I just started 150 ml Bupropion 2 days ago. My doctor recommended it for depression and anxiety. While I do struggle with both as my work and home life are very hectic, I have never taken anything for it. Situations changed and I decided to give it a try to see if it improves my symptoms. However, I am concerned to read the comments about drinking. I do drink wine, everyday. 3-4 glasses and don't plan to stop. But, I see that others say it has made them very sick to drink while on this medication. I certainly don't want seizure side effects. It also says not to quit drinking while on this medication. Confusing. I have noticed though in just two days that smoking tastes terrible and for that I am happy as I do want to quit. Today I'm noticing a strange, sort of off balance (in my head) feeling that I don't like. I am very sensitive to any sort of medication. I want to give this medication a chance but am worried and don't want to wait to stop in a few weeks when my body is dependant and I have to ween myself. But I also don't want to freak my family out by having a seizure after having a glass or two of wine. Any experience with this?
Wellbutrin and drinking?
Question posted by lgoldbeck on 22 March 2013
Last updated on 13 May 2022 by Marbel1970
69 Answers
I recommend to be strong an quit drink I was drinking, 5 day ago and I was scared only take 3 glasses of 4 oz of wine and I was at my friend's house and I don't remember how I make at home my friends tell me she take at home because Ioss my memory an I don't know how to go back home. Also I don't remember anything that happened this afternoon so beware of it. Thanks to my friend for take care of me.
Hi, I know this is probably too late to answer your question but, I have been taking Wellbutrin 300mg for over 4 years, and being in my early to mid-'20s, it's almost impossible not to drink at least a little. Wellbutrin and Buspar have been my solid drugs over the years that haven't changed but I've had those two as a combo with: Effexor or Cymbalta or Abilify. I've drank alcohol on all of those combos and never had a seizure. Given this is just my own experience and everyone reacts differently to medications, please be careful and talk to your provider. :)
Long thread and can't read it all but I figured I'd add my opinion to it for those that have the same question... Seizures are rare, I think even rarer with the SR and XL versions. And only above 300mg doesn't it start to increase a risk of seizure. And as long as you are not a binge drinker you could possibly get away with drinking a couple of glasses of wine and still treating your depression successfully with Wellbutrin IMO. It really does depend on your severity of depression as well. And what type of depression too. You would be working against your depression by drinking wine, just so you know this. I've never had issues when I drank alcohol and seizures, fwiw and I drank alot more than a few glasses of wine! Way more! But I can't drink b/c of that. Bottom-line, if you don't drink to get drunk and you've been drinking at this level for a very long time you could be alright.
And if you have been drinking at this level (2-3 glasses a day) DO NOT try to "go clean", that's not good advice. Keep drinking and slowly taper off if you choose to do it. I'd say, take 6 months to taper off to be safe. One glass of wine a day won't hurt you.
I just started Wellbutrin 300mg I am also on lexapro 20mg And clonazepam .5 tonight I drank 3 12 FL oz of Trulys and I am totally fine I may feel slightly buzzed than usual but I also didn’t eat before . I think drinking in moderation is fine if someone is with you and watching you . Let me know if you have any questions s . Usually I keep drinking but I am not interested in another tonight and I also have not drank in about a week or two and I was drinking every night . So to me it is safe but again everyone is different . Just drink a little slower and in moderation I feel like it hits you quicker .
Good luck and be safe everyone
I have taken Bupropion, generic for Wellbutrin, on and off for several years and I drank, beer, wine, mixed drinks off and on and it never made me sick. It did, however, bring a buzz on faster than if I wasn't taking it. I think that if you feel like you have to drink, don't for the first 2-3 weeks because the side effects are exacerbated because your body is still getting used to the drug. I have been on 75 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg at different times. I'm on 150 now and I drink and I feel fine as long as I don't over do it, but everyone's body reacts differently and you have to listen to your body. I only drink maybe once or twice every couple of weeks. If I were you, I would talk to with your physician to make sure it's okay because of the amount of alcohol you drink on a daily basis, just to be safe. By the way, Wellbutrin and or Bupropion was originally manufactured to help folks quit smoking. Then they figured out that it was good for Depression and Anxiety, too.
I will say (as someone who has been on Bupropion a.k.a. Wellbutrin) for 2 weeks now, that I was fine until I had an alcoholic drink or 2. What happened scared me enough to go on-line & google the side effects of such and that lead me to this Q & A thread. It's not worth it! I also knew how I felt the day after drinking before I even began taking Bupropion. Alcohol is a DEPRESSANT so... whilst having a drink or more might tend to make me feel initially "relaxed", the next day my mood was worse than ever. When I drink alcohol I now know the next day (or so) for me is filled with angst, inability to concentrate & more "panic attacks!" *Add to that gravol, which I would sometimes take the day after drinking for a queasy tummy & my panic attacks were three-fold. So not only is it a health risk, combining these meds is a big mistake. Gabapentin isn't your enemy; but alcohol certainly is! It's pure poison.
If you insist on drinking even after knowing the side affects/risks - then you aren't sincerely interested in improving your health. I hope you will wean yourself off the wine altogether or get down to 1 glass. Even then you should speak to your physician about this. I never want to experience again how I felt after mixing Bupropion & alcohol.
I am sorry for what happened to you...
Everyone does not experience the extreme bad experience that you had while drinking alcohol while taking medications such as bupropion. It is not poison for everyone. It is fine, when done in moderation.
