Wellbutrin and Anxiety: What Users Say

• Ron...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 12, 2025

For Depression "This medication was very hard to use, there was stomach pain and acid reflux. Sleep was poor, and I couldn't sleep more than 2 hours without waking at night. I became very agitated with anxiety and sadness that would come and go very fast. The agitation became worse, and I was looking for anything that irritated me to lash out and went into a rage and confronted others. My heart was always around 100 beats when I was at rest. I also had very strange thoughts that worried me I was losing control of my thoughts."

• som...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 17, 2023

For Depression "I started bupropion 75 mg and was on it for 10 days. The first days, I was agitated and hypervigilant, had problems with driving as everything attracted my attention, and felt a bit more active. I became careless and a bit arrogant. My empathy and people-pleasing behaviors lowered. I could socialize, not feeling inferior. Slowly, the medicine lost effect. The next 10 days were bupropion ER 150 mg. It gave me grave depression, I feel like I am in a cage, extreme depression, and I feel people are all monsters. I still have empathy, but no joy, no happiness, nothing. I can study, and my brain fog is gone. I can focus if I eat something. Now I am on 300 mg bupropion ER. Still very depressed. No joy. My kidneys are starting to hurt, and I have some breathing problems and nasal dripping problems. Super aware of my surroundings, studying is easy. I have lost joy, and I sleep all the time. I have a dull headache. I feel like if I continue, I will have a mental episode."

• Key...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 13, 2023

For Major Depressive Disorder "I tried this after Prozac, Lexapro, Celexa, Zoloft, and Cymbalta. Worst one. The worst. I've been on 150 XL for a month and a half, and I can't eat without my stomach tensing up and bile going to my stomach. My menstrual cycle is all messed up, I am tired and spacey, I have horrible diarrhea and anxiety, I feel like utter trash. I think I'm done with antidepressants."

• Anonymous
• January 18, 2023

For Depression "Made me more anxious and couldn’t sleep. Tried 150 mg and 75 mg. Guess I’ll have to try something else now."

• wel...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 17, 2023

For Depression "Do not take this medication! Caused severe anxiety, panic attacks, bad dreams, racing thoughts. Should be illegal to prescribe this drug."

• Stu...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 21, 2022

For Depression "This drug made me nuts. I took it for anxiety and depression, and it multiplied the anxiety by a factor of 10. It was like a hand reached down from the sky, grabbed me by the throat, and scared me witless. I could not calm myself down. I felt doomed. I was so scared I became jumpy and angry. Like, furious. The literature all says these symptoms may fade, so I kept taking the pills for 2 weeks until my husband was exhausted by this frantic woman I had become. I stopped cold and felt normal again almost immediately. So don't feel you have to stay with it!"

• Stu...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 21, 2022

For Depression "This drug made me nuts. I took it for anxiety and depression, and it multiplied the anxiety by a factor of 10. It was like a hand reached down from the sky, grabbed me by the throat, and scared me witless. I could not calm myself down. I felt doomed. I was so scared I became jumpy and angry. Like, furious. The literature all says these symptoms may fade, so I kept taking the pills for 2 weeks until my husband was exhausted by this frantic woman I had become. I stopped cold and felt normal again almost immediately. So don't feel you have to stay with it!"

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 26, 2021

For Depression "Made my anxiety way worse. I was argumentative and mean. Very emotional all of the time and made my PMS symptoms worse."

• Wel...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 2, 2021

"My husband went to our doctor for anxiety, and the doctor told us that my 35-year-old husband was bipolar and put him on Wellbutrin XL. After 6 days, he was being another person! Raging, paranoid, delusional, not the man I married and share a child with. We called the doctor and complained of the side effects, including the scary delusions he was having, and I reminded the doctor of my husband's family history of suicide. The doctor said that the Wellbutrin XL protocol was to double the dosage, and he would see us again in 12 days! The next day, my husband shot himself on our couch!!! My first cousin, raised as sisters, was committed against her will for suicidal thoughts while on Wellbutrin XL!! PLEASE BE SAFE!! IF YOU HAVE ANY ODD SYMPTOMS, STOP TAKING AND GO TO THE ER!"

