I was recently diagnosed with ADHD. The first medication my psychiatrist is trying is Wellbutrin XL. I am not very happy about this because:

1. I have taken it in the past for depression (6 months) and it did nothing!

2. I was told that I am not depressed and this is an antidepressant.

3. It is making me extremely tired.

I started it last Friday. The first day I had a lot of agitation and this strange feeling that the inside of my brain was itching. I almost didn't take it the next day because of this, but want to give it an honest go.

Thankfully, that side effect has not come back, but I am concerned because I am much more tired than normal. And the tiredness is not from being wired and lacking sleep.

What I've read on Wellbutrin is that it normally energizes people and helps them focus, which is why some doctors try it for ADHD. This is not the case yet. I think if anything, it is making focus much more difficult. I just feel too tired to do anything. I laid on my couch most of the weekend and just felt drained physically. I have noticed I'm not fidgeting as much and not constantly wanting to be on the go go go. But, seriously, if it is going to zombie me out is it worth it? I am sleeping fine at night, which has never been much of a problem. Getting to sleep was a problem, but not staying asleep. This morning I didn't drag out of bed until 20 minutes before I needed to leave for work! Usually I am up 2 hours prior and buzzing around with my coffee and cigarettes.

Is this typical? I can't find any info on Wellbutrin causing drowsiness like this. And, I don't remember it having that effect when I was on it before, though I was on the immediate release older version.

Is this effect that stimulants will have on me if they are tried? I guess I thought that the Wellbutrin or stimulants would help me focus and make me more motivated to get things done.

BTW-I am not on any other medications, so it can't be an interaction.

Well, it's been another week and a half since I posted the above. Fifty views and no response? I guess there aren't many out there on Wellbutrin huh?

So, I am still having this awful fatigue. I saw my therapist on Monday and the session didn't go well because I was so tired and I couldn't answer her questions because my head just felt dumb. She was very concerned and told me to call the doctor and that she would make a recommendation to stop the Wellbutrin.

I finally got around the calling the doctor yesterday and was told that I could stop the Wellbutrin if I wanted or I could keep taking it until I see her on Tuesday. I wasn't supposed to see her until the end of the month but the nurse is getting me in sooner so we can discuss meds. Now I don't know what to do. Is it better to just keep taking it until I see her so that she can see for herself how exhausted I am? Or, do I quit taking it and just hope she is convinced it's not working? Can I make it until Tuesday? Probably. I keep hoping every night that the next morning I will wake up and this will have wore off, but that's not happening. This is so frustrating!

I was on Wellbutrin XL and did great. In fact, I took it in part to counteract tiredness from Strattera, and it worked very well for that purpose. In fact, it even kept me up for 3 days straight when we tried to up from 150 to 300 mg. Needless to say, I put the kibosh on that really fast. :D

If it were me, I'd keep with it til Tuesday.

Thanks exeter! I wish it was working for me like that. That was my hope along.

Thanks for the advice on whether to take it or not. In a way I want to so that she can see the effects, but then again I don't want to seem like "Gee, she called and complained about the side effects but didn't stop taking it when I told her she could." Do you know what I mean?