Hi all,

Long time no see!

I'm writing this because I am seeing my podc today for the first time in two months - It's been that long because, until now, I'd been stablized for a year. However, due to several very stressful occurences this past 5 months, my depression is back and in a big way.

I want to switch to Wellbutrin XR from Paxil, and I'm worried she's going to say no - she kept me on Zyprexa for months, even though I told her I hated it and there's other, better mood stabilizers out there. The Paxil has very obviously crapped out. I'm on 25 mg/day of Paxil CR. I don't want to up my dosage, as I've had to do that once this year already and that, to me, means that it's just not effective enough for me anymore. I hate how the SSRIs make me feel, and I know from reading a bazillion research papers that besides Paxil, Wellbutrin has the least likelihood of causing an affective switch to mania. It also has a much lower chance of causing the agitation and sexual side effects of the SSRIs. Also, good for quitting smoking (which, due to stress, I am back to doing...ugh).

I feel so strongly about this that if she won't even consider Wellbutrin, that I will a) tell her that I will refuse to take any of the SSRIs and b)find another doctor.

I'm currently seeing a therapist every week and I'm going to be home for the holidays with very supportive, knowledgeable parents for the week around Christmas. Therefore, it's highly unlikely that any affective switch will go unnoticed.

Any ideas for courage/more scientific ammo/not getting my wishes as the patient here subsumed?

Thanks so much!

Love you all,
Anna