Wellbutrin - Anger & Tics That Have Remained

Has anyone else experienced a substantial worsening of their aggitation and anger on Wellbutrin?

I only made it to Day 10 before my wife snapped me out of my fog by forcing me to recognize my Depression symptoms of drastic mood swings, irritability and snap anger had become much worse. My psychiatrist took me off Wellbutrin immediately. On Celexa for the time being, but that's another story.

Here's the other problem: Along with the anger came a "head-shake" tic (sometimes just a quick shake, sometimes a whole head, neck and shoulders quivering lasting a couple of seconds) that has remained now for 4 months. Alcohol increases the tic (yes I drink on ADs - if I was able to make good choices I wouldn't have all these problems), as does stress. (One silver lining - my neck muscles are quite strong now.)

Has anyone else had some or all of these, or other, negative experiences with Welbutrin?

I looked up Wellbutrin on MedLine, and one of the side effects is Uncontrollable shaking on parts of the body. You SHOULD have gotten a printout of side effects when you got your prescription at the Pharmacy! Next time you get a new prescription, make SURE the Pharmacy gives you a print out of the side effects of the drug. They SHOULD give it to you automatically -- but some Pharmacies just don't and that's not right!

So it's not surprising that you had the shaking, tics, etc. I'm sorry it was such a problem for you.

Also, excitement & headaches are side effects too. The "excitement" COULD have manifested itself into the snapping and irritability. So this Wellbutrin just did NOT work well for you at all! Make sure you're never put on this again. Next time it could be much worse!

I hope the Celexa works better. I preferred Cymbalta myself. I was on that until it stopped working, and now I'm on Prozac which works GREAT for me.

I wish you the very best! God bless and please take care! Hugs, Lee

Hello & Welcome, 1Buster!
You found a silver lining in that cloud - I'm impressed!

I did not experience tics, anger while on Wellbutrin/Bupropion years ago, but antidepressants and related meds are so individual in their effects that I have little doubt Wellbutrin might be the culprit here.

Four months is a long time. Please tell your doctors and ask about Tardive Dyskinesia (Medline/NIH).

I've been on Wellbutrin for 8 weeks now. I noticed I felt better after a couple weeks but now I think it's wearing off. Going to talk to my psych about it tomorrow. No tics though. I do see an increase in anger though but that might just be the frustration that nothing's working.

Now that I look back (this happened in Dec.), I realize I had a lot going on at the time. In addition to starting with the P-doc, I had been suffering bad lower back pain for a week or more, had started taking Hydrocodone for that, was having some work-related stress (but that might have been tied to the meds as well) and finally started a course of Prednisone for the back pain just before stopping the Wellbutrin (so my side effects were already happening before that).

I also have ADHD and was taking Vyvanse at the time. Since Wellbutrin is also a stimulant, I wonder if I became overstimulated when it was added and if it wouldn't have occurred if the Vyvanse was reduced. Or maybe I'm really overthinking this.

Celexa has caused some issues with alcohol and I'm stopping it as well, which is too bad because it seemed to be working before that problem surfaced. Going to either try Prozac or take a break from ADs and work on the ADHD meds. I have a feeling the Depression (and possibly Anxiety) is driven by a long history of ADHD frustrations, both pre- and post-diagnosis, rather than existing independently.

My daughter takes Wellbutrin (6 or more mns). She hasn't had problems w/ tics or anger.

I don't know if I should hate Celexa or be grateful. I was diagnosed (dx) w/ depression and given Celexa. It caused me to become manic, which revealed I had BP dx.