[irisdoll]

After reading through some mental disorders, I honestly think I have bpd. I hit most of the symptoms spot on, but my psychiatrist was hesitant to diagnose me. She said I'm too young (19) and that to a certain extent my past actions in previous relationships can be explained as simply being a teenager.

Instead, she thinks I'm bipolar. Honestly, I'm hesitant to accept this diagnosis because I don't really experience "mania." I've read descriptions about it, but I really can't relate to any of them. I know there are different types of bipolar so I guess I'm just trusting her judgment for now.

Anyways, she said there are two drugs that I can look into and to let her know which one sounds like the better choice: wellbutrin or lamictal.
I thought I'd try wellbutrin first and I started just yesterday on 100mg, and will increase to 200mg after a week.

I was just wondering who else has been on wellbutrin and what their experiences were the first few days?
Yesterday, I couldn't sleep at all, and today I had a much worse than usual mood swing. I know drugs can take some adjusting, but since this is all new to me, I don't know at what point I should stop?

tl;dr Just started wellbutrin. Having concerning side effects, and was wondering to what extent this is normal and ok?

I just got off wellbutin 300mg. It helped lift my mood I think but it made me very up tight tense and agitated. Almost like I was angry all the time. Now that im off I dont feel as tense ir over the top.

[BiPolski]

I'm on my third week of Welbutrin. I've had a few side effects such as anxiety, blurred vision, and having to pee all the time. I've been on it before and it has worked to make me more up in combo with my other meds. Most psych meds take 4-6 weeks to start working so give it time. Once your body adjusts to the medication the side effect should taper off and if they don't tell you doctor.

[ultramar]

I think that's a really odd choice, given that she thinks you might be bipolar. Lamictal is a mood stabilizer (that tends to help more for depression than hypo/mania), so this would make sense per what she said, while Wellbutrin is an antidepressant which is actually quite activating (could fairly easily send someone with bipolar into hypo/mania) and it would be unusual to prescribe this alone (without a mood stabilizer) for someone with Bipolar. It would make more sense to me to prescribe both or only Lamictal.

If you haven't experienced hypomania, or increased energy, etc. that really negatively affects your functioning, I would revisit the diagnosis with her. If on researching BPD, you feel it fits because your moods are triggered by the kinds of things BPD tends to trigger, then I would bring in those specific triggers to your pdoc.

There seems to be a disconnect between the two meds offered, and a disconnect between how you see yourself and what you have experienced and your pdoc. My understanding is that some pdocs are reluctant to diagnose BPD because of the stigma and/or they don't have the time to get to know someone well enough to diagnose it, and/or they stick to prescribing and although some meds have shown to be effective with some BPD symptoms, it needs to be coupled with therapy, which most pdocs don't do.

Sounds confusing... I hope you can talk to your pdoc about this and come to an understanding. Good luck!

[irisdoll]

Thanks for the responses!

She gave me an option of lamictal or wellbutrin but I told her I don't think the symptoms of bipolar accurately describe my experiences, so I'd rather start on wellbutrin.

I'll see how I feel after a few more weeks.