Wellbutrin was the first AD I was put on when I started having depression/bipolar issues about 2 years ago. I was diagnosed just depression at the time. I insisted on the wellbutrin for its purported decreased likelihood to cause weight gain because when I was placed on Lexapro when I was 15 (during my first depressive episode) I gained 40 pounds in a matter of months.

I was on solely wellbutrin for quite a few months. Of course, I never gained any weight on wellbutrin. I felt over caffeinated on the drug and that's not great for someone who is already frustratingly restless. I have never became noticeably manic in my life, just depressed and anxious, but now I realize that I had a decent amount of manic symptoms at the time -- couldn't sleep more than 3 hours, restless, anxious/physical anxiety symptoms, etc.

The benefit of the drug was increased focus, likely because if its benefits towards ADHD. That was very nice and at least made me functional enough to keep up in class despite my difficulties. That's the number one reason I continued to take it paired up with everything else I have tried in the past could of years.

I finally quit WB after sometime I was perscribed Lamictal and I realized how much more stable I was (finally) feeling. I was on four different meds on that time and I was convinced finally that ADs were probably making me worse (they never helped). I quit cold turkey without consulting my Psychiatrist and I did mostly fine. I'm now on 200 Lamotrigine.

Last time at my psychiatrist she told me that if we were to add an AD to the mood stabilizer that she would add Wellbutrin because she believes it has helped me the most, and I agree. I think next time I might talk about a low dose addition of bupropion but I also think I will ask for an increase in the Lamictal first.

However, at one point I was on Wellbutrin 300mg and started Buspar. After 3 days on the Buspar, I believe that I may have accidentally double dosed on that day but I began to hallucinate colorful images all over the walls. I tend to see colorful spots in the dark but I believe while being on Wellbutrin it makes these spots brighter and happen in less dark rooms more often. I guess the pairing with Buspar had too much of a boosting effect on WB and left me panicking and hallucinating for a day.

Also: At the time I felt as though Wellbutrin SR (twice a day) was far more potent and interfered far less with sleep than XL (once a day.) XL felt like being on a lower dose and I assumed it was because it was more evenly spread throughout the day....and night....interfering with sleep.