Wellbutrin & Increased Hunger

I started Wellbutrin what seems like forever ago, but truthfully was approximately two weeks ago. For the first day or so, I was "forgetting to eat" but that is not uncommon for me. Now, my appetite is RAVENOUS. I initially was told to give it (ten days by the pharmacist, four weeks by pdoc) before judging it.

While I am relatively stable on my current concoction, I still noticed a deep, internal, kind of desire to cry. It wasn't close enough to ever cry but I was aware of it. Pdoc introduced Wellbutrin, as it is his usual suggestion as a "over the hump" medication. T said she heard lots of good things about it as well. And if it doesn't work, we will try Abilify - but that's more expensive.

I think the Wellbutrin IS helping the internal stuff, as I don't feel it every night, but I DO feel hunger every night instead. Like, I know when I am full and don't overeat, but it isn't long at all before I am SUPER hungry again. Its most noticeable in how sincerely I ingest my meals, lol.

Is this common enough? (I know it generally causes lack of appetite.) Will this pass? Or probably not? Adverse effect?

P.S. I have increased protein, but thats the only other change.

Wellbutrin can go either way with it's side effects:
*Metabolic
Common (1% to 10%): Decreased appetite, increased appetite*
The good news is that the side effects usually resolve on their own within just a few weeks.

Wellbutrin is pretty well known for reducing people's appetites, at least at first. It's half of the diet pill Contrave. (The other half is naltrexone.) My appetite did come back after a month or so, nevertheless. I had extreme irritability at 300mg the first time so I dropped to 150mg and I had no problems. I now take 450mg (no effect on eating).

I wonder if your increased appetite is partially due to the fact that the Wellbutrin is helping to more fully resolve the depression. I know that when I emerge from an episode of depression, I seem to be ravenous. It's like I'm finally really enjoying things again, including food.

The appetite increase might be (as marcoleap pointed out) a lifting of your depression. I don't know. For me, every psych med I've ever been on has caused me to be very hungry. Long ago, before I was on meds, my appetite was very little.

Thanks for this. That's what I was going to say I know it's possible but I've never heard of anyone who experienced increased appetite as a direct result of Wellbutrin. I get the munchies from Seroquel, so I try to keep apples on hand to snack on at night after I take my meds.

People react in different ways. The only time I feel hunger is when I take Ritalin, I get real stomach hunger, not appetite. They say Ritalin makes you eat less. Riiight, LOL.

This is very true ~ everyone reacts differently to different medications. I've lost 35lbs since I started taking Ritalin and I'm only hungry at mealtimes.

I am down 19 pounds since starting wellbutrin and that was only ~5 weeks ago. I wanted to lose, so I am making low calorie choices at meals and not eating snacks. The wellbutrin has made it a lot easier. Or maybe it is a placebo because I chose to believe it would help. But I am definitely not very hungry.

hi. if you're on other psych drugs, maybe its a drug-drug interaction? I was on a good bit of Wellbutrin w/ Abilify. At first I was somewhat stimulated, felt a good bit better, etc. After a while, I felt (somehow...) both a bit on edge and over-tranquilized, but not really sedated. Psychosocial stuff got better in my world, so I dropped the wellbutrin.

Anyway, it turns out...wellbutrin (and many other antidepressants) can affect the blood levels of other major psych drugs, both up and down. So, after a while, I was a bit stimulated, but I was also getting more Abilify than I needed, so...there ya go.

Its also worth noting that just about any antidepressant out there can cause some emotional numbing, apathy, etc. Its not as bad w/ wellbutrin as, with, say, Zoloft, but it is part of the affect on mood and outlook. Maybe you'd be better off on Provigil, Ritalin, etc., not so much on wellbutrin? "Antidepressants" aren't the only option for depression.

Good luck.

Wellbutrin killed my appetite