You should talk to your doctor
I know this post is old but i cannot find anyone who is experiencing what i am. I started bupropionXL 150 mg about 1 1/2 months ago. A week ago i went out with a few friends and got very drunk and blacked out, which has never happened to me before. The next day i had the worst hangover i’ve ever experienced, and since then i have had a weird headache, nausea, neck/eye pain every day. I went to my doctor yesterday and brought up these symptoms but he didn’t say anything about it. I don’t know if i should lower my dosage, or completely cut out alcohol, or both. I just hope these side effects go away soon
The key is to drink in moderation while taking medications.
Well I been on wellbutrin for several months used for depression along with some other anti depressants. When I would go out and drink i became someone i really wasnt had more fun than anyone by the end of night i would be really wild. Didn't have a problem with that but the days that follow are what get me up to 4 days later I would be extremely depressed. More depressed than when I was prescribed the meds. Then I would be back to normal and Friday I would do it all again. After a few weekends I realized the after effects were not worth the great time.
Yes, ethanol (alcohol) IS a depressant drug. Why waste your money on an antidepressant medication and then wash it down with a depressant?
Besides, the combination can cloud your judgement. What seems to be a lot of fun to you may look like stupidity to others around you.
I've taken Wellbutrin for depression a very long time & stopped twice during treatment. I drink everyday. The warning is that you should not after being on Wellbutrin for a steady amount of time do not attempt to suddenly stop your alcohol consumption. It's this action which could lead to an increased risk of seizure. If u continue your normal alcohol consumption you are fine. Also if your normal consumption level of alcohol is not one which you would cause you to experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms you need not worry.
I was hoping someone could give me some advice. I have been working on a drinking problem and having gotten a stronger hold on it. I just started Wellbutrin at 150 which I take in the morning.
I have a history of blacking out after drinking a lot of liquor. It's led to a lot of embrassing and regretful encounters. I am nervous with my history I may blackout again. I do not plan on drinking liquor again, and as I live with my parents it's not exactly an easy thing to give it a trial run if things go badly.
Obviously, not drinking is an option. But I'd really like to be able to have a drink or two while out because it eases my social anxiety.
I weigh 120 lbs and am a woman. I am young and do not want to miss out on my youth and bar scene. Do you think it's out of the question to drink?
My concern is with blacking out, not seizures as I do not drink often anymore. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! If you think drinking is out of the question for me I'd like to know :/ if anyone has any similar experience to mine.
jynxit, as a recovering alcoholic I'd guess you think you just have a "drinking problem". You say you do not plan on drinking liquor again and then, that you'd like to be able to have a drink or two when you go out (or three or four or five as you did when you blacked out).
Why not give your Wellbutrin a chance to safely control your anxieties? Why not talk to your doctor about both your drinking and whether it should be combined with Wellbutrin... especially if you DO stop drinking?
"The manufacturer recommends that alcohol consumption be minimized or avoided during bupropion treatment. The use of bupropion is contraindicated in patients undergoing abrupt discontinuation of alcohol."
I agree with the comment that was just left. You may not have the urge to drink. Give the Wellbutrin a chance to help you. I blacked out a few times while taking Wellbutrin and drinking so I don’t recommend drinking while taking it. I also had a grand mal seizure while on 450mg. Be careful if you have to titrate up. Good luck.
My doctor has monitored me while I have taken antidepressants and has OK'd drinking in moderation while I am taking them.
"Blacking out" is not drinking in moderation.
I take brupropion 300xl and occasionally drink. I can pretty much forget about the med helping with depression when I drink for a couple days, never had a problem with seizures.
I have been taking Bupropion sr 150 mg twice a day. And Drink 4 to 8 glasses of wine. Never had a problem in anyway with seizures. Two years. I also just began taking my Adderall 30 time release a day. And it makes me tired and slows me down. I have never seen a prescription say to drink moderately. So that one response doesn't make any sense. I believe and the whole reason why I looked this up is when you take a time release medication and then drink that the alcohol somehow burns a whole in the stomach or makes the medication desolate faster so you need more? Also When my doctor cut my prescription in half then I went crazy and hurt myself bad. When I never did that before. Yes this is a drug you cant just stop when you suffer from depression. When I drink I have fun it makes me happy I go to sleep and get up at 2 am to feed my newborn. then try to go back to sleep and cant bc of my ADD and anxiety thats created by it.
Might as well not take the Welbutrin. Alcohol negates the whole purpose of taking the med in the first place. Save yourself the cost.
Folks, the literature provided, or if not, research is key. Alcohol is processed through the liver. Most psych meds are as well.
You are doing a vast disservice to your liver as well as loved ones by not paying attention to the warnings.
Do you really want to be found half alive by someone you love? That person will have to call 911 and pray like hell EMTS get to you fast enough to give you their own cocktail of activated charcoal via stomach tube.
If you survive you will wake up having to go to the bathroom. You will lose all control and soil yourself with black excrement, that's a promise.
But hey, if the liquor is more important. ... why listen to me?
Don't listen to this... Unless you drink all day, non stop, you will be fine.
Mellipeep, quit being so dramatic.
Hello I have been on and off Wellbutrin for a few years, The first few weeks you do feel some dizziness or just feeling not balanced and weird but that will go away, I drink alcohol all the time on Wellbutrin and I have never had any issues I also know other people that are on Wellbutrin and that also drink, and they are fine. Seizures are a rare side effect.
If I were you I would stay on it a bit longer I absolutely love it every time I go off it I struggle. And maybe just start with one glass of wine and see how it affects you but let your body get used to the Wellbutrin first
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wellbutrin, depression, anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, bupropion, doctor
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