Hi everyone,
I haven't been on in awhile. I have an anxiety disorder as well as depression. I joined this site about a year ago when I was first diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. At that time I was no longer able to work because of my anxiety and was off on disability. Well, I'm now back at work full time! Things have been going fairly well in that regard.
But I really wanted to stop taking one of my medications (Mirtazapine AKA Remeron) which has a HUGE effect on my appetite. In 3 months after starting to take it, I gained more than 30 lbs despite working out most days of the week. Although the medication had many benefits like helping me sleep better, the weight gain was taking its toll on me. I couldn't fit into any of my clothes, I couldn't buy clothes from my favourite stores, and I couldn't stop thinking about food from the moment I woke up in the morning! The final straw was when someone (for the second time!) asked me if I was pregnant!
So I spoke with my psychiatrist and she switched me to Wellbutrin. I've been on it now for a week and have noticed positive changes in my appetite. It has decreased significantly and I can now easily pass up the second helpings and unhealthy snacks that once seemed absolutely irresistable to me before. But, as far as mental health goes, I am not doing too well. I can no longer easily go to sleep, the quality of my sleep seems poor (eg I still feel quite tired when I wake up), I wake up instantly after 7 hrs of sleep and cannot go back to sleep, I feel "on edge" (eg very tense all the time), I am avoiding my friends, and don't much like leaving the house.
I am hoping that these symptoms are just temporary and I just need more time for the Wellbutrin to kick in as I have only been on it for one week. Also, I'm on a fairly low dose to start and after three weeks I will increase to a higher dose, so maybe that might improve things too. It just sucks to have to do so much "experimenting" to find the ideal medication combination.
My psychiatrist was quite against me changing my meds as the combination I had seemed to be working so well. But I just couldn't deal with that side effect anymore. I had to be really assertive to get her to prescribe an alternative.
