86]

Last night I had trouble falling asleep, but I got enough sleep. Other than that I've noticed no change due to reducing the Wellbutrin. I hope I fall asleep more easily tonight.

 

I've also updated my signature with my full drug history as best as I can remember. Mine is a tale of gradually getting addicted to Lunesta over a period of years. I also see that I should never have added the Wellbutrin in July as I was probably simply having withdrawal from Seroquel due to tapering too quickly. It might also be that the "anxiety crisis" which led to me being hospitalized was due to withdrawal from stopping trazodone cold turkey.

 

In short, I wish I'd discovered this website long ago.