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I am doing well on Wellbutrin.
Feb. 13th, 2018 08:45 amA week ago yesterday, I had an appointment with a new nurse psychiatrist, Leslie Vannucci. We went through the intake rigmarole & she prescribed 75 mg/day of Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin (generic name: bupropion) works differently than other antidepressants I have tried. It is a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRI), meaning it acts to conserve the amounts of norepinephrine & dopamine available to the body. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter that regulates alertness, concentration, & motivation. Dopamine is often called the "reward chemical" of the brain. It is involved in the regulation of mood & feelings of pleasure.
My friends - a switch has been flipped. The first day I took this medication (a week ago today), I instantly (literally, within hours) felt SO MUCH BETTER. More productive. More focused. More attentive. More hopeful. Obsessive thoughts have diminished substantially! I am able to consider my day & what needs to get done, formulate a plan, & then carry it out! Like a normal person! I feel generally optimistic & hopeful. Ohhhh my God, it has been so long since I felt like this - is this how normal people feel all the time?? Holy crap!
And, with a little bit of research on my own genetic code (thanks 23andMe), this all makes a great deal of sense. According to my genetic test, I am +/+ for the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) Taq gene & -/- for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) V158M, COMT H62H, & COMT P199P. The VDR Taq gene encodes a receptor for Vitamin D3, which stimulates enzymes that create dopamine. The +/+ status means both copies of my gene for this protein are mutated, so... less enzymatic activity creating dopamine. The COMT genes code for proteins involved in breaking down neurotransmitters (including dopamine), & all my genes for these proteins are the normal, effective versions. So - my body kinda sucks at making dopamine, but is perfectly efficient at breaking down dopamine. Overall result: low levels of dopamine. Wellbutrin inhibits the reuptake of dopamine, helping to alleviate this shortage.
So that's all well & good. However, I've noticed a couple of side effects. First of all, I feel ever-so-slightly speedy. I'm alert - like, REALLY alert. I feel kinda hyper. I can't meditate for even three minutes. I'm having even more trouble sleeping than usual. And oddly, my sense of smell has sharpened to canine levels of sensitivity. While the smell thing is mostly just interesting, the hyper feeling & increased insomnia are slightly worrisome. My Cornell friends may remember episodes in college when I would become the Energy Creature - overly energetic, verging on manic. I haven't yet had an urge to go running in the middle of the night, or impulses to spend tons of money, but I'm going to have to keep an eye out for that sort of thing. Also, I'm definitely going to have to do something to get more sleep. I feel OK right now, but 4 hours/night is not sustainable in the long term.
Overall though, I feel SOOOOO much better. So much better. So better. Much good. Great happy.
My friends - a switch has been flipped. The first day I took this medication (a week ago today), I instantly (literally, within hours) felt SO MUCH BETTER. More productive. More focused. More attentive. More hopeful. Obsessive thoughts have diminished substantially! I am able to consider my day & what needs to get done, formulate a plan, & then carry it out! Like a normal person! I feel generally optimistic & hopeful. Ohhhh my God, it has been so long since I felt like this - is this how normal people feel all the time?? Holy crap!
And, with a little bit of research on my own genetic code (thanks 23andMe), this all makes a great deal of sense. According to my genetic test, I am +/+ for the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) Taq gene & -/- for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) V158M, COMT H62H, & COMT P199P. The VDR Taq gene encodes a receptor for Vitamin D3, which stimulates enzymes that create dopamine. The +/+ status means both copies of my gene for this protein are mutated, so... less enzymatic activity creating dopamine. The COMT genes code for proteins involved in breaking down neurotransmitters (including dopamine), & all my genes for these proteins are the normal, effective versions. So - my body kinda sucks at making dopamine, but is perfectly efficient at breaking down dopamine. Overall result: low levels of dopamine. Wellbutrin inhibits the reuptake of dopamine, helping to alleviate this shortage.
So that's all well & good. However, I've noticed a couple of side effects. First of all, I feel ever-so-slightly speedy. I'm alert - like, REALLY alert. I feel kinda hyper. I can't meditate for even three minutes. I'm having even more trouble sleeping than usual. And oddly, my sense of smell has sharpened to canine levels of sensitivity. While the smell thing is mostly just interesting, the hyper feeling & increased insomnia are slightly worrisome. My Cornell friends may remember episodes in college when I would become the Energy Creature - overly energetic, verging on manic. I haven't yet had an urge to go running in the middle of the night, or impulses to spend tons of money, but I'm going to have to keep an eye out for that sort of thing. Also, I'm definitely going to have to do something to get more sleep. I feel OK right now, but 4 hours/night is not sustainable in the long term.
Overall though, I feel SOOOOO much better. So much better. So better. Much good. Great happy.