• Kat...
• August 20, 2021

For Depression "150 mg XR. I have low dopamine, so I thought this would be awesome for my ADHD. Wrong! The first week was AWESOME. I felt more awake, motivated, and less hungry. Cool, right? Week 2, I started getting a little irritable... maybe because I couldn’t freaking sleep! I've never had sleep issues EVER until this. By week 3, I was extremely manic. Horribly paranoid. I had racing thoughts that wouldn’t stop. I am going through a divorce, so you can imagine all I wanted to do was GO INSANE because of my hatred for this man. It was not manageable on this medication. I was so thirsty, my head felt like a balloon, extremely confused and forgetful, most awake I've ever felt, couldn’t breathe right, constipated. Went to the ER... they didn’t do ANYTHING. The medical field is an absolute joke. Also, I was BREASTFEEDING… I was told it would not affect my baby. Ha!!! As soon as I stopped the meds, she stopped crying, started sleeping again, and regular poops again."

• JDa...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• January 8, 2021

For Major Depressive Disorder "I am an (older) teenage girl who has struggled with mental illness my whole life, and I’ve been on many medications, and my least favorite is Wellbutrin. It caused my anxiety to worsen, made me constantly dizzy and shaky. I would lose control of my eyes, and they would roll into my head several times every hour, and it actually made my eyesight worse (sounds unlikely, but it’s true). I wouldn’t recommend this drug to anyone."

• Jan...
• March 7, 2020

For Depression "DO NOT TAKE THIS IF YOUR PRIMARY ISSUE IS ANXIETY. I got on this medication because I was having trouble with anxiety and insomnia. My NP wanted to start me on Wellbutrin 150mg XL and I kept reiterating to her that I have no depression whatsoever, I’m just anxious, but she said it would help. Within 2 weeks, I was so nauseated, in a complete brain fog, my anxiety got so much worse, my heart would race, I was having panic attacks daily, couldn’t sleep, my mind was racing non-stop, and although I’ve never felt as if I had issues with depression, I was so depressed on this medication! I went from being very high-functioning with mild to moderate anxiety to completely useless on this medication. I called into work multiple times (which I had never done before - I’m a nurse). I couldn’t focus, was so disoriented, and felt like I was just floating. I stopped and feel much better after a few days and I got on a PRN benzo for anxiety."

• ctr...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 4, 2020

For Major Depressive Disorder "After 1 week of taking Wellbutrin, I developed severe intrusive tinnitus. I have been off the drug for almost a year, and it has not faded at all. While obviously this side effect doesn't happen to everyone who takes Wellbutrin, it is frighteningly common. All of the doctors I've seen since then (psychs, ENTs, etc.) weren't surprised at all when I told them my tinnitus was from Wellbutrin. It has absolutely destroyed what was left of my life. I already had depression, anxiety, and insomnia, now all of these are 100x worse, plus suicidal thoughts. Again, I don't want to say 'don't take this drug' because all drugs have side effects, and I was one of the unlucky ones. But I would highly suggest something else as I would not wish this on my worst enemy."

• Jod...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 6, 2019

For Depression "Wellbutrin made my depression extremely worse. Cried every day since starting it. Also made my anxiety worse. Definitely not a good drug for me."

• Kac...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 29, 2019

For Depression "Gave me horrible headaches, flu-like symptoms, horrible rash, and severe depression. I literally felt toxic on it. I’ve heard this drug can be very dangerous, and I see why! Got off immediately, or it would have destroyed all my relationships and myself. Also caused anxiety attacks. Be very careful with this drug!"

• Mar...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 17, 2019

For Depression "I have been on antidepressants for decades. My P.A. put me on Zoloft, and I took it for months with no effect. I asked to try Wellbutrin, as it helped me back in my 30s. Been on it three weeks. I CANNOT explain how bad the anxiety is. I cannot sleep. I cannot speak well, nor can I remember words or their spellings. Let us not mention that sudden feeling of rage and anger. Decided to do some research and find other people's experiences, and here they are. Many with the same issues. Perhaps all of this would dissipate over time, but I can't live like this. I will discontinue using it, and I hope that this helps someone. Please keep fighting, NEVER give up. I'm going to keep searching for the right cure for me."

• Jav...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• October 4, 2019

For Depression "I tried this “med,” and it did not have any effects at all. If any, it just started giving me anxiety attacks to the point I just had to stop taking it. Never worked for me."

• Nao...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 3, 2019

For Depression "Started taking Wellbutrin for depression and anxiety, and it has been awful! Started on 150 mg for the first three days, then went up to 300 mg. This was the worst thing to take if you have anxiety associated with your depression. I've always had anxiety, but not this bad! It made it so much worse, and I was paranoid, having panic attacks, and couldn't sleep. I will never take this again and do NOT recommend this at all."

• DRA...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 25, 2019

For Depression "This did not work, if anything, it made me feel worse. My anxiety was out of this world, and my depression got worse as well. I was on Lexapro 20 mg and hoped for a change. Well, I was hoping this would work, but it did not. I was on the verge of feeling I was losing my marbles. I hope for others it will help. Back to Lexapro 20 mg."

• dar...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 27, 2018

For Major Depressive Disorder "This was the only anti-depressant that I've taken that actually made me worse. Most of the others, Zoloft, Lexapro, Cymbalta, Prozac, either helped a tiny bit or not at all, but never worse. Wellbutrin raised my anxiety sky high. I'm sure it may not be the case for others, but I wanted to share my experience. Good luck to anyone who does try this."

• InA...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 6, 2018

For Depression "If you suffer from anxiety, racing uncontrollable thoughts, high anxious states, and basically need a med to calm you down and get your thoughts under control, I would really talk to my doctor before starting this med. It is very clear that this is an energy-producing medication, so for those of us with anxiety - that can be really bad. A common listed side effect is 'anxiety' & 'anxiousness.' Everyone is different and will have different results to some extent. This is primarily a med for depression - NOT anxiety. So again, be clear to your doctor if you have anxiety with your depression that other choices may be better."

• InA...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 6, 2018

For Depression "If you suffer from anxiety, racing uncontrollable thoughts, high anxious states, and basically need a med to calm you down and get your thoughts under control, I would really talk to my doctor before starting this med. It is very clear that this is an energy-producing medication, so for those of us with anxiety - that can be really bad. A common listed side effect is 'anxiety' & 'anxiousness.' Everyone is different and will have different results to some extent. This is primarily a med for depression - NOT anxiety. So again, be clear to your doctor if you have anxiety with your depression that other choices may be better."

• JC2...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 30, 2017

For Major Depressive Disorder "I was prescribed Wellbutrin 2x a day after Celexa stopped working after being on it 5 years. Within a few days of taking the Wellbutrin, my anxiety was back, and depression was worse. Had trouble staying asleep because my mind was constantly racing. Definitely did not work for me."

• Fee...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 5, 2016

For Depression "My daughter suffered from depression and anxiety and had tried SSRIs. We thought this might help give her more energy and feel better since it affects dopamine. However, over the summer, her anxiety got worse. At college, her anxiety got even worse. She became paranoid and even started hearing voices. She ate very little and slept very little. She stopped going to classes and had suicidal thoughts. She called me and said she felt constantly 'jittery,' so I told her to get off the drug. Basically, it increased her energy and made her mood much worse. I don't recommend this for someone who suffers from anxiety since it affects norepinephrine - the fight or flight response."

• Fee...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 5, 2016

For Depression "My daughter suffered from depression and anxiety and had tried SSRIs. We thought this might help give her more energy and feel better since it affects dopamine. However, over the summer, her anxiety got worse. At college, her anxiety got even worse. She became paranoid and even started hearing voices. She ate very little and slept very little. She stopped going to classes and had suicidal thoughts. She called me and said she felt constantly 'jittery,' so I told her to get off the drug. Basically, it increased her energy and made her mood much worse. I don't recommend this for someone who suffers from anxiety since it affects norepinephrine - the fight or flight response